Money Minute Wednesday 16 October: house prices and inflation

published 16 October 2019

This morning in the UK, we get the latest inflation data.The Bank of England aims for prices to be rising at a rate of around 2% a year.In August, judging by the consumer price index which is the official target measure prices were rising at 1.7% a year.Inflation for September is expected to come in a little higher, but still well within the Bank's target range.

We also get the latest official data on house prices from the Office for National Statistics.In July, prices across the UK were rising at just 0.7% a year. Judging by more timely surveys from Halifax and Nationwide, the downward trend is unlikely to have been broken in August.Again, with the Brexit talks taking up most of the market's attention, none of this data is likely to have much impact unless it falls far outside of analysts' expectations.

And in the US, we get another look at the health of the all-important American consumer as retail sales for September come out.