Please find below, a market update received from Blackfinch Group this morning – 11/04/2022
UK gross domestic product (GDP) rose just 0.1% in February, 0.2% less than economists expected. The UK economy is now around 1.5% larger than just before the UK’s first lockdowns two years ago, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The three storms, Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, which hit the UK in mid-February weighed on the construction sector, leading to a 0.1% drop in output.
UK house prices continued to surge in March, lifting the average house price to a new record high of more than £282,000. Since the first pandemic lockdown began two years ago, the average UK house price has jumped 18%, or £43,577.
UK households and businesses were hit by the biggest monthly jump in motor fuel prices in at least two decades. Average UK petrol and diesel pump prices increased by 11p and 22p per litre respectively in March, according to the RAC’s Fuel Watch.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to just 166,000, the lowest figure since 1968, according to the US Labor Department.
In the US, the total volume of mortgage applications fell another 6% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally-adjusted index. This left mortgage applications 41% lower than one year ago.
In the Republic of Ireland, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped 6.7% in the year to March 2022, the highest annual inflation rate since November 2000.
German manufacturing orders fell by an unexpected 2.2% in February, in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The decline, which was led by a drop in overseas orders, was much worse than economist forecasts of a 0.3% fall.
In Turkey, inflation soared to 61.1% in March, its highest reading since 2002 as rising energy and commodity costs intensified Turkey’s cost-of-living crisis.
As the UK Foreign Office joined the US in announcing sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters, it said it expects Russia’s GDP this year to contract by between 8.5% and 15%. Around £275bn, or 60% of Russian foreign currency reserves, are currently frozen, which has hampered Moscow’s ability to support its economy.
Russian consumer prices jumped 7.61% in March alone, the fastest monthly increase in inflation since 1999. Annual CPI inflation rose 16.69% in year-on-year terms in March, sharply up on February’s 9.15%.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that world food prices reached record highs in March as the war in Ukraine drove up prices. The FAO’s food prices index rose nearly 13% in March, adding to global inflationary pressures.
Global trade fell 2.8% between February and March as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hit imports and exports, according to the Kiel Institute of the World Economy.
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David Purcell
11th April 2022