The UK is not the only leading western nation battling with soaring inflation.
It emerged yesterday that US price rises accelerated by more than expected last month, pushing annual inflation up to 7.5% - the highest rate since 1982.
Inflation in Britain jumped to 5.4% in December.
The BBC says food and energy costs helped to drive the US increase, which left few spending categories untouched.
Rising prices are squeezing household finances in America as wages fail to keep pace.
Washington is under pressure to address the issue, with the US central bank expected to raise interest rates.
The worsening outlook for the US economy meant its stock markets had a tough time yesterday.
The Nasdaq Composite was down by more than 300 points at 14,185, the S&P 500 fell by 83 points to 4,504 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 526 points to 35,241.
Consumer spending by Americans has held strong for much of last year despite the rapidly-rising prices, which analysts say have been caused by a mix of robust demand, government spending, supply-chain hold-ups and pay increases following labour shortages.
Amazon, Netflix and Procter & Gamble are among the many firms that have announced price rises in recent months, citing higher costs. They have said they expect most households to absorb the increases.
President Joe Biden said his administration was making investments to ease supply-chain bottlenecks and had championed other policies aimed at lowering prices with increased competition.
But Thursday's report held some signs that inflationary pressures in the US may start to cool, noting that prices for new cars - one of the key drivers of inflation over the last year - were unchanged over the month, while the increases for used cars slowed.
FTSE 100
The top UK share index, the FTSE 100, had a good time on Thursday - finishing up 28 points at 7,672.
However, the gloomy news from across the Atlantic meant that the index started today in the red – dropping by 61.94 points to 7610.5.
The March contract for Brent crude was down 0.35% at $91.09 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
- Finals: British American Tobacco
- Trading update: Tate & Lyle