Please find below, an update on markets, received this afternoon from Blackfinch – 25/04/2022
- Retail sales fell 1.4% in March, following a 0.5% drop in February, according to the Office for National Statistics, as people cut back on fuel and food spending amid soaring prices. Overall, sales volumes were 2.2% above pre-pandemic levels in February 2020.
- 2,114 UK businesses became insolvent in March, more than double the figure in March 2021 (999), and 34% higher than the pre-pandemic figure of 1,582 in March 2019.
- In April, the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the UK services sector dropped materially from March’s 10-month high, while the new orders index plunged to 54.6, down from 60.4 in February. The slowdown also caused firms to slow their pace of hiring; the employment index fell to 55.8 – its lowest level since April 2021 – from 58.4 in March.
- The UK government set out 26 new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, including sanctions on military figures and defence companies.
- The European Commission’s confidence indicator rose by 1.8 points to -16.9 in the eurozone, and by two points to -17.6 in the wider European Union (EU).
- Consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 7.4% in March, rather than 7.5% as previously estimated, according to the EU’s statistics office Eurostat. Energy prices surged 44.4% in March, while unprocessed food cost 7.8% more. Even after stripping out these volatile components, annual inflation reached 3.2% in March, well above the European Central Bank’s 2% target.
- Production in the 19 eurozone countries rose 0.7% in February from January, according to Eurostat. The biggest monthly increases were in Italy (up 4%), Croatia (up 2.7%) and Ireland (up 2.4%).
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded global growth forecasts with 2022 gross domestic product (GDP) growth revised to 3.6%, down from January’s prediction of 4.4%.
- The IMF said UK economic growth was expected to match growth in US during 2022, but will slump in 2023, taking the UK to the bottom of the league table of comparable economies in the G7 group of countries. The UK is also expected to face the highest inflation.
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David Purcell
25th April 2022