Although falls in the price of oil were expected to drag down consumer price inflation, there were also falls in food, alcohol and tobacco while so-called "core inflation", which strips out volatile items like energy, remained stuck at 1.0pc in December. The ECB will struggle to succeed in its aim of getting inflation rates close to 2pc. It may not be able to lift interest rates as planned, as that would depress inflation further. However, US jobs data yesterday showed that December was the best month since February with 312,000 new jobs added. The world's largest economy created 2.6m jobs last year, more than previously thought and compared with 2.2m in 2017.

Source: Irish Independent January 05, 2019 02:26 UTC