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Retail Sales Decline as Living Expenses Rise.

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Inflation in the UK, which gauges how quickly prices grow, fell in August for the first time in over a year, falling to 9.9% from July's 10.1%. Foto: schiffgold.com. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), sales decreased by 1.6%, a decline that has been ongoing since the summer of 2021 and was significantly higher than economists had anticipated. The ONS said retail sales declined during the month in all major industries, including food, non-food, online, and fuel. While alcohol and cigarette sales increased by 6.3% in August, supermarket sales volumes decreased by 0.9%. The monthly sales decline in August was the greatest since December 2021. "This is markedly worse than the forecast of a 0,5% fall, and indicates rising prices and the cost of living crisis is stopping consumers from reaching for their purse when it comes to extra spending," said Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, to the BBC.com . Households have cut back on spe...

The Fed is reported to be responding more forcefully as inflation rises.

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After statistics on Tuesday showed underlying inflation spreading out rather than falling as anticipated, the Fed is likely to hike U.S. borrowing costs faster and further than previously anticipated. According to data from the Labor Department, overall consumer prices increased by 0.1% from July to August, which was more than the 0.1% increase experts had predicted, and by 8.3% from the same time last year. The report also revealed rising service inflation and a particularly worrying rise in rent prices, which are relatively hard for the Fed to control because they fluctuate from month to month. According to Ron Temple, a managing director at Lazard Asset Management, to Reuters said, "putting a lid on increasing shelter prices is the cornerstone to taming inflation," but because rent increases frequently become fixed for 12-month periods, Fed rate hikes cannot fast bring shelter costs under control. "The Fed still has some challenging work ahead of it." To reduce ...