Good morning: The spectre of inflation has spooked equity and money markets in recent weeks (as Gurpreet Narwan explained in this great read last weekend). Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning is unlikely to soothe those nerves. The headline annual CPI rate of inflation more than doubled to 1.5 per cent in April, up from 0.7 per cent in March. City economists had forecast a 1.4 per cent rise. Grant Fitzner, ONS chief economist, said: “Inflation rose in April, mainly due to prices rising this year compared with the falls seen at the start of the pandemic this time last year.”SponsoredThe ONS reported that the costs of motor fuels were now at their highest since January 2020 as the

Source: The Times May 19, 2021 08:01 UTC