UK households gloomy for 2019, lower inflation eases near-term worries

British households' hopes for their finances over the year ahead remain near a five-year low, due to growing concern about job security ahead of Brexit, though easing inflation pressures have offered some short-term cheer.
IHS Markit said its monthly Household Finances Index picked up to a three-month high in January, on the back of households' perception that their living costs were rising at the slowest rate since October 2016.
The official measure of consumer price inflation dropped to its lowest in nearly two years in December at 2.1 percent.
But households' expectations for their finances over the year to come, when Britain is due to leave the European Union, remained close to their lowest level since early 2014.