Today, our Director of Investment Strategy, Chris Leyland covers the recent market movements in oil prices and the broader geopolitical and socio-economic drivers behind them. We also get a performance overview of asset markets and the impact of bond yields for investors and their returns.

This morning, Investment Director Paul Durrans looks at the UK inflation trends. UK inflation is on a downward trend, but services inflation remains a key focus for the Bank of England and the prospect of interest rate cuts. Also discussed are the latest comments from the Chair of the Federal Reserve who yesterday pulled back from the prospect of interest rate cuts anytime soon in the US.

This morning, we discuss recent UK employment data, outlining that although unemployment has risen to 4.2%, real wage growth has remained positive and this could cause the Bank of England to review interest rates in the coming months. How have markets reacted to the current economy and recent employment data?

Jeff Casson, Chief Investment Officer, addresses the recent geopolitical tensions and how it has affected markets, highlighting the important consideration of how asset markets are dealing with it and reflecting it? In the UK the focus will be jobs, inflation and retail data informing if and when a reduction in interest rates from the Bank of England will take place.

Our expert Investment Management team discuss the strength of US economic activity, its inflation data and the weak inflation report coming out of China. We also cover the European Central Bank’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged and discuss the encouraging economic data from the UK.

Our Investment Director, Paul Durrans, reviews the latest US inflation report, outlining that inflation has risen to 3.5% against the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. This has been caused by strong consumer demand in the services industry, driving prices higher and boosting growth in the economy. How has rising US inflation and economic growth affected markets overall?

As we look ahead to announcements later this week, data remains strong and points to GDP expansion across all major economies. Our Head of Asset Allocation, Kevin Kidney, explains the remarkably positive forecast for US corporate earnings expectations over the next 3 years and how that sentiment is being shared globally, with equity markets being the primary beneficiary.

The British Retail Consortium have reported the fastest rate of growth since August last year, exceeding the market consensus. Matt Henderson, portfolio manager, explains the contributing economic factors and highlights the easing in the cost of living crisis and UK wage growth, to be contributing factors to the improved figures.

The strength of the US jobs report last week has turned attention to the Federal Reserve and it’s decision on interest rate cuts, with speeches from many FED Board members in the past week, playing down the possibility of a rate cut in the near term. Jeff Casson, Chief Investment Officer, discusses the upcoming US CPI data, the minutes from the Federal Reserve March meeting as well as the upcoming ECB meeting and inflation data from China.

Our expert Investment Management team review the US employment figures which are exceeding market expectations, adding over 300,000 jobs to the US economy. They also cover the survey data for service and manufacturing for both the US and China, exploring the shifting dynamics within the Chinese economy and the nuances that come into financial forecasting.