Market Commentary: Monday 10th March

Inflation is back on the agenda this week. We get to see US CPI data for February on Wednesday and PPI on Thursday. Why is this important? This will be the first full month of data under the administration of President Donald Trump since his re-election.

Domestically, we have the BoE Quarterly Bulletin today at midday, and on Friday, we get the Trade Balance and Manufacturing Production data.

Overnight, it was a mixed session in Asia. The Nikkei is up 0.38%, while the Hang Seng fell 1.8%, reportedly due to the uncertainty surrounding Trump 2.0’s firings, tariffs, and subsequent retaliations. Gold inched up, while oil fell to near its lowest level since September as weak economic data from China compounded a gloomy demand outlook. Bitcoin fell 1% to $82,262.74, while Ether rose 0.8% to $2,064.15. The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.29%, while UK 10-year yields also fell two basis points to 4.64%.

Back to the inflation story—and don’t forget it’s Cheltenham week. Over the four days last year, 250,000 pints of Guinness were consumed at £7.50 a pint. This year, it's going up to £7.80—a 4% increase. Now that’s real inflation!