UK Shop Prices Surge Amid Energy Inflation and Pharma Price Commitments
The UK's shop prices have risen at their fastest pace since 2024, according to recent data. The increase is largely due to higher energy costs, which are pushing up headline inflation. This has led to a 2.9% year-over-year jump in German headline inflation, with the European inflation measure also reaching the same level.
Meanwhile, US President Trump announced that nine new pharmaceutical companies have committed to keeping prices low. This brings the total number of companies to 26, which represent around 90% of the pharma market.
In a separate development, business conditions in Japan's manufacturing sector continued to improve significantly in August. Firms reported sharp increases in production and new work, with sales growth reaching its highest level since January 2018.