The Market Call - Week Ending 7th March 2025

This week, Gareth and Jeremy try to keep up with the gyrations from across the Atlantic - both around defence alliances and tariff policies. In terms of the impact on Europe and the UK, Germany is stepping up and spending big, which is driving up both (European) stock markets and (German) borrowing costs. Trump seems to be ignoring the stock market and is probably happy that US borrowing costs are falling - crucial for the upcoming refinancing of a significant chunk of US government debt. Closer to home, Severfield is seeing tough conditions, which reflect a sluggish broader economy, and XP Power's £41m raise shows that UK markets aren't completely closed. Next week, we'll discuss US jobs data and inflation...unless Trump 2.0 delivers another surprise!