Traders See BOE Cut This Year After Inflation Holds Steady

UK inflation unexpectedly held steady in September after food bills fell for the first time in 16 months, prompting a surge in market bets on a Bank of England interest-rate cut before the end of the year.

Consumer prices rose 3.8% from a year earlier, the same pace as in the previous month, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. It was below the 4% economists and the BOE were expecting with only one forecaster surveyed by Bloomberg predicting unchanged inflation.