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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.
Economic growth in the United Kingdom slowed abruptly to 0.1% in February, official figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
After a 0.8% monthly rise in January, the stall in the country’s economic recovery has been attributed to a decline in production and construction output.
The figures are a slight decline on economists estimates, who predicted growth would decline to 0.3% when polled by Reuters.
However, the UK economy is still 1.5% larger than in February 2020, just before the financial shockwave of lockdowns induced by the coronavirus pandemic took effect.
Driven by a sharp decline in production of cars and computer goods, which is exacerbated by the continuing global semiconductor shortage, the downturn was offset by growth in the services sector - including travel and tourism. Activity in the health sector dropped by 3.8% due to a decrease in Test & Trace and the NHS vaccination programme.
In Europe, investor morale in the eurozone fell to its lowest level in nearly two years in April, according to a monthly survey conducted by German market research group Sentix.
Economic data provided more evidence of a gathering slowdown in Germany. German factory orders fell sharply in February, mainly by a decline in foreign orders. It was the first drop in orders after three consecutive months of gains.
In the United States, new jobless figures appear to suggest the economy is proving resilient in the face of growing inflation and the war in Ukraine. Weekly jobless claims fell much more than expected to 166,000 - the lowest number since 1968. Continuing claims rose unexpectedly, however.
In China, Shanghai has been under a citywide, two-stage lockdown that began on March 28 in an effort to stop the virus’s spread. With 23 Chinese cities currently under total or partial lockdown, Nomura has estimated that 193 million people are affected in areas that account for 13.5% of China’s economy.
