SEA AND AIR FARES
Pound spikes as inflation in UK hits half-year high
London — British inflation jumped unexpectedly to a six-month high in August, pushed up by bigger-than-usual seasonal increases in sea and air fares and briefly sending sterling above $1.32 for the first time since July. Consumer price inflation rose to an annual rate of 2.7% in August from 2.5% in July, the Office for National Statistics (ONC) said, above all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists that had pointed to a fall to 2.4%. The ONS also said British house prices rose at the weakest annual rate in nearly five years, dragged down by the biggest drop in London house prices since 2009, the latest sign of a slack housing market since the 2016 Brexit vote. Wednesday’s data jolted investors. British government bond prices fell and sterling rose sharply, but it dropped later on a report that Prime Minister Theresa May will reject a new EU plan to solve the Irish border problem around Brexit. The inflation figures are also likely to surprise Bank of England officials who had exp...
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