UK Inflation Rises, Burns Rate Cut Bets

Bad news: UK inflation ticked up in December. Headline consumer prices rose 4% last month, ONS said Wednesday. That was warmer than the 3.8% economists expected and marked a slight acceleration from November's pace. The headline, 12-month rate of price growth in the UK last rose in February. Put another way, December's uptick was the first increase in 10 months. Headline CPI moderated sharply in October as increases in household energy bills fell out of the annual comps, and the downward mo