Author: Ed Frankl

The U.K. central bank is monitoring for signs that higher energy costs are spilling over into everyday prices.

The central bank left its key interest rate unchanged after a series of 10 cuts as Ukraine’s drone strikes threaten to push inflation even higher.

Output fell 1.1% on month after a flat reading in June, the country’s statistics agency Destatis said Monday.

Eurozone retail sales fell unexpectedly in July, a sign that the currency area’s resilience in the face of high energy prices might be faltering even as separate figures pointed to a continued recovery in German industry.

Healthy exports and rising public investment lifted expectations for the country’s economic growth this year, and the institute now expects 2027 growth at 1.2%, compared with 0.8% it predicted in June.

Limited usable transport routes on major rivers and sharply rising transport costs were likely to significantly impair industrial production and export growth, according to the central bank.

Sentiment climbed again on a bumper earnings season, while the economy overcomes some of the shock of the war in Iran.

The rate of inflation in June declined to its lowest level in more than a year after gasoline costs fell. Consumer prices were 2.6% higher in June, down from a 2.8% inflation rate in both April and May.