The latest UK inflation data for June is welcome news for the Bank of England hawks, who worry that the energy crisis risks morphing into a long-lasting bout of price pressure. Yes, at 2.6%, June’s core CPI data was a tad above consensus. It looks like 'chipflation' has washed up on UK shores; portable device prices spiked by 22% month-on-month, the biggest monthly change since the series began in 2015. It’s possible that’s related to the Apple price hikes. But that aside, there are two reasons this data is good news for the hawks. Firstly, food prices recorded their second consecutive month-on-month fall. That is ... (full story)