Don't be fooled by the UK's pre-war inflation print — a 'brutal' surge could be coming 

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The U.K. inflation rate stood firm at 3% in February, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which marked the last reading before the start of the Iran war.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the consumer price index to remain unchanged from the previous month.

Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco, stood at 3.2% in February, up from 3.1% in January.

“After last month’s slowdown, annual inflation was unchanged. The largest upwards driver was the price of clothing, which rose this month but fell a year ago,” Grant Fitzner, the chief economist at ONS, commented on X.