Consumer prices rose by 0.7% month-on-month in May. This was slightly above the 0.6% forecast by economists, but well below the 2.5% rise between April and March, which signals that inflation may be starting to slow.

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) reached 7.9% annually, up from 7.8% in April.

“Rising prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages, compared with falls a year ago, resulted in the largest upward contribution to the change in both the CPIH and CPI 12-month inflation rates between April and May 2022 (0.17 percentage points for CPIH),” the Office for National Statistics said.

The latest inflation readings add more pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates.

On markets, miners were the biggest drag on the FTSE 100, falling 3.0% due to lower metals prices. Energy stocks also dipped, due to worries about recession.

NatWest Group gained 1.4% to top gains after the government said it was extending a trading plan selling part of its shareholding in the lender by another 12 months.

 

Things to read today:

Private equity’s sell-to-yourself bandwagon is a wild ride (Financial Times)

How to Stop Russia’s Plan for Global Food Chaos (Wall Street Journal)