The United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics announced that the Consumer Price Index stood at 0.2 percent in August (year-to-year), below the previous month's figure which was at 1 percent and over the analysts' expectations, who foresaw it to be at 0 percent. In monthly terms, the Consumer Price Index was at -0.4 percent after being at 0.4 percent in July, and below the analysts' expectations who foresaw it to be at -0.6 percent.
The Retail Price Index was at -0.3 percent in August (month-to-month), in line with the analysts' expectations and below July's reported figure, which stood at 0.5 percent. In yearly terms, it stood at 0.5 percent in August, below July's 1.6 percent and the analysts' expectations, who foresaw it to be at 0.6 percent.
It seems that Britain's restaurant subsidy scheme helped to bring down inflation to a five-year minimum. The scheme, better known as the “Eat Out to Help Out” program, offered restaurant customers price reductions of up to 10 pounds, which brought down prices at restaurants and cafes by 2.6 percent (year-to-year).
Reuters reported that the UK is willing to make concessions on fisheries in order to continue advancing towards a new trade deal with the European Union.
“The UK definitely seems to be coming around on this, they seem to be moving cautiously towards some opening on fisheries in the technical talks,” told one source to Reuters.
Yesterday, a bill that would give Boris Johnson's government the ability to override some parts of the Brexit deal got through the House of Commons, a bill that if approved would undermine the United Kingdom's reputation and good standing in the international arena.
The Bank of England is expected to leave the cash rates unchanged at 0.1 percent tomorrow and abstain from providing additional stimulus through its quantitative easing program given the path that the economy is currently taking. Many estimate that the economy may grow around 15 percent in the third quarter, which would be a significant recovery taking into account that the economy contracted around 20 percent in the second quarter.
By 6:50 GMT the Pound Sterling gained 0.07 percent against the US dollar, hitting the 1.2896 level.
Trump Announces Coronavirus Vaccine Could be Released Soon
The United States President Donald Trump announced that we are close to having a coronavirus vaccine, highlighting that previous administrations would have taken years to release a vaccine because of all the FDA restrictions.
“We’re within weeks of getting it you know -- could be three weeks, four weeks,” told Trump to his Pennsylvania voters.
Trump has reportedly pressured health officials to speed up the timeline for developing a coronavirus vaccine, now that the United States voters are set to elect the next US President in November.
At the moment there are 29,734,148 confirmed coronavirus cases around the world, as well as a death toll of 939,289. The United States leads in the number of infections, with 6,788,147 cases and 200,197 total deaths, followed by Brazil, India, and Russia.