Weekly Key Data Points – Week Commencing 06/04/2020

Daniel Casali provides a round-up of key market activity during the week of 6th April.

Monday 6 April

• Financial regulators have freed up about $500bn of capital for lenders around the world, which gives lenders the capacity to make an extra $5tn of loans globally.
• Signs of the coronavirus peaking in continental Europe gave markets a sense of optimism as global stock markets rose.
• Reports suggest that shutting down the economy will cost Britain £2.4bn a day.
• UK March GfK Consumer Confidence -34 vs -9 last month.

Tuesday 7 April

• Global markets continued to rise amidst positive data from Europe that suggested that the rate of infections was beginning to flatten.
• UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson was taken into intensive care with the coronavirus.
• Property sales are thought to be down 70% in the UK, according to Zoopla.

Wednesday 8 April

• EU finance ministers saw talks break down yet again as they failed to agree an economic response. An estimated €1.5tn is needed to support the EU countries, but countries such as Germany and the Netherlands fear they will end up carrying other countries’ debts.
• More than 1bn people are vulnerable to job losses or sharp wage cuts because of measures to lockdown economies and fight the spread of the coronavirus, according to the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation.

Thursday 9 April

• The Institute for Employment Studies says that up to 2m workers have lost their jobs in the biggest blow to British employment ever.
• Oil prices rose to more than $32 a barrel as positive sentiment that OPEC+ will agree to cut the supply of oil.
• British companies have paused £25bn worth of dividend payouts as they look to hold onto cash; more than £52bn dividend payments are also thought to be at risk.
• The UK government has agreed to borrow billions from its emergency Bank of England overdraft in a controversial move that sees the bank handing cash directly to the government.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Please remember investment involves risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and investors may not receive back the original amount invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.

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