Inflation

The UK housing market is steaming ahead full pelt according to a troika of surveys just out, which will more than offset news inflation as measured by the government's preferred index fell last month.

This year's investment story will be equities mixed with bonds because people will be more interested in avoiding losses than taking on risk to back winners, says Phil Wagstaff, managing director UK retail M&G.

There still seems to be no slowdown in house price inflation, according to the latest Nationwide house price update, as property values rose another 3.1% in February.

ISIS Asset Management says corporate earnings in the US should stay strong through this year, but adds there are still dangers in the form of continued high unemployment and the weak dollar.

Fears of a Chinese equities bubble are overdone because the role of the domestic consumer and improving transparency of earnings have been underestimated, says Martin Lau, director of Greater China equities at First State.

The Office for National Statistics has surprised the market with stronger than expected retail sales figures for January, suggesting the Bank of England will be under more pressure to consider another interest rate increase within the month.

YESTERDAY'S INFLATION REPORT from the Bank of England can only mean one thing, and that is interest rates are set to continue rising, The Times writes.

The latest quarterly inflation report from the Bank of England says inflation according to the consumer price index should move up towards the 2% target as business investment and consumer spending continue to grow.

The Bank of England has just announced it will raise the base interest rate by 0.25%, the second increase in three months.