• Global financial markets suffered a new spike of volatility as stock markets tumbled worldwide and investors rushed to the U.S. and German bond markets. Yields on 10-year treasuries and bunds declined by 6bp and Euro Area periphery spreads edged up moderately.
• Yesterday, the Trump Administration announced that it plans to impose new tariffs on annual imports from China.
• In the UK, the BoE left its reference rate unchanged at 0.50%. However, the post-meeting statement pointed that an "ongoing tightening of monetary policy over the forecast period will be appropriate to return inflation sustainably to its target at a more conventional horizon".
• In the Euro Area, the flash PMI Composite Index declined moderately to 55.3 points in March (57.1 points in February) as the manufacturing index came out at 56.6 points (58.6 in February) and the services index stood at 55.0 points (56.2 in February). Still, the indices remain well in expansionary territory (above the 50-points threshold).