By Greg Smith on Monday, April 11th, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – GDP, Employment and inflation data due On the back of a strong start to the year, we expect a 0.2% increase in GDP for February. The first-quarter growth overall looks likely to be stronger than expected partly because of less impact from Omicron. The outlook could weaken further if the war in Ukraine […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, March 21st, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Bank of England hike, Spring statement watched As expected the Bank of England delivered a rate hike of 0.25% to 0.75%. One of the nine MPC members voted to leave rates unchanged. On a more dovish note, the language softened to “some further modest tightening in monetary policy ‘may be’ appropriate”. Inflation is […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, March 14th, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Bank of England expected to raise rates again Developments in Ukraine will be high on the agenda of the Bank of England’s meeting this week. The Monetary Policy Committee has raised rates at the last two meetings in response to inflation moving higher. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, commodity prices have risen sharply […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, March 7th, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Crisis in Ukraine deepens, affecting markets further The tragic situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate. Financial markets remain volatile, with significant increases in energy prices. There will clearly be an economic impact globally. Equity markets have fallen sharply across the world. There have been sharp rises in other commodities including industrial metals and […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, February 28th, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Ukraine crisis concerns everyone The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a key focus for markets. A Russian incursion was expected in the breakaway Ukrainian provinces. Very few people anticipated such a large invasion, which led to market turmoil, with shares falling and oil and gas prices rising. With ongoing war in Ukraine […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, February 21st, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Inflation at 30-year high with tight employment market This week, Bank of England Governor Bailey and three other Committee members will testify to the House of Common’s Treasury Select Committee about their February update. They raised interest rates for the second successive meeting. Markets are pricing in rate hikes at the March and […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, February 14th, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Inflation to hold firm, Employment data The most important market data this week is the inflation and labour market data. Inflation has been higher than forecasts for the last three months, hitting 5.4% in December. Most of the increase has been goods and energy prices, but the Bank of England is concerned about […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, February 7th, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – 0.25% increase from hawkish BoE As many were expecting, a hawkish Bank of England delivered its second interest rate increase in as many months, doubling the base rate to 0.5%. More surprisingly, however, is that 4 members of the committee voted for a bigger 0.5% rise. Governor Andrew Bailey expects further increases to […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, January 31st, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Second rate hike looms with higher inflation The main focus this week will be the Bank of England’s latest monetary policy decision. In December, interest rates were hiked by 15bp to 0.25%. Official data has shown UK economic output returning to its pre-pandemic level. Inflation remains higher than expected, hitting 5.4% in December, […]
By Greg Smith on Monday, January 24th, 2022
in Blog, Market Insights
GBP – Conservative partygate, inflation continues higher Much of the media focus on the UK has been around the prime minister, partygate and the Conservative party attempts to replace him. The market impact has been limited with no expected change to UK economic policy with a different Conservative in charge. Ongoing geopolitical tension around whether […]
