Trade tensions re-emerge from the Whitehouse | Morning Markets | Morning Markets

Today, Kevin Kidney, Head of Asset Allocation, looks at the weak performance of global equities which followed comments from the Biden administration on exploring further restrictions to western microchip manufacturers and their ability to export to China. Closer to home and the UK employment data continues to paint a rather mixed picture, importantly, wage growth remains extremely sticky, at +5.7%, led by accelerating pay awards within the public sector and private sector pay growth continues to slow. With pay growth and underlying pressures with services inflation, this presents a challenge for the Bank of England for interest rate cuts.