Market Commentary: Wednesday 18th March

Global equity markets have been recovering for a third day. The MSCI All Country World Index rose 0.4%, while overnight Asian shares climbed 2.2%, driven mostly by technology stocks as Nvidia’s positive comments renewed optimism in artificial intelligence.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz looks unlikely without a ceasefire in the Iran war. Iran has continued sporadic attacks on vessels, cutting traffic through the strait, which carries one-fifth of the world’s oil. European and Asian countries have been reluctant to send warships to escort commercial vessels. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has indicated she faces a diplomatic challenge as she heads to Washington after Japan ruled out deploying naval vessels to Hormuz. Iraq has reached a deal to resume oil exports via Turkey, avoiding the Strait of Hormuz; Brent dropped to $101 per barrel following the news.

On today’s economic calendar, we have Eurozone February CPI at 10:00 AM, the Bank of Canada’s rate decision at 1:45 PM, and all eyes will be on the FOMC rate decision at 6:00 PM, where the Fed is expected to hold rates at 3.75%.

• Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $74,053.31
• Ether fell 0.2% to $2,324.56
• Spot gold was little changed at $5,008.55/oz

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