{"id":871,"date":"2025-05-21T11:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T11:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/?p=871"},"modified":"2025-05-23T11:18:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T11:18:41","slug":"market-update-21st-may-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/2025\/05\/21\/market-update-21st-may-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Update \u2013 21st May 2025."},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_empty_space][vc_raw_html]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[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]UK inflation came in higher than expected for April, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising to 3.5%, up from the 2.6% rise in prices in March. Core inflation\u2014which strips out the more volatile categories of energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco\u2014also climbed, reaching 3.8% in the 12 months to April, compared to 3.4% in the previous period.<\/p>\n

The increase wasn\u2019t entirely surprising. A key factor was the rise in the energy price cap, which took effect in April and allowed suppliers to charge consumers more. Airfares also appeared to spike, though comparisons are tricky. The Easter holidays fell at the end of April this year, whereas in 2024 they were split between March and April\u2014making year-on-year analysis less clear-cut. Nevertheless, holiday travel tends to be costly, and airfares are often a significant driver of inflation during this period.<\/p>\n

While the latest inflation reading is above recent levels, it\u2019s unlikely to raise concerns at the Bank of England. Policymakers had already forecast inflation to reach around 3.7% in 2025, though they anticipated that happening later in the year. Importantly, this is just one data point. The Bank will now be watching closely to see whether it signals the start of a broader trend or simply reflects temporary pressures.<\/p>\n

Chinese consumer activity has been gradually rebounding in the wake of the country\u2019s post-COVID reopening and the downturn in the property sector, which had previously been a major source of household wealth. On Monday, new retail sales figures revealed a 5.1% year-on-year increase for April\u2014slightly down from March\u2019s 5.5% rise\u2014likely reflecting the impact of recent trade tensions with the United States.<\/p>\n

Despite this modest deceleration, the data suggests that Chinese consumer spending continues to grow at a steady pace. This resilience is largely attributed to government efforts to stimulate demand, including a campaign promoting widespread upgrades of industrial equipment and incentivising the replacement of household goods.<\/p>\n

Adding to the supportive policy measures, the People\u2019s Bank of China announced on Tuesday a 10-basis point cut to key lending rates to inject liquidity into the economy. These steps align with Beijing\u2019s broader goal of achieving an economic growth rate of approximately 5% for the year. In response, the Hang Seng Index (China\u2019s key stock market benchmark) rallied at the opening bell.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, what began as highly anticipated peace talks between President Trump and President Putin (intended to advance an end to the Russia-Ukraine war) ended with little progress. Following a two-hour phone call, President Trump concluded that a resolution would immediately get underway, but a ceasefire could ultimately only be achieved through direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian leaders themselves. Markets reacted little to the news, likely awaiting the announcement of more concrete plans of action.<\/p>\n

Still to come this week we have US PMI data, Japanese CPI and UK retail sales.<\/p>\n

Nicola Tune, Portfolio Specialist\u00a0<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_single_image image=”13322″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https:\/\/app.mywealth.co.uk\/”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n <\/div> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UK inflation came in higher than expected for April, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising to 3.5%, up from the 2.6% rise in prices in March. Core inflation\u2014which strips out the more volatile categories of energy, food, alcohol, and tobacco\u2014also climbed, reaching 3.8% in the 12 months to April, compared to 3.4% in the previous period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions\/872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.wealthatwork.co.uk\/bt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}