Inflation

Continued strong rates of house price inflation in England's regions and the home countries has offset falls in house price inflation in the nation's capital, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister says.

Rising interest rates are causing house price falls and slower consumption nationwide new economic data suggest.

Official unemployment claimant numbers dropped again in the past month taking the rate to the lowest since the mid-1970s and piling pressure on the Bank of England to maintain a tightening of monetary policy in order to head off future inflation.

UK inflation continues to pick up steam with latest figures from the Office for National Statistics suggesting CPI is running at an annualised rate of 1.6%, and RPI running at 3%.

Rising oil and commodities prices spurred on by loose fiscal and monetary policy coupled with Chinese output growth has created a "positive demand shock" that will lead to further interest rate increases, says Legal & General.

US interest rates are likely to go up by 0.25% when the Federal Open Market Committee - the equivalent of the UK's Monetary Policy Committee - next meets on 29 and 30 June, predicts Axa Investment Managers.

Private sector wage inflation is being led by big gains in remuneration at senior management level, according to figures published by Incomes Data Service, which measures salary agreements on a monthly basis.

Saving enough money to put down a 5% deposit as a first time buyer now takes on average a whole 12 months longer than it did a decade ago, or nearly 4 years research by National Savings & Investments suggests.

Interest rates are more than likely to rise next week after the Bank of England published new figures showing Britons retain an undiminished appetite for borrowing.

ONE OF THE executives at the centre of the Equitable Life scandal appears to have struck a deal with the FSA and escaped a lifetime ban from the City, suggests this morning's Daily Telegraph .