The infoshot to help kick-start your week
Last Week
Federal Reserve officials expect higher interest rates to remain in place until further progress is made, according to minutes released on Wednesday from the Fed’s December meeting. Notably, none of the FOMC members expect rate cuts in 2023, despite market pricing; current pricing indicates the possibility of a small reduction in rates by the end of the year. In the short term, markets await the US CPI print this Thursday, which will help determine the size of the next rate hike.
China’s most recent Covid surge is crippling some of the world’s most important factories, and biggest ports, with around half of the labour force in many locations being infected and unable to work. Freight booking cancellations are increasing at the ports of Shanghai and Shenzhen and logistics managers are warning of heavily reduced production volumes following the lunar new year, with disruption expected to last through February.
A new scheme to support firms with their energy bills is due to be announced in the House of Commons on Monday. The current scheme, which caps the unit cost of gas/electricity for all businesses expires at the end of March, and is set to be replaced by one which offers discounts on wholesale prices, rather than a fixed price. The move comes after Chancellor Hunt’s statement last week, where he told industry leaders that the current support is ‘unsustainably expensive’.
Market Pulse
Coming Up
- US CPI data (YoY Dec) released 12th January, forecasted at 6.5%
- UK GDP data (YoY, QoQ) released 13th January
Notice:
The performance of each asset class is represented by certain Exchange Traded Funds available to UK investors and expressed in GBP terms selected by Copia Capital Management to represent that asset class, as reported at previous Thursday 4:30pm UK close. Reference to a particular asset class does not represent a recommendation to seek exposure to that asset class. This information is included for comparison purposes for the period stated, but is not an indicator of potential maximum loss for other periods or in the future.Open document settingsOpen publish panel
