Market Commentary

Your retirement planning options could need review after the Budget changes to the lifetime allowance and the annual allowance. When the current pension tax regime was introduced 17 years ago, it had two new constraints:     The lifetime allowance set the effective maximum tax efficient value of your retirement benefits. It started at £1.5…

The highlight this week was the UK inflation data announced on Wednesday morning by the Office for National Statistics. Having proven stickier than many had predicted in recent months, there was a collective sigh of relief to see inflation fall from an annual rate of 8.7% in May to 7.9% in June. The figure was…

It was a positive week for equity markets, with investors cheering better-than-expected inflation numbers in the States. The data on Wednesday showed that consumer price inflation rose at 3% on an annual basis in June, down from 4% in May. The figure was lower than the 3.1% economists had predicted. Having peaked last June at…

Trading volumes were low this week as our friends across the pond celebrated the 4th July. On Monday, we saw both Saudi Arabia and Russia announce further oil production cuts. Their hope is that by reducing supply, they will support a higher oil price, which has fallen significantly from roughly $130 a barrel (Brent) in…

The leaders of the world’s top central banks convened this week in Sintra, Portugal, not for an early summer holiday, but to discuss their views on the global economy in the year ahead. Investors were keen to hear the individual progress reports on how their battles against inflation were unfolding. The general theme communicated was…

Despite expectations that inflation would fall, the Office for National Statistics announced on Wednesday that consumer price inflation in the UK remained at an annual rate of 8.7% in May. Having seen a reduction in the US and other European nations in recent weeks, the UK bucked the trend and continues to see the fastest…

Investment markets were broadly lower over the week as market sentiment remained fragile. Despite continued talks about raising the US debt ceiling, no agreement has yet been reached and, closer-to-home, inflation data in the UK caused concern. On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the latest UK inflation data. On the positive side,…

This week, investors took comfort from the encouraging signs regarding the negotiations in the States to raise their debt ceiling, with US President Joe Biden saying he was “confident” of reaching an agreement before the deadline. For context, the debt ceiling was established in 1917 to give the US Treasury Department flexibility in managing the…

On Wednesday, we saw the latest inflation data released in the United States. With expectations that there would be no change from the March figure of 5%, the market was pleased to see a slight fall in April to 4.9%. The fall marked the 10th monthly decline since peaking in June last year at 9.1%…

Whilst earnings season continued, attention this week turned to the Federal Reserve (Fed) which met to decide interest rates in the United States. In line with expectations, the US central bank raised interest rates 0.25% to a target range between 5% and 5.25%, which sees interest rates in the States at their highest level for…