Headline Consumer Price Inflation for August rose by 0.3% to 2.9%, higher than market expectations of 2.8% and the Bank of England’s (BoE) own projection of 2.7%.

Equity markets largely shrugged off last Sunday’s grave news that North Korea said it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded onto a missile, together with rumours that it was preparing for a possible launch of another intercontinental ballistic missile.

The weekend symposium in Jackson Hole, an annual gathering of global central bankers, failed to provide fresh insight into monetary policy for the US and Europe. So, expectations of guidance on unwinding extraordinary monetary policy have been pushed out to September meetings.

Various battles have been fought over the consequences of Brexit, but for the UK economy it has appeared to be business as usual following the release of revised Q2 GDP figures this week. However, delving into the detail does provide some cause for concern. The second Q2 2017 GDP estimate was confirmed at 0.3%, in line with the preliminary estimate.