Weekly Market Update - 4 April 2022

Recovery Taking Place

The Biden administration announced a massive release of crude oil for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, amounting to one million barrels per day for several months, which was estimated by markets at some 180 million barrels altogether. The is the largest release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in its history. 

Kansas Fed President Esther George delivered some hawkish comments, looking at the neutral Fed Funds rate at 2.5% as a minimum, which is higher than the official US Federal Reserve forecast (the 'dot plots') and she also made comments on the Fed’s balance sheet run-off, which were also more hawkish than market expectations.

UK Housing Market

Nationwide Building Society reported that house prices jumped at the fastest annual pace since 2004 in March, up 1.1% for the month and 14.3% year-on-year, taking the average value to a record £265,312.

Eurozone CPI Soared

Eurozone CPI soared from 5.9% to 7.5%, a record since the advent of the euro, although the core CPI reading (ex food and energy, alcohol and tobacco) looked more reasonable, at 3.0%, up from 2.7%, indicating that the vast majority of the monthly increase is due to food and energy.