Inflation eases less than expected, making another interest rate hike more likely

Rudi Suardi/Getty Images Easing inflation may give mortgage holders a reprieve on further repayment increases for now – but maybe not for long. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.5% in the year to July, down from 3.8% in the year to June. But that was a smaller fall than had been predicted. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, the trimmed mean, was unchanged at 3.6%. (The trimmed mean is the average rate of inflation after “trimming” away the items with…