PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - July 19

Financial Times

LUXURY MARKET FEELS THE PINCH AS SOARING PRICES COME TO A HALT

It appears as though even the wealthy are feeling the effects of the downturn as inflation in luxury goods and services has declined sharply in the past year. According to the Stonehage Affluent Luxury Living Index, inflation for a basket of expensive items including cigars, caviar, champagne and polo ponies has nearly halved to 3.3 per cent in the year to April. In 2006-07 its London index was running at six per cent, suggesting the free-spending rich were being hit by higher than average inflation. However, the figure is now more in line with the traditional Consumer Price Index which stands at 3.8 per cent.

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