PREVIOUS TRADING DAY EVENTS 19 April 2023

Announcements 

At 900 the GBP experienced a great appreciation intraday as the inflationrelated figures were released. It is clear that the U.K. has an inflation problem as this has been reported on Wednesday with the 10.1 increase in its headline Consumer Prices Index. This was lower than Februarys 10.4 but above the 9.8 forecast by economists polled by Reuters and the 9.2 predicted by the BoE in February. A second significant upside surprise boosted the expectations of aggressive interest rate hikes from the BOE in May.

The U.K. is the only country in Western Europe with doubledigit inflation in March. Its headline inflation rate is now the highest within Western Europe compared to the average of 6.9 in the Eurozone and 5.0 in the United States. Austria recorded a higher inflation rate than Britain in February.

Its now clear the UK has an inflation problem that is worse and more persistent than in Europe and the U.S., said Ed Monk, associate director of personal investing at asset manager Fidelity International.

Price rises here are proving more difficult to neutralise and the Bank of England will almost certainly add at least one more quarterpoint hike to borrowing costs.

Source httpswww.reuters.comworldukukinflationratefalls101marchons20230419textConsumer price inflation CPI dropped,by the BoE in February.

The final CPI figures released yesterday were as expected. The euro areas annual inflation rate was 6.9 in…