Bloomberg US consumer prices soared last year by the most in nearly four decades, illustrating red-hot inflation that sets the stage for the start of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes as soon as March. The consumer price index climbed 7% in 2021, the largest 12-month gain since June 1982, according to Labour Department data. The widely followed inflation gauge rose ...

  Bloomberg Britain’s poorest households are facing a 3 billion pound ($4.1 billion) squeeze on living standards in April when their benefits will rise by half the expected rate of inflation, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said. To protect those on low incomes from the looming spike in energy in bills, the government should change this year’s benefit uprating to ...

  Bloomberg Italy’s government is working on a spending package that won’t require revising its budget to expand the deficit. The measures could be announced as early as next week and would bring targeted relief to sectors hit by the surge in Covid-19 infections, such as tourism, the people said, asking not to be named discussing confidential plans. The package ...