CPI

Investors should shun fixed income assets for high-yielding equities in areas like emerging markets, in order to beat the inflation trap, according to Distinction Asset Management.

Lenders are expecting a surge in demand for fixed-rate mortgages after inflation rose by the fastest rate on record last month.

Inflation edged closer towards 4% in December as the rising cost of food and oil products continued to hit the price of goods and services.

Sterling touched a three-month low against the dollar before rebounding as the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) revealed continued division on interest rates while UK growth was revised down.

Agribusiness is set to enjoy sustained growth with sugar alone seeing demand rise by as much as 50% in the next 20 years, according to industry experts.

Steve Webb has said the government will not give private sector pension schemes the power to override scheme rules to shift from RPI to CPI indexation.

The Treasury is unable to effectively demonstrate the value for money of changes to public sector pensions, the National Audit Office (NAO) warns.

Pensions minister Steve Webb will today launch a consultation on whether the government should allow scheme trustees to switch the indexation of pension schemes from RPI to the traditionally lower measure of CPI.

An industry-wide consultation on the RPI to CPI switch for pension schemes will be published tomorrow, Steve Webb says.

Pensions minister Steve Webb has been forced to explain how he assessed housing costs for pensioners when deciding to switch pension indexation from the RPI to CPI.