We bring you a shortened week in review to mark the end of this four-day working week as we move into Easter. But the holiday weekend has been overshadowed by Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Belgium, which left more than 30 people dead in co-ordinated explosions at Zaventem airport, and Maalbeek metro station.
In economic news, February’s UK inflation figures remained well below the Bank of England’s 2% target for the 26th consecutive month, at 0.3%. The Office for National Statistics noted that prices of cars and bikes had become cheaper, while food prices rose. The consensus opinion among economists is for core inflation to stay below 1% this year despite the recent weakening of sterling. When the pound falls, this makes imported goods more expensive, potentially pushing up inflation, but it seems the effects of the currency’s previous strength are still being felt.
Across the pond, the election race is heating up as both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump extended their winning streaks on Tuesday by taking Arizona, a key win due to its size. Clinton, however, lost to rival Bernie Sanders in Idaho and Utah as Trump lost to Ted Cruz in Utah. Meanwhile, President Obama was the first US president to visit Cuba in 88 years. Obama aims to improve diplomatic relations between the countries and end the trade embargo in place since 1959.
In corporate news, Sports Direct’s woes continued after its founder Mike Ashley told journalists the company was “not trading very well”. Shares in the company fell 10%, though a subsequent clarification from the company insisted that his statement apparently didn’t actually constitute a profits warning.
The terrorist attacks in Belgium had prompted a sell-off in markets across Europe, but in what was otherwise a quiet week of trading, the market recovered and the FTSE 100 index ended the week to the close on Wednesday up by 0.15%.
