CPIx, the consumer pressure indexUK and US
CPIx UK
61.3out of 100
Rising pressure
Down 0.6 on the week · As of 2026-08-17
Enough of the underlying series are moving together to be worth a look.
CPIx UK in fullCPIx US
65.4out of 100
Elevated stress
Down 0.2 on the week · As of 2026-08-27
Pressure is materially above trend across several of the categories at once.
CPIx US in fullCPIx is a 0 to 100 reading of how stretched households are, built from six published economic series and a layer of higher-frequency behavioural data. Briefed recomputes it every morning against the most recent published data, which is why each reading carries its own date. History runs back to 2008 for the UK and 2002 for the US.
It is not the ONS Consumer Price Index. CPI measures how much prices moved. CPIx is a different thing entirely: an estimate of the pressure on households, from us rather than from a statistics authority.
Method.
The macro anchor is six published series, each normalised and weighted. A behavioural layer of higher-frequency data sits alongside it at equal weight.
Limits.
It is one number
A composite compresses six series and a behavioural layer into a single reading. That is useful for direction and useless for detail. If you need to know which of those is moving, the components are the answer, not the score.
It is ours, not official
CPIx is published by Briefed. It is not an ONS statistic, it is not regulated, and nobody audits it. Cite it as what it is.
It disagrees with the official read, on purpose
The macro anchor reflects what the ONS and the Bank of England publish. The behavioural layer reflects what households are doing. When real wages improve while discount-seeking stays high, the index sits between the two rather than picking one. That tension is the interesting part.
It is not a forecast
It describes pressure now, from data already published. It does not predict what happens next, and it is not built to be traded on.
Quote it. Just credit us.
CPIx is published free and journalists are welcome to use it. No licence, no permission, no form. Credit Briefed and link to this page so a reader can check the reading for themselves.
As of 2026-08-17, CPIx UK stands at 61.3 out of 100 (Rising pressure), down 0.6 points on the previous week.
Questions about the method go to the newsroom, and corrections are published against the reading they belong to.
Media
Everything Briefed publishes.
Two titles, an archive going back to the first edition, and the standards they are written to.