Today's news headlines:

‘Macron and Le Pen face French runoff with Europe-wide impact’. President Emmanuel Macron will face rival Marine Le Pen in the final round of the French election, holding a narrow lead in the polls ahead of the runoff on the 24th of April. ‘The debate we’ll have in the next two weeks will be decisive for our country and for Europe’ Macron said. The incumbent President has portrayed himself as a safe pair of hands in unstable times, focusing on the Ukraine crisis, and has had a relatively light campaign so far. Le Pen, on the other hand, has campaigned hard, focusing on the cost-of-living crisis sweeping across the nation. (Bloomberg)

‘Ukraine calls on commodity traders to stop handling Russian oil’. Oleg Ustensko, Economic Adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote to the world’s largest energy traders at the end of March demanding they stop trading Russian hydrocarbons since revenues are used to fund Russian weapons and missiles purchases. Ustensko told the Financial Times, ‘they are helping Russia to receive this blood money…they are in this cycle of financing war crimes and genocide’. According to think tanks, Russian exports of energy products to Europe alone provide Russia with $850 million a day. (Financial Times)

Today

European equities followed Asian markets lower this morning while the 10 year Treasury yield reached three-year highs of 2.77%. Brent Crude found support at $100 a barrel while the US Dollar opened higher on its trade-weighted index.

Events

Chinese Consumer Price Index YoY (Mar): 1.5% (est. 1.4%)
UK Industrial Production MoM (Feb): -0.6% (est. 0.3%)
UK Manufacturing Production MoM (Feb): -0.4% (est. 0.3%)

Interbank rates:

GBP/USD – 1.3010
GBP/EUR – 1.1940
EUR/USD – 1.0896
USD/CAD – 1.2610

The markets are moving. To speak to our team, please call +44 (0)20 3465 8200.