The prospect of imminent interest rates hikes boosted financials, after Fed chairman Jerome Powell's hawkish speech yesterday. He said ‘inflation is much too high’ and signaled that rate increases could go to more 50bp if necessary.

The yield of the 10Y UK Gilt gained 14bp on Monday, while the Barrel of Brent jumped 6%, as some European Union members discussed a potential oil embargo on Russia.

UK consumer prices data will be unveiled tomorrow, and is forecast to reach a three-decade high in March.

Today, public sector borrowing figures came in worse than expected at £13.1 billion, against £8.1 billion forecast. Net debt now stands at 94.7% of GDP, a level not seen since the early 1960s. This data comes a day before Chancellor Rishi Sunak is due to unveil his budget update to parliament.

 

Things to read today:

Biden sees Cyberstrike Risk as Russia gets Desperate (Bloomberg)

US Bond Market Suffers worst month since Trump was elected (Financial Times)

Russia’s Push for Self-Sufficient Economy Fails in face of Sanctions (WSJ)