Weekly Market Review – 11th March 2024

In this week’s Market Review – In the US, focus was on Super Tuesday with 15 States across the country casting their votes in both Democratic and Republican primary elections. The results – near clean sweeps for both Biden and Trump.  In Europe- The ECB held its March meeting and as expected, there was no change on Interest rates, but indications that policymakers may be in a position to lower interest rates in June. In the UK – The 2024 spring budget was announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. The cornerstone of the budget was a £10Bn cut in National Insurance. Despite this cut in national insurance contributions, Britain will go into the next general election with taxes at their highest level since 1948. In Ireland– The State has collected €12Bn in taxes since the beginning of the year, up €600M compared to the same period last year. February also saw the transfer of €4Bn of exchequer funds to the National Reserve Fund (NRF). In Asia-Pacific – The ruling Chinese Communist Party held its annual congress, with Premier Li Qiang in his keynote address stating that the government will target a growth rate of 5% for the Chinese economy.