Baltic
Dry Index. 2057 -07 Brent Crude 107.60
Spot Gold 4707 Spot Silver 73.30
US 2 Year Yield 3.79 +0.03
US Federal Debt. 39.011 trillion
US GDP 31.252 trillion.
In the Great Depression in which I grew up and remember vividly, unemployment was over 25 percent, and over 35 percent where I lived. A grown man would work all day, 16 hours, for a dollar. I remember hundreds of people walking by, people who had come down from the North just to get warm. They would come to our house as beggars even though they might have a college education. People didn't have money. They bartered; they'd trade eggs or pigs. It was just completely different.
Jimmy Carter
Who’s running the Gulf war? Donald Trump by his own admission says it’s not him.
Does it matter anyway? This unnecessary war has already gone on so long that a giant economic sell off is underway.
A global economic collapse is just getting started. Before it’s all over, a giant wave of business failures and 1930s style unemployment lies directly ahead.
Forget the private credit and commodity prices collapse now rolling through the global economy, we haven’t seen anything yet.
Asia markets trade mixed after Wall
Street losses as Iran war dents risk sentiment
Published Thu, Mar 19 2026 7:56 PM
EDT
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on
Friday, following volatile trading on Wall Street overnight, as the Middle East
war and disruptions to energy supply keep investors jittery.
Iran attacked the world’s largest
gas plant in Qatar on Thursday, causing damage to the energy supply for the
next several years, in retaliation against Israel’s strikes on its South Pars
gas field. QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi said the Iranian attacks had wiped
out 17% of the country’s LNG export capacity for three to five years.
The tit-for-tat attacks on key oil
and gas infrastructures across the Middle East sent energy prices soaring.
U.S. natural gas prices were last
seen 1.5% higher, trading at $3.112 per million British thermal units.
Front-month Nymex RBOB
gasoline for April delivery, meanwhile, rose almost 1% to $3.13 and
hit a nearly four-year high.
Oil prices retreated with the
international benchmark Brent
crude futures declining 2% to $106.45 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures
dropped 1.56% to $94.64.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s
largest oil producers, expects prices to soar past $180 a barrel if the supply
disruption persists until late April, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing country
officials.
The market fallout from the regional
war has also extended to metals, with gold and silver shedding around 5% and
10%, respectively, before paring losses.
“The recent drop in gold spot price
on high volume suggests panic selling,” Ed Yardeni, veteran investor and
president of Yardeni Research, said in a note Friday, expecting a bottom in the
recent sell-off soon.
Signaling efforts at calming
concerns, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was not deploying ground
troops, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would
refrain from repeating attacks on Iranian energy facilities.
U.S.-aligned countries, including
Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan issued a joint statement expressing
“our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage
through the Strait” of Hormuz.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 widened
losses to 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang
Seng index dropped 0.61% while mainland China’s CSI 300 index edged up
0.41%.
The Hang Seng tech index dropped
1.7%, with Xiaomi Corp as
the largest dragger, falling as much as 6.8%. The sell-off came a day after the
company launched an updated electric vehicle model and announced plans to
invest over $8.7 billion in artificial intelligence development over the next
three years.
China’s central bank held its
benchmark lending rates steady for a 10th month on Monday, with the five-year
loan prime rates at 3.5% and the one-year rate at 3%.
South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi rose
0.64% while the small-cap Kosdaq gained 1.68%. Japan’s markets were closed for
a public holiday.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined
0.44% to 46,021.43 points. The S&P
500 fell 0.27% to end the session at 6,606.49 points, while the Nasdaq Composite slumped
0.28% to 22,090.69.
Futures tied to the 30-stock index
were up 111 points, or 0.2%. S&P
500 futures gained roughly 0.3%, and Nasdaq-100 futures added
0.2%, after Wall Street fell overnight.
The Federal Reserve kept the
interest rate unchanged earlier this week, with Chair Jerome Power cautioning
that the economic outlook remains uncertain as hostilities continued in the
Middle East.
Asia
markets trade mixed after Wall Street losses as Iran war dents risk sentiment
Government bonds face ‘perfect
storm’ as Iran war rattles Europe’s central banks
Published Thu, Mar 19 2026 12:03 PM
EDT Updated Thu, Mar 19 2026 12:30 PM EDT
Europe’s sovereign bonds are facing
“a perfect storm” after new inflation fears sparked by the Iran conflict forced
the region’s central banks to signal a new course for interest rates on
Thursday, sending yields soaring.
The Bank of England left interest
rates unchanged at 3.75% on Thursday, with the European Central Bank also
holding steady on borrowing costs, as the economic impact of soaring
energy costs hangs over rate-setters.
Yields on 10-Year Gilts, the benchmark
for U.K. government debt, rose more than 13 basis points to 4.871% — a new
52-week high on Thursday — before easing. The yield on 2-Year Gilts,
which are typically more sensitive to rates decisions, immediately surged 39
basis points in the biggest rise since former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s ‘Mini
Budget’ in September 2022. They were last seen 27 basis points higher, at
4.378%.
French, German and Italian bonds saw
less severe selling pressure, but yields rose across the continent.
Market strategists say the BoE’s
move — a unanimous call by its nine-member monetary policy committee —
effectively ends hopes of any further rate cuts this year and dramatically
shifts the policy outlook from where it was just two weeks ago.
Tactical trading
Ed Hutchings, head of rates at Aviva
Investors, said that the chances of a rate hike from the BoE over the coming
months have increased.
“With this in mind, from an asset
allocation perspective, we could start to see investors tactically adding
overweights in gilts in the short-term, with at least one hike expected later
in the year as of today,” Hutchings said.
Matthew Amis, investment director,
rates management at Aberdeen Investments, described the unfolding environment
as a “perfect storm” for Europe’s sovereign bond markets.
“Energy prices spiking higher and
the Bank of England opening the door to potential rate hikes have seen gilts
spike higher. German bunds are the relative calm in this storm but are still
pushing 3% due to similar inflation fears,” Amis told CNBC via email.
“Gilts and bunds are pricing in a
much longer conflict than other markets, focusing on the inflation surge with
markets yet to focus on the potential negative impact on growth.”
Meanwhile, the ECB’s next move will
now likely be a hike, according to Simon Dangoor, deputy chief investment
officer of fixed income and head of fixed income macro strategies at Goldman
Sachs Asset Management.
More
Bond
markets face ‘perfect storm’ as Iran war rattles central banks
Qatar Assesses Damage as Energy
Strikes Escalate
March 19, 2026 at 5:27 PM GMT
Iran’s attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan
gas field will have repercussions
for energy supplies, Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani said during a presser in Doha.
The damaged facilities produce
about 17% of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas export capacity. It will take
three to five years to repair the damage, QatarEnergy CEO Saad
al-Kaabi said in an interview with Reuters. The LNG plant had already halted
production after a previous drone strike but the subsequent attacks
dealt more damage.
Iran stepped up attacks on energy
assets after US President Donald Trump called for restraint. The price
of oil
and natural gas jumped amid the escalating attacks that are leading to
long-term damage to major energy facilities.
Israel came in
for a rare public rebuke from Trump over an airstrike yesterday on
Iran’s South Pars gas field. In a social media post, he asserted that Israel
acted without Washington’s knowledge.
The UK, Japan, Germany, France,
Italy and the Netherlands issued a joint statement calling
on Iran to stop attacks on energy sites and other civilian
infrastructure. They also called for an end to the shipping gridlock
in the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking at the White House this
afternoon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US is looking
to remove sanctions on Iranian oil as part of efforts to reduce energy
prices. It would be a stunning reversal of US policy that used sanctions as a
way to bring Iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program. — Jennifer
Duggan
Qatar
Assesses Damage as Energy Strikes Escalate - Bloomberg
Targeting of Gas Fields Escalates
Iran War
After Israel targeted an Iranian gas
field, Iran responded by targeting one in Qatar, further destabilizing the
energy landscape.
March 19, 2026 at 10:13 PM GMT
The Iran war has
begun to escalate in recent days after Israel
targeted an Iranian gas field and Iran responded by targeting one in
Qatar, further destabilizing
the global energy landscape.
The Iranian missile strike on the
Ras Laffan complex caused extensive damage to the world’s largest liquefied
natural gas plant. Two facilities that produce 17% of the country’s LNG
exports, or about 13 millions tons a year, were affected and it will take three
to five years to repair them, QatarEnergy Chief Executive Officer Saad
al-Kaabi told
Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on Thursday said his country would avoid
future attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure, after a fissure
appeared to open up between him and Donald Trump, with the US president saying
he had no prior knowledge of the attack. Israeli officials reportedly
said he did. —David
E. Rovella
Gas Field Targeting Escalates War: Evening Briefing Americas - Bloomberg
European Central Bank holds rates
steady, warns outlook is ‘significantly more uncertain’
Published Thu, Mar 19 2026 2:00 AM
EDT Updated Thu, Mar 19 2026 10:24 AM EDT
The European Central Bank opted to
keep interest rates on hold at its latest monetary policy meeting, saying the
war in Iran has made the outlook “significantly more uncertain”.
Policymakers said the conflict had
created “upside risks for inflation and downside risks for economic growth,”
prompting traders to up bets on potential ECB rate hikes later this year.
The ECB said the ongoing conflict
“will have a material impact on near-term inflation through higher energy
prices”, while its medium-term implications would depend “both on the intensity
and duration of the conflict and on how energy prices affect consumer prices
and the economy.”
Regional central banks, the Bank of
England, Sweden’s Riksbank and Swiss National Bank, also opted to keep rates on
hold on Thursday, as the war continues to cloud the outlook for inflation and
growth.
Before the war on Iran began in late
February, Europe’s central banks enjoyed a more benign inflation outlook as
interest rates looked set to remain stable or keep falling across the region.
But the conflict has upset the
economic equilibrium, threatening Europe’s energy supplies, growth and the
outlook for consumer prices. Expectations for interest rates across the
continent have been upended.
The ECB was not expected to change
stance on its benchmark interest rate even before the war began, with euro zone
inflation data remaining near the central bank’s 2% target. The latest flash
data from Eurostat showed inflation in the euro zone rose to 1.9% in February, up from 1.7% in January.
The central bank on Thursday revised
medium-term inflation expectations upwards. Headline inflation is now expected
to average 2.6% in 2026, 2% in 2027 and 2.1% in 2028. It blamed a rise in
energy prices for the revisions. In December, the ECB had said it expected
headline inflation to be just shy of 2% in 2026 and 2027, before increasing to
its target of 2% in 2028.
At the central bank’s last meeting
in February, ECB President Christine Lagarde had repeated a mantra that the
euro zone’s economic outlook was “in a good place” but warned against
complacency. Her caution now appears to be well-founded. Addressing reporters
at the post-announcement press conference, Lagarde rowed back on her previous
“good place” comments.
“We are starting from a good base,
so I’m not saying we are in a good place, [I’m saying] we are both
well-positioned and well-equipped to deal with the development of a major shock
that is unfolding,” she told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach.
Bank of England
The Bank of England’s Monetary
Policy Committee voted “unanimously” keep its benchmark interest rate on hold
at 3.75% on Thursday.
Before the war in Iran erupted in
late February, the BOE had been expected to cut its key interest rate, known as
‘Bank Rate,’ at its March meeting, but the conflict has sent global energy
prices soaring,
“Conflict in the Middle East has
caused a significant increase in global energy and other commodity prices,
which will affect households’ fuel and utility prices and have indirect effects
via businesses’ costs,” the BOE said in a statement.
“Prior to this, there had been
continued disinflation in domestic prices and wages. CPI inflation will be
higher in the near term as a result of the new shock to the economy,” the BOE
warned.
The BOE said its policymakers are
“alert to the increased risk of domestic inflationary pressures through
second-round effects in wage and price-setting, the risk of which will be
greater the longer higher energy prices persist.”
The MPC said it was also assessing
the implications for inflation, which prior to the war it had expected to
decline toward its 2% target, and of the weakening in economic activity that is
likely to result from higher energy costs.
London’s FTSE
100 extended losses following the
decision, and was down 2.5% at midday London time. The yield on the
benchmark 10-year gilt, or bond, was up 14 basis points at 4.874%, while the
interest rate on the 2-year gilt was 20 basis points higher at 4.31%.
“Most central banks are facing the
same challenging backdrop, but the trade-offs are not equal. The Bank of
England’s are uniquely British: stubborn inflation, a weakening jobs market,
and little fiscal wiggle room,” Madison Faller, Global Investment Strategist at
J.P. Morgan Private Bank. commented Thursday.
“Unlike the U.S., buoyed by solid
growth, or Europe, which has made real progress on disinflation, the BOE is
walking a tightrope between supporting a sluggish economy and not letting
inflation run amok.”
Just weeks ago, markets were betting
on two rate cuts; now, they’re bracing for up to two hikes this year, Faller
added.
Swiss National Bank
The Swiss National Bank kept its
main policy rate on hold at 0.00% on Thursday, with the central bank stating
that its “willingness to intervene in the foreign exchange market has
increased” in the context of the Middle East conflict.
Doing so, if necessary, would
counter any “rapid and excessive appreciation of the Swiss franc, which would
jeopardize price stability in Switzerland,” the SNB said.
Asked if there was a “trigger point”
at which the SNB would intervene in FX markets, SNB Chairman Martin Schlegel
told CNBC Thursday that policymakers were “looking at monetary policy every
quarter, and there we decide on the use of our tools, which is the interest
rate and also FX interventions.”
More
ECB, BOE, Swiss National Bank, Riksbank interest rate
decisions
Government bonds face ‘perfect
storm’ as Iran war rattles Europe’s central banks
Published Thu, Mar 19 2026 12:03 PM
EDT
Europe’s sovereign bonds are facing
“a perfect storm” after new inflation fears sparked by the Iran conflict forced
the region’s central banks to signal a new course for interest rates on
Thursday, sending yields soaring.
The Bank of England left interest
rates unchanged at 3.75% on Thursday, with the European Central Bank also holding steady on
borrowing costs, as the economic impact of soaring energy costs hangs over
rate-setters.
Yields on 10-Year
Gilts, the benchmark for U.K. government
debt, rose more than 13 basis points to 4.871% — a new 52-week high on Thursday
— before easing. The yield on 2-Year Gilts, which are typically more
sensitive to rates decisions, immediately surged 39 basis points in the biggest
rise since former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s ‘Mini Budget’ in September 2022.
They were last seen 27 basis points higher, at 4.378%.
French, German and Italian bonds saw
less severe selling pressure, but yields rose across the continent.
Market strategists say the BoE’s
move — a unanimous call by its nine-member monetary policy committee —
effectively ends hopes of any further rate cuts this year and dramatically
shifts the policy outlook from where it was just two weeks ago.
Tactical trading
Ed Hutchings, head of rates at Aviva
Investors, said that the chances of a rate hike from the BoE over the coming
months have increased.
“With this in mind, from an asset
allocation perspective, we could start to see investors tactically adding
overweights in gilts in the short-term, with at least one hike expected later
in the year as of today,” Hutchings said.
Matthew Amis, investment director,
rates management at Aberdeen Investments, described the unfolding environment
as a “perfect storm” for Europe’s sovereign bond markets.
“Energy prices spiking higher and
the Bank of England opening the door to potential rate hikes have seen gilts
spike higher. German bunds are the relative calm in this storm but are still
pushing 3% due to similar inflation fears,” Amis told CNBC via email.
“Gilts and bunds are pricing in a
much longer conflict than other markets, focusing on the inflation surge with
markets yet to focus on the potential negative impact on growth.”
Meanwhile, the ECB’s next move will
now likely be a hike, according to Simon Dangoor, deputy chief investment
officer of fixed income and head of fixed income macro strategies at Goldman
Sachs Asset Management.
“The governing council is clearly
sensitive to upside inflation risks, but will likely look to assess potential
second-round effects before making a move,” Dangoor said. “A hike is therefore
possible later in 2026; however, the ECB stands ready to act sooner if the
situation deteriorates.”
‘An economic Dunkirk’
Energy prices continued their upward
advance Thursday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, hitting
$111.10, a 3.5% rise, while natural gas prices also traded higher.
Europe has sought to diversify its
energy mix following 2022′s price shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the continent remains a net importer of both oil and gas.
“Yields are waking up to the
economic Dunkirk that faces the global economy thanks to the war in Iran,” said
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, told CNBC via email. “Investors
will demand higher borrowing costs from countries throughout Europe as the
outlook darkens. And this is just with Brent at $110.”
More
Bond markets face ‘perfect storm’ as Iran war rattles
central banks
In other news, is WW3 next? As the
USA and Britain help Ukraine kill Russians in Ukraine and in Russia via
missiles, intelligence and sea drones, Russia repays in kind in the Persian
Gulf war. Who’d have thought it?
Russia Is Sharing Satellite Imagery and Drone
Technology With Iran
Moscow has expanded intelligence sharing
and military cooperation to help keep Tehran in the fight against U.S. and
Israeli military might
Updated March 17, 2026 4:07
pm ET
Russia has been expanding its intelligence
sharing and military cooperation with Iran, providing satellite imagery and
improved drone technology to aid Tehran’s targeting of U.S. forces in the
region, people familiar with the matter said.
Russia is trying to keep its closest
Middle Eastern partner in the fight against U.S. and Israeli military might and
prolong a war that is benefiting Russia militarily and economically.
The technology provided includes
components of modified Shahed drones, which are meant to improve communication,
navigation and targeting, the people said. Russia has also been drawing on its
experience using drones in Ukraine, offering tactical guidance on how many
drones should be used in operations and what altitudes they should strike from,
said the people, who included a senior European intelligence officer.
Russia has been providing Iran with
the locations
of U.S. military forces in the Middle East as well as those of its
regional allies, The Wall Street Journal has reported. That cooperation has
deepened in early days of the war, with Russia recently providing satellite
imagery directly to Iran, said two of the people, the officer and a Middle
Eastern diplomat.
The assistance is similar to intelligence
the U.S. and European allies have given to Ukraine in recent years, analysts
say.
More
Exclusive | Russia
Is Sharing Satellite Imagery and Drone Technology With Iran - WSJ
How China Is Quietly Helping an Isolated Iran
Survive
From buying oil to selling rocket parts,
China gives Iran critical support
March 18, 2026 10:08 am ET
China is a longstanding friend of Iran
that has helped sustain the Islamic Republic through decades of sanctions and
international isolation.
Since the U.S. and Israeli militaries
began striking Iran late last month, Beijing has offered Tehran limited public
support, condemning the killing of the Iranian leadership while calling on all
sides to stop fighting. But its longstanding support for Iran could grow
increasingly critical as the war continues.
Here’s a look at how Beijing has sustained
Tehran in recent years.
Oil sales to China
China is Iran’s most important economic
partner. Roughly 90% of Iran’s 1.6 million barrels a day of crude oil exports
are sold to China, providing Tehran with the equivalent of tens of billions of
dollars of revenue each year.
China buys Iranian crude to support its
ally and because it gets the oil at a market discount. Analysts estimate
Iranian oil makes up 12% of China’s total oil imports. The crude is mostly
bought by small, independent Chinese refineries known as “teapots,” whose
import quotas are regulated by Beijing.
China doesn’t accept the legitimacy of
U.S. sanctions but wants to maintain plausible deniability since Beijing fears
its companies could be subject to U.S. penalties should they engage publicly
with sanctioned oil.
Beijing encourages the purchase of Iranian
oil by the independent refineries, rather than its state-owned oil giants,
since the smaller companies are unconnected to international financial markets
and would thus be unaffected by potential U.S. sanctions. The origin of the
crude is often masked by brokers.
Shadow banking
Iran manages a complex, clandestine
shadow-banking network
globally that is facilitated by China, U.S. officials allege. China’s teapot
refiners pay for Iranian oil in the Chinese currency, the yuan, and Tehran uses
some of the money to buy products in China that are then shipped to Iran.
Some of the oil revenue is used as part of
a barter-like
system in
which Chinese oil buyers shift money to state-backed Chinese companies to build
infrastructure in Iran. Money from oil sales also moves through a web of front
companies, often routed through Chinese financial institutions, to Hong Kong,
before it is then converted into other currencies.
Much of the cash from oil sales to China
remains in bank accounts abroad, in financial hubs such as Hong Kong, Dubai and
Singapore, according to U.S. officials. Iranian importers and exporters then
trade foreign currency among their various front companies on ledgers
maintained in Iran. Hong Kong has denied it is used for
sanctions evasion.
Weapons and rocket fuel
China was once an important supplier of
arms to Iran during its war with Iraq in the 1980s, but it ceased approving
weapons deals shortly before Beijing joined U.N. sanctions on Iran in 2007,
according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
According to U.S. officials, Chinese
companies continued, however, to be a critical supplier of goods with potential
military applications, such as motors that have been used in Iran’s Shahed
drones, chemicals for rocket fuels and electronics for an array of weapons.
China-based commercial satellite firms have participated in business exchanges
with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Pentagon said in December.
Last year, two ships linked to an Iranian
state company left China loaded with 1,000 tons of a material that could be
used to make a main ingredient for a solid propellant of some 260 midrange
missiles, The
Wall Street Journal has reported. In mid-2025, Iran
ordered thousands of tons of missile fuel ingredients from China,
according to Journal reporting. The Chinese government has said it is unaware
of specific orders but maintains strict control on so-called dual-use items
that have both civilian and military applications.
More
How China Is
Quietly Helping an Isolated Iran Survive - WSJ
This Emirati billionaire put a voice to Gulf anger
over Trump’s war in Iran
March 18, 2026
DUBAI — Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, a
77-year-old billionaire, says his staff think he talks too much.
Sitting outside a cafe in Al Habtoor City,
the luxury waterfront complex in Dubai that is home to three of his five-star
hotels, he laughed a little and looked at his personal assistant sitting next
to him. She nodded, offering something between a smile and a grimace.
Al Habtoor, an eccentric, outspoken
businessman whose net worth Forbes puts at $2.3 billion, went viral the week
before with a public letter that lambasted President Donald Trump for his
“dangerous decision” to “drag our region into a war.”
“Who gave you the authority to drag our
region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous
decision?” Al Habtoor wrote in a lengthy post on X. “Did you calculate the
collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the
first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region
itself!”
The post ricocheted around the internet,
racking up millions of views and thousands of shares, was featured on CNN and
earned Al Habtoor praise across the world. “Literally, everyone in the Gulf is
asking this question, quietly,” wrote Middle East
expert Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King’s College London’s School
of Security Studies.
Al Habtoor’s post captured the
frustrations of an awkward and frightening inflection point for Persian Gulf
nations that have built reputations of wealth
and stability.
Dragged into a conflict they sought to avoid, they are now trying to fend off
drones and missile attacks by Iran but are uncomfortable being too closely
aligned with Israel or the United States. Publicly, officials in the largely
repressive Gulf monarchies blame Iran. Privately, many rail against Washington
for unleashing chaos but see no other power able to provide the same security
benefits.
In the weeks since the war on Iran
started, retaliatory airstrikes by Tehran have rained fire on these normally
tranquil, sun-soaked nations. The United Arab Emirates has experienced the
biggest barrage, with luxury hotels, the Dubai International Airport and oil
infrastructure all coming under attack in the days before Al Habtoor’s team hit
send on the letter to Trump.
Within days, however, the post, which went
live on March 5, disappeared.
More
This Emirati
billionaire put a voice to Gulf anger over Trump’s war in Iran
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians.
Bank of England holds interest rates at 3.75%published at 12:00
12:00Breaking Archie
Mitchell Business reporter
The Bank of England has
voted to hold interest rates at 3.75%.
This decision was widely
expected since war broke out in Iran.
As recently as February,
economists had widely expected further cuts to interest rates this year amid
falling inflation.
But fears the conflict
will drive a renewed period of higher inflation in the UK prompted the Bank to
put any further cuts on hold.
What an interest rate hold means for your financespublished at 12:03
12:03 Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent
Rate-setters at the Bank
of England have adopted a wait and see approach with a hold in the benchmark
rate. Many people may take the same approach with their own finances.
Before the Iran war,
analysts had expected the Bank rate to have been cut this time. The economic
impact of the war has changed all that.
So, borrowing money is
not now getting cheaper for individuals. In terms of mortgages, rates on news
fixed deals have been rising as lenders reassess the situation and their own
funding costs go up.
For savers, a few better
deals have emerged. But, ultimately, caution dominates, so there is not much
competition.
With millions facing the
prospect of higher energy prices this summer, experts say it is ever more
important to seek guidance, be clear about your own budget, and to make
considered decisions.
Bank of England holds interest rates at 3.75% - live updates - BBC News
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section Updates as they get reported.
With the Gulf war heating up and the
price of energy soaring again, time to look into solar panels?
How
much money can solar panels really save on my energy bills?
18 March 2026
If you are trying to work out whether solar panels are worth it for your home, the answer depends on more than the headline price
of a system. For most households, the appeal is clear: lower electricity costs,
less reliance on the grid and, over time, a chance to generate a meaningful
return on the upfront investment. But calculating those savings is not always
straightforward.
How much you save will depend
on several factors, including the cost of solar panels, how much electricity your home uses, when you
use it, and whether you are paid for exporting surplus power back to the grid.
Any solar panel grants or financing support can also affect the
overall picture.
In general, UK homeowners can
expect solar panels to pay for themselves in around 8 to 13 years, depending on
system size, roof orientation, local sunlight levels, and how much electricity
they use during the day. After that, a well-performing system can continue to
deliver years of significantly lower electricity costs, making solar one of the
more compelling long-term home energy upgrades.
How much can solar panels save on energy bills?
How much energy your solar
panels generate depends on the size of the system you install, but the table
below shows typical outputs for various system sizes.
There are a lot of variables
to account for. In the table, we use an address in London, assuming a family of
three and typical use (no heat pumps, high daytime usage or electric car
charging).
Other assumptions include no
shading on the panels, someone at home using electricity for roughly half the
day, and an export rate such as Octopus’s 15p per kilowatt hour Outgoing Octopus
tariff. Other than a new
inverter, no other maintenance costs are assumed, and the use of savings rather
than a loan is factored in. The roof is roughly south-east facing.
Much will depend on what
price you get for your exported electricity. Tariffs vary widely. If you keep
on top of things, however, you should be able to get the 15p per kilowatt hour
rate we use below.
---- As you can see, with a bigger system you can be making instant savings.
When calculating how much solar panels can save there are, of course, a number
of variables to consider, but with a 5.4kW system you could potentially cover
most of your annual electricity usage and even generate a modest surplus —
around £70 per year, under ideal conditions.
Naturally these numbers will
vary from year to year. Sunny years where you use more of your own power will
see better returns. Less sunny periods and using more grid power mean it will
take longer to recoup your money.
So, how much do solar panels
save in real terms? It depends on your usage, location and how much energy
you’re able to consume during the day.
These numbers also rely on
there being no downtime. If your inverter breaks and you don’t notice for a few
days, those are lost days with no power being used or stored.
Luckily the Energy Saving
Trust has a neat tool you can use to work out how much you could save and how
long it will take to recoup your investment.
More
How much money can solar panels really save on my energy bills?
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
In
the weekend LIR, how the UAE and the Saudis intend to by-pass the Strait of
Hormuz once and for all. But it’s likely too little too late.
Another
weekend and another unnecessary Gulf war weekend at that. Time to reopen the
UK’s North Sea sector for oil and gas exploration. Have a great weekend
everyone.
No one can possibly have lived through the Great Depression
without being scarred by it. No amount of experience since the depression can
convince someone who has lived through it that the world is safe economically.
Isaac Asimov
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