March 24, 2021
United Kingdom Office of National Statistics, recent data shows an increase of 0.7% in Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) in the 12 months to February 2021, down from 0.9% in the year to January 2021 CPIH. While consumer prices (CPI) rose by 0.4% for the 12 months to February, 0.7% down from January CPI. Furthermore, on a monthly basis CPIH and CPI both rose by 0.1% in February 2021 compared with larger increase of 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively in February 2020.
According to the Office of National Statistics, “the largest downward contribution (of 0.13 percentage points) to the change in the CPIH 12-month inflation rate came from clothing and footwear. Prices, overall, fell by 1.5% between January 2021 and February 2021, compared with a rise of 0.9% between the same two months a year ago.” It was noted that is movement is as a result of the adverse effect of Covid-19.
Notably, the downward movement were partially offset by large upward contributions from rising prices for motor fuels, and housing and household services overall.
Furthermore, “as a result of the ongoing restrictions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in February 2021, the number of CPIH items identified as unavailable was 69, accounting for 8.3% of the basket by weight; this is unchanged from January 2021 but lower than the 72 items that were unavailable during the lockdown in November 2020; for the February 2021 price collection, we collected a weighted total of 81.1% of comparable coverage collected before the first lockdown (excluding unavailable items),” as per Office of National Statistics.
Disclaimer:
Analyst Certification -The views expressed in this research report accurately reflect the personal views of Mayberry Investments Limited Research Department about those issuer (s) or securities as at the date of this report. Each research analyst (s) also certify that no part of their compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendation(s) or view (s) expressed by that research analyst in this research report.
Company Disclosure -The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. You are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Mayberry may effect transactions or have positions in securities mentioned herein. In addition, employees of Mayberry may have positions and effect transactions in the securities mentioned herein.
