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In our Market Monday insights, Prosperity Investment Management examines the latest developments across the globe's biggest financial markets - providing you with all the latest information you need to know.
The Bank of England has raised its base interest rate to 1%, the highest since 2009, in a renewed effort to stem the growing cost of living crisis.
Amid the backdrop of an increasingly volatile economy, the BoE approved the rise as a means of battling rising inflation - which is already at a 30-year high and is widely tipped to exceed 10% in 2022.
Despite raising the figure, the BoE has also issued a stark warning about a potential recession ahead.
In the US, further sanctions have been imposed on Russia - targeting services, Russian media and the defence sector. They include a ban on the sale of US services to Russia such as accountancy, no more US advertising on three state-controlled television stations, technology export bans including industrial engines and bulldozers and further visa restrictions on another 2,600 Russian and Belarusian individuals - including military officials and executives from Sberbank and Gazprombank.
German manufacturing orders fell by a greater-than-expected 4.7% in March, driven by lower foreign orders - especially from outside the eurozone. Industrial production dropped 3.9% in the largest decline since the start of the pandemic. The statistics office attributed the decline to supply chain disruptions due to pandemic restrictions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, EU retail sales volumes slipped 0.4%, with mail order and internet sales recording the biggest falls.
Chinese markets fell as Beijing showed no sign of relaxing its zero-tolerance approach to coronavirus - raising worries about the economic cost of widespread lockdowns. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.5% and the blue chip CSI 300 Index, which tracks the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, sank 2.7%.
