#financial-markets

#financial-markets

The summit seems to have fallen short of already diminished expectations. While there were optics of cooperation between Trump and Xi Jinping, concrete deals — including on Nvidia chips or tariffs — were few. Trump just said that he rejected a proposal from Xi, China's leader, to help broker a peace between the U.S. and Iran, leaving the critical Strait of Hormuz effectively shut. Ultimately, the president is coming home to rising oil prices and a slumping bond market.

Official figures showed GDP grew by 0.3 per cent during the month after a 0.4 per cent rise in February, while the economy expanded by 0.6 per cent across the first quarter of 2026. The stronger-than-expected performance came even as global markets were rattled by surging oil prices, mounting instability in the Middle East and growing fears of a prolonged energy shock following the conflict involving Iran. Investors welcomed the figures as evidence that the British economy had so far remained more resilient than many analysts predicted.

The transaction reflects a broader push across financial markets to bring equities and other assets onto blockchain infrastructure, addressing a gap in tokenized markets.

The ETF itself is a bond fund that tracks a market of investment-grade U.S. agency mortgage-backed securities, meaning pools of home loans packaged into bonds and issued or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose more than 8 percent on Sunday to top $103 a barrel, marking the first time it exceeded the $100 threshold since Tuesday.

U.S. financial markets experienced a volatile week, largely influenced by geopolitical developments in the Middle East and fluctuations in energy prices. Investor sentiment was driven primarily by external events rather than domestic fundamentals.

The Efficient Market Hypothesis holds that the prices in any financial market already reflect all available information relevant to what's being traded within them.

In the wake of President Trump's warning about Iran, the rhetoric has softened, with the U.S. now engaged in negotiations, impacting various financial markets.

Global energy prices soared Thursday after Iran attacked two oil refineries in Kuwait and a key natural gas facility in Qatar that can supply one-fifth of the world's liquified natural gas. The attacks added to fears the energy crisis triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic may be longer and more extensive than feared, with lasting damage to oil and gas production.

Before the Iran war began, a rate cut at the Bank's next meeting on 19 March had been an 80% chance, but policymakers are now expected to wait to see how the conflict develops with a 99% probability of a hold at the meeting and no rate cuts for the rest of 2026, markets indicate.

It is becoming increasingly common for geopolitical incidents to have a direct impact on people's finances and this looks certain to happen again after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, sparking conflict across the Middle East. The latest escalation comes after a year in which US president Donald Trump instigated tariffs on nations around the world during the prolonged tension between Iran and Israel.

Employers added a healthy 130,000 jobs in January, the Labor Department said this week, as the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3%. The caveat? That announcement came with revisions that showed job creation flatlined over the last year, with only 15,000 jobs being added per month on average. Service sectors like finance and professional services that normally power the creation of high-paying office positions have instead been shedding jobs, perhaps reflecting employers' anticipation of AI-related cost savings.