UK economy facing ‘pronounced recession’ March 24, 2026 The war in the Middle East is “stalling growth” in the UK economy, fresh data has shown, as economists warned that a “pronounced recession” will come if energy prices stay high. A monthly survey of business activity across the country has suggested that there was a slowdown in output as well as a fall in [...]
UK recession is ‘real possibility’ as Reeves meets City analysts March 24, 2026 The UK economy faces a “real possibility” of falling into a recession, a City economist has warned, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves and pensions minister Torsten Bell met with gilt analysts to discuss the shock from the war in the Middle East. The Chancellor invited top economists from firms key to the gilt markets to the [...]
Wall Street private credit fears grow as Apollo blocks withdrawals March 24, 2026 Wall Street’s private credit crisis has spread further as further asset management giants blocked withdrawals from flagship funds. Apollo Global Management became the latest shadow bank to cap redemptions from one its biggest private credit funds after investors tried to pull $1.6bn (£1.1bn) over the last three months, as investor worries over the $3 trillion [...]
Government borrowing costs set for worst month since Liz Truss March 23, 2026 The government’s short-term borrowing costs were on course to have their worst month since Liz Truss’s ignominious mini-Budget, until the news of United States’ talks with Iran led traders to unwind bets future interest rate hikes. The two-year gilt yield jumped by eight basis points on Monday morning, meaning the interest rate on the government’s [...]
Manic Monday: How Trump rocked global markets March 23, 2026 President Donald Trump sent global markets on a rollercoaster ride as traders were left stunned by mixed messages coming from the US administration and the Iranian regime. The Brent Crude oil price was trading around $114 per barrel before Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was pausing strikes due to “productive” [...]
Britain risks regulating itself into irrelevance on digital assets March 23, 2026 The contrast between approaches to regulating digital assets in the US and the UK is becoming increasingly hard to ignore, says Lord Ranger Before travelling to Washington last week, I argued that the future of digital finance will be defined by those who move from intent to execution – and what I found there confirmed [...]
Starmer admits defence upgrade doesn’t have enough funding March 23, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer has admitted the government’s proposed defence plan does not have enough as he vowed to “resolve” the rift between the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence. The Prime Minister admitted a target to raise spending on defence from 2.5 per cent of GDP in 2027 to 3.5 per cent in 2035 required [...]
How the Bank of England will read into outdated inflation data March 23, 2026 Can data be redundant? The Office for National Statistics will this week give the impression that inflation is stable. Economists have predicted the consumer price index inflation print for the year to February to come in at three per cent, like last month, which would have otherwise made for satisfactory reading. But the figures precede [...]
Mortgage deals shrink by a fifth since outbreak of Iran war March 23, 2026 The number of mortgage deals on offer for homeowners have shrunk by nearly a fifth since war broke out in Iran just over three weeks ago. Just shy of 1,500 fewer residential mortgages were available on Monday morning, compared with March 9, amounting to a contraction of 19.5 per cent. According to financial information platform [...]
Trump’s call to pause strikes in Iran boosts markets March 23, 2026 Global markets leaped on news that President Trump paused strikes on Iranian infrastructure as he hinted that negotiations had been “very good and productive”. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – plunged back to below $100 per barrle after having jumped to $112 earlier in the day. The FTSE 100 also rose [...]