And finally, most European stock markets finished the day in the red, with the UK’s FTSE 100 losing 51 points or 0.67% to close at 7618 points.
Germany’s DAX dipped by 0.6%, but France’s CAC edged up 0.1%.
Craig Erlam of OANDA says it was a relatively timid start to the week.
Compared to what we’ve become accustomed to, of course. Interestingly, the CAC is the only major index in the green after the weekend’s first-round election, which saw Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen progress to the second round in a couple of weeks.
The run-off between the two candidates is looking to be far closer than five years ago when Macron scooped two-thirds of the vote. While there is still plenty that could not bring themselves to vote for Le Pen as we saw in 2017, her softened image appears to have swayed others and while pols still favour Macron, some fall within the margin of error that makes Le Pen a realistic victor this time around.
While that would no doubt be bad news for Europe, it seems markets aren’t particularly concerned if today’s trading is anything to go by. Some have chosen to compare a Le Pen victory to Brexit and Trump, two events that were deemed to be a negative for stock markets before the vote but did not turn out to be so over time. Perhaps lessons have been learned.
On that note, goodnight. GW
Afternoon summary
Here’s a round-up of today’s main stories:
UK economic growth slowed by more than expected in February as a slump in car manufacturing undermined a sharp recovery in holiday bookings after the easing of Covid travel restrictions.
Russia’s finance minister has said the country will take legal action if it’s forced to default on its external debt by Western sanctions.
Finance minister Anton Siluanov also told Russian newspaper Izvestia that Moscow would halt bond sales this year due to ‘cosmic’ prices.
State-owned Russian Railways has been ruled in default on a bond after missing an interest payment last month, as sanctions hamper Russia’s ability to make financial payments.
Russian Railways is ruled in default on a bond after missing an interest payment last month, the first such decision since Russia was slapped with harsh sanctions https://t.co/4JEH7AJWv3
— Bloomberg (@business) April 11, 2022
The UK’s cost of living squeeeze has tightened, with the state pension and benefits rising just 3.1%, well behind inflation which is likely to hit 8% this spring.
Ukraine’s economy is on course to contract by almost half this year as the Russian invasion and the impact of a “deep humanitarian crisis” takes its toll, the World Bank has said.
With a blockade of Black Sea ports in the south of Ukraine and the havoc caused to industry in the east, the war-torn country’s GDP is projected to shrink by about 45% in 2022.
Elon Musk has performed a U-turn and will not join Twitter’s board, a week after the world’s richest man took a surprise take in the social media company.
Homebuyers wanting to take out a mortgage could soon struggle to get the size of loan they need, as banks begin taking into account the cost of living crisis when calculating how much they can lend.
The chemicals and energy company Ineos has offered to drill a shale gas test site in the UK to demonstrate that fracking can be done safely, as the country wrestles with high energy prices.
More flights were cancelled on Monday as airlines and airports struggled to cope with the big Easter getaway, and Heathrow said it was increasing resourcing as fast as possible to deal with rising passenger numbers.
Updated
