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For this week's Market Call Gareth and Jeremy are joined again by Scott Evans of the London Business School and the Deutsche Numis Equity Indices. Scott talks about market performance in Q1 2024. Where have markets come from, how have they performed in Q1, and where are they going? Bond yields have risen, inflation is sticky, and rates are higher for longer. Equities have had a good quarter, albeit the Magnificent Seven have not been quite so magnificent. The UK, by comparison, has been lacklustre. Gold has been the Q1 showstopper, and the main buyer seems to have been China's central bank, the POBC. Are they about to devalue the Red Cabbage or launch a military campaign?

In Q1, small caps underperformed large caps in Q1 in UK and US. The UK IPO market remains moribund. There have been more deaths than births in the UK market YTD. Is the UK stock market just a dumpster fire, or can it recover? Gareth is hopeful for a recovery.

Jeremy highlights the Middle East conflict, its limited impact on financial markets, and what to look for going forward. The big news is UK inflation, but he remains sceptical that the UK will cut rates ahead of the Fed.

Gareth discusses the week's company news, highlighting the Severfield results with a strong order book and a share buyback.

In next week's news, Jeremy highlights US PCE inflation data and the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision.

Made possible by Progressive Equity.