Who leaked today's inflation data?
Yesterday the financial markets were full of details regarding today's inflation data with "expectations" that the figure would be announced at 3.1%. Hey presto, this morning we have the announcement of the consumer price index which was indeed 3.1% for July. So who leaked the UK inflation data early?
In this day and age it is nigh on impossible to backtrack and find out how the data was leaked to the marketplace but there were too many "detailed" reports yesterday for this to be a coincidence. Aside from the leaking of the data, the very fact that inflation remains above the 2% limit imposed by the Bank of England means that Mervyn King will yet again be forced to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to explain why inflation remains so strong.
The problem which the Bank of England now has is the fact that there are more issues overseas which could impact on UK inflation and potentially push the level higher in the short to medium term. Inflation is at the moment "comfortable" but any increase above the 3.1% level would begin to be "uncomfortable" and potentially force the MPC to react to the situation with a change in UK base rates.
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