Proactive Investors -
- Blue chips 43 points higher at 7,874
- Inflation slightly lower
- ASOS (LON:ASOS) revenues plummet
Savings rates streak ahead of inflation
Subsiding price rises have left well over 1,000 savings accounts offering consumers inflation-beating interest rates, experts have pointed out.
Inflation eased to 3.2% in March, data from the ONS showed on Wednesday, prompting Moneyfacts to highlight 1,364 savings accounts where rates were higher than this.
Some 162 of these were easy access, Moneyfacts said, with the best such rate offered by NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG)'s Ulster Bank at 5.2%.
Hundreds of notice accounts and variable rate individual savings accounts (ISAs) also offered the above inflation rates, alongside 615 fixed-rate bonds.
“Savers should be filling their boots at this news,” Hargreaves Lansdown’s Sarah Coles commented... Read more
Wall Street set for positive start
A 181-point gain by the Dow Jones should set a positive tone for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq when markets open, as all rose in futures trading on Tuesday morning.
Alongside the Dow Jones’ rise to 38,227, pre-market trading had the S&P 500 up 22 points at 5,115 and the Nasdaq at 17,936, 55 points higher.
The gains come after a mixed day of trading on Tuesday, as IMF data showed the US economy growing fastest out of the G7 this year but Fed chair Jerome Powell reiterated a hawkish approach to tackling inflation.
“While many see this as grounds for optimism for US equities, it does little to help those waiting patiently for a rate cut from the Federal Open Markets Committee,” Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahony commented.
Among companies, CXAPP Inc soared in pre-market trading after reporting record annual recurring revenue growth during 2023.
Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc also jumped after news broke of a new takeover offer by Future Pak for up to US$7.75 a share - a 91.4% premium on Monday’s closing price.
Rental prices rise at record pace in March
Rental prices increased at a record pace across the UK in March, ONS data showed on Wednesday.
Average rents jumped by 9.2% year on year during the month, against 9% in February, in the highest annual change since the data started being collected in 2015.
Typical monthly rent in the UK has climbed to £1,285 as a result.
Trade body National Residential Landlords Association argued buy-to-let owners were leaving the market due to the government’s ending of so-called no-fault evictions.
One in ten are expected to sell properties as a result of the move, according to a survey by the trade union.