FTSE 100: European and US stocks mixed as UK inflation falls to 3.4% and traders await Fed decision

Well that's all we have time for today, thanks for following along.

Be sure to join us again tomorrow when we look at what happened overnight with the US federal Reserve, and await the Bank of England's latest decision on interest rates.

Have a good evening all!

Bitcoin hit a two-week low today before paring losses as investors look to the Federal Reserve’s scope to lower interest rates quickly.

The cryptocurrency has declined almost every day since hitting a record high just shy of $73,798 on 14 March.

Demand has since cooled for US spot-Bitcoin ETFs that launched earlier this year on 11 January.

Bitcoin’s slide comes amid uncertainty over whether above-target inflation will lead Fed policymakers to trim rate-cut projections at their meeting.

The Civil Aviation Authority has said it could lower the proposed cap on passenger charges paid by airlines by 6% for 2025 and 2026.

After a reassessment it is now proposing that per-passenger charges are cut by £1.52 to £23.72 in 2025 and by £1.58 in 2026 to £23.70.

Previously it had said the charge per passenger should be £25.43 in 2024, £25.24 in 2025 and £25.28 in 2026.

Heathrow had previously pushed for an increase to more than £40 a passenger, up from £31.57 in 2023.

The airport said:

Stocks in the US fell after opening on Wednesday as traders await the Federal Reserve’s latest announcement on interest rate policy.

The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite were all down after the bell.

Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market.

Later today at 6pm, the central bank is expected to hold its main interest rate at a two-decade high, with expectations of cuts three times later this year.

Passport fees are set to rise by more than 7% next month, the Home Office has announced.

The cost of online applications made within the UK for people aged 16 and above will increase from £82.50 to £88.50 under the proposals. Passports for children under 16 will cost £57.50, up from £53.50 currently.

There are similar rises in fees for postal applications and those made from overseas. The changes, which are subject to parliamentary approval, are due to come into force from 11 April.

Passport fees rose by around 9% in February last year.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has stopped its plan to scale back its telephone helplines after a loud backlash yesterday.

HMRC chief executive Jim Harra said:

Train drivers at 16 rail companies are to stage a new wave of strikes in a long-running dispute over pay.

Members of Aslef will hold a rolling programme of one-day walkouts between 5 April and 8 April, coupled with a six-day ban on overtime.

The union said it wanted to increase the pressure on the “intransigent” train companies and the “tone-deaf” government following a series of strikes stretching back 20 months.

Train drivers have now not had a pay rise for five years, since April 2019, said Aslef.

Members will also refuse to work their rest days from Thursday April 4 to Saturday April 6 and on Monday and Tuesday, April 8 and 9.

European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde has warned on acting “too late” on interest rate cuts.

It comes as the ECB has kept its interest rates steady since October, after a series of hikes to tame red-hot inflation.

At a conference in Frankfurt, she said:

The ECB was therefore focusing on “two important pieces of evidence” before deciding its next move: data on eurozone wage growth and the bank’s own economic forecasts.

Policymakers will know “a lot more by June”, Lagarde added. This echoed comments she made after the latest ECB meeting earlier this month.

Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, said:

“Gold prices dipped slightly in early Asian trading, maintaining a strong foothold above the $2,150 mark. Despite minor fluctuations, bullion markets have experienced relative calmness since Monday, with traders eagerly awaiting the conclusion of today's Federal Reserve meeting.

“While no surprises are anticipated, there remains uncertainty regarding the FOMC's current stance, given the resilience of the US economy and persistent inflation.

"A hawkish stance could entail the intention to prolong the duration of high interest rates beyond previous expectations, potentially bolstering treasury yields and the dollar, which could, in turn, dampen gold prices.”

Samsung's (005930.KS) share price saw its biggest daily gain in more than six months after Nikkei Asia reported that Nvidia (NVDA) is looking to buy its high-bandwidth memory chips. The move marks a milestone for Korea’s largest company.

Nvidia founder Jensen Huang told reporters his company planned to also use Samsung as a high- bandwidth memory supplier.

“I value our partnership with SK Hynix and Samsung very incredibly,” Huang said.

He added that a future generation of HBM chips called HBM4, was likely to be released in 2025 with more customised designs. Samsung is set to take advantage of having memory chips, chip contract manufacturing and chip design businesses "under one roof to satisfy customer needs".

It comes as the firm also expects $100m (£78.8m) or more of revenue from its next batch of advanced chip-packaging products this year.

Samsung's market share in DRAM chips, used in tech devices, reached 45.5% in the fourth quarter last year, according to data provider TrendForce.

See what other tickers are trending here

Cyber Minister Viscount Camrose is calling on companies to ramp up their cyber protections as new figures show the majority of larger UK businesses have fallen victim to a cyber security incident over the last 12 months.

The government findings reveal 75% of medium and large businesses, and 79% of high-income charities, experienced some form of cyber security incident in the last year, making the need for greater action to shore up their defences more pressing than ever before.

Viscount Camrose, minister for cyber, said:

Greggs (GRG.L) has been forced to close stores after it was hit by technical problems with payments.

Britain’s biggest bakery chain, which operates more than 2,450 shops across the UK, said: “We are currently experiencing issues accepting payments in our shops. We are working to resolve this as soon as possible.”

Stores across cities such as London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow have reportedly been affected by problems with card payments.

Other outlets asked customers to place orders outside using the Greggs mobile app before food could be given to them.

It is the latest retailer to experience technical problems. McDonald’s in several countries including the UK, Japan and Australia was hit by a “technology outage” on Friday.

Meanwhile on Saturday, outages to payment systems prevented Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores across the country from accepting contactless card payments and issuing home deliveries.

The average cost of renting a private property increased by 9% in the year to February — an increase from 8.5% in the 12 months to January, the ONS revealed.

Matt Corder, deputy director for prices at the ONS, said:

The ONS revealed that private rent inflation was highest in London (at 10.6%) and lowest in the North East (at 5.7%).

Across the country, average monthly rents increased to £1,276 (up 8.8%) in England in the 12 months to February, to £723 (9.0%) in Wales and £944 (10.9%) in Scotland.

The average private rent was highest in Kensington and Chelsea (£3,248) and lowest in Dumfries and Galloway (£472).

More news from the ONS this morning...

Average UK house prices decreased by 0.6% to £282,000 in the 12 months to January. This is up from a decrease of 2.2% (revised estimate) in the year to December.

They were 1.5% down in England to £299,000, had slipped 0.8% in Wales to £213,000, and increased 4.8% in Scotland to £190,000.

In Northern Ireland, property values increased by 1.4% to £178,000 in the year to the fourth quarter of 2023.

The pound (GBPUSD=X) was down against greenback on Wednesday morning as the US dollar index climbed higher for a fifth straight session after recent data pointed to a resilient American economy.

It was also around 0.1% lower against the euro at 85p amid hopes that falling inflation will pave the way for interest rate cuts this summer from the Bank of England.

Meanwhile, it rose against the Japanese yen after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in 17 years.

Peter Stimson, Head of Product at the mortgage lender MPowered, said:

The Bank of England (BoE) is set to keep interest rates unchanged for the fifth time in a row even as new data shows inflation slowing down.

The consensus among traders is that the BoE’s benchmark rate will be kept at 5.25% when its monetary policy committee (MPC) announces its latest decision tomorrow.

It comes as the European Central Bank (ECB) kept rates unchanged earlier this month, while the US Federal Reserve (Fed) is expected to do the same later today.

Nomura Bank noted that central banks might be suffering from the "fear of going first", with the ECB and BoE circling wagons until the US Federal Reserve cuts rates. However, they argue that both central banks can cut rates independently of the Fed.

Read more: Bank of England poised to keep interest rates at 16-year high of 5.25%

See also: When will interest rates fall – and what should you do?

Responding to the latest figures from the ONS, chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the "plan was working".

He said inflation had "not just fallen decisively" but is "forecast to hit the 2% target within months".

Inflation fell in February to its lowest level in two and a half years, boosting hopes that the Bank of England will cut interest rates in the summer.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed to 3.4% in February, down from January’s 4%, the lowest since September 2021, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Inflation, the rate at which prices rise over time, has been gradually falling since it hit 11.1% in October 2022, its highest rate for 40 years. However, a fall in inflation doesn't mean prices are coming down — but that they're rising less quickly.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said:

As well as food prices, the biggest downward pressures came from non-alcoholic beverages, and restaurants and hotels.

The drop is the fastest inflation fall in nearly half a century , according to The Resolution Foundation. The think tank believes the figures suggest the UK is on track to hit 2% by April.

Read the full article here

Stock markets in Asia were mostly higher overnight ahead of a decision from the US Federal Reserve on the timing of its cuts to interest rates.

The Hang Seng (^HSI) rose 0.1% in Hong Kong while the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was almost 0.6% higher by the end of the session.

Tokyo markets were closed for a holiday after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) hiked its benchmark interest rate for the first time in 17 years on Tuesday, raising the rate to a range of zero to 0.1% from -0.1%.

Meanwhile, China left its benchmark lending rates unchanged as expected as its economy showed signs of improvement amidst a struggling property market.

Across the pond, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose to a record on Tuesday, up 0.6% to 5,178.51, topping its all-time high set last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) jumped 0.8% to 39,110.76, and the Nasdaq Composite index (^IXIC) gained 0.4% to close at 16,166.79.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds dipped to 4.29% from 4.33% late on Monday.

Good morning, and welcome back to our live markets blog. Here we will be covering what's moving markets and happening across the global economy.

Let's have a quick look at what's on the agenda for today:

• 7am: UK inflation report for February

• 7am: Trading updates: Prudential

• 9.30am: UK house price and rental index for January

• 10.15am: UK bank bosses to face questions from Treasury Committee

• 11am: US mortgage applications data

• 3pm: Eurozone consumer confidence report

• 6pm: US Federal Reserve interest rate decision