{"id":4550,"date":"2026-02-19T07:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/sterling-wobbles-as-u-k-inflation-dropped-to-lowest-in-10-months\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T07:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T07:38:13","slug":"sterling-wobbles-as-u-k-inflation-dropped-to-lowest-in-10-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/sterling-wobbles-as-u-k-inflation-dropped-to-lowest-in-10-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Sterling Wobbles as U.K. Inflation Dropped to Lowest in 10 Months"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>U.K. CPI eased to 3.0% year-on-year in January 2026, down from 3.4% in December last year. This marked its lowest reading in ten months, as lower fuel prices and cheaper airfares weighed heavily on the headline figure.<\/p>\n<p>On a monthly basis, CPI fell 0.5% in January 2026, compared with a decline of just 0.1% a year earlier. The broader CPIH measure \u2014 which includes owner-occupiers\u2019 housing costs and is considered the ONS\u2019s most comprehensive inflation gauge \u2014 fell to 3.2% annually, down from 3.6% in December.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key points from the U.K. CPI Report<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> <strong>Headline CPI: 3.0% year-on-year<\/strong> (January 2026), down from 3.4% in December 2025<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Monthly CPI: -0.5% <\/strong>in January 2026, compared with -0.1% in January 2025<\/li>\n<li> <strong>Core CPI (ex-energy, food, alcohol, tobacco): 3.1%<\/strong>, down from 3.2% \u2014 the lowest since September 2021<\/li>\n<li> <strong>CPI goods inflation: 1.6%<\/strong>, down from 2.2% in December<\/li>\n<li> <strong>CPI services inflation: 4.4%<\/strong>, down from 4.5% in December<\/li>\n<li> <strong>RPI: 3.8% annually<\/strong>, down from 4.2% \u2014 the all-items index fell from 408.5 to 406.4<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The single largest contributor to the monthly decline was the transport division, where prices fell 1.8% on the month compared with only a 0.5% decline a year earlier. Petrol prices dropped 3.1 pence per litre between December 2025 and January 2026, reversing a 0.8p rise seen in the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Airfares added a notable secondary downward effect. Fares typically spike in December and unwind in January, which saw a decline of roughly 26.5% on the month.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Link to official ONS U.K. Consumer Price Index (January 2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In addition, private school fees provided a meaningful downward contribution in January 2026. Fees rose sharply by 12.7% a year earlier when VAT was applied to private school tuition for the first time. No equivalent price change occurred in January 2026, producing a sizeable base effect that dragged on the annual rate.<\/p>\n<p>Food and non-alcoholic beverages fell 0.1% on the month, also a notable change from a rise of 0.9% a year earlier.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Promotion: Master your trading psychology with AI-powered insights! <strong>TradeZella helps you track, backtest, and eliminate bad habits automatically! Click on the link and use code \u201cPIPS20\u201d to save 20%!<\/strong><small><br \/> <em>Disclosure: To help support our free daily content, we may earn a commission from our partners if you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>Market Reactions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>British Pound vs. Major Currencies: 15-min<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sterling\u2019s reaction to the data was mixed across the major currency pairs, reflecting a degree of divergence in how markets interpreted the CPI print relative to the recent recalibration of the Bank of England\u2019s policy path.<\/p>\n<p>GBP immediately weakened against CHF (-0.34%) and USD (-0.45%), sustaining its steady selloff in the hours that followed the release. Sterling also chalked up gradual declines against EUR (-0.08%) and AUD (-0.12%) but managed to trim losses as the session went on.<\/p>\n<p>On the flip side, the U.K. currency barely dipped against JPY (+0.15%) while also fighting to stay afloat against NZD (+0.11%).<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Promotion:<\/strong> Lux Trading Firm funds with real capital (up to $10M in buying power) and refunds evaluation fee 100% after Stage 1. Get a certified track record, no time limits and a focus on institutional-grade execution. It\u2019s designed for those looking for a career, not a contest.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn More at Lux Trading Firm<\/strong><br \/> <small><em>Disclosure: To help support our free daily content, we may earn a commission from our partners if you sign up through our links, at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.K. CPI eased to 3.0% year-on-year in January 2026, down from 3.4% in December last year. This marked its lowest reading in ten months, as lower fuel prices and cheaper airfares weighed heavily on the headline figure. On a monthly basis, CPI fell 0.5% in January 2026, compared with a decline of just 0.1% a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415.png",780,415,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415-300x160.png",300,160,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415-768x409.png",640,341,true],"large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415.png",640,341,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415.png",780,415,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415.png",780,415,false],"morenews-featured":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415.png",780,415,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415.png",780,415,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415-590x410.png",590,410,true],"crawlomatic_preview_image":["https:\/\/ft365.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4550-260219_uk-cpi-780x415-260x138.png",260,138,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"henry","author_link":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/author\/henry\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/category\/latest-news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Latest News<\/a>","tag_info":"Latest News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ft365.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}