Global News
Central banks – This was the week that securities markets were waiting for, as major central banks announced their monetary policy plans going forward. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) President, Mario Draghi, stated that the ECB had “considerable headroom” to cut interest rates and increase its money printing programme to try and spur eurozone growth. The Federal Reserve followed suit, and signalled that its next move on interest rates would be a cut, possibly as soon as July. As a consequence, both equities and bonds rallied sharply. The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to leave the UK’s interest rate unchanged at 0.75%, and revised their growth forecast for the UK. The MPC changed their growth target from 0.20%, down to 0.00%, as they said that the chances of a “no deal” Brexit are increasing.
Conservative leadership vote – The Conservative leadership vote continued this week, as the remining 6 candidates were whittled down to the final two. Dominic Raab, Rory Stewart, Sajid Javid, and Michael Gove were all gradually eliminated from the race after failing to receive enough votes. The final two, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, will now face a final vote from 160,000 members of the Conservative party via a postal vote. The results of the final stage are due to be released in late July.
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