Ella 
European markets got off to a weak start to the month as investors weighed messages from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England that a rate cut appeared to be coming, just not as quickly as markets had hoped 24 hours ago, triggering modest losses across the board in some European stocks.
EU inflation slowed less than expected in January today, while the Bank of England was divided on its monetary policy decision today. We learned from today’s press conference with Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey that while austerity is gone and interest rate cuts are on the horizon, the Monetary Policy Committee is not yet willing to issue a Signal, we may have to wait until June.
It was a similar story less than 24 hours ago, when Fed Chairman Jay Powell all but scoffed at the idea of the Fed cutting interest rates in March, although like the Bank of England, the Fed did signal the end of its tightening policy.
Britain’s FTSE 100 slightly outperformed its European peers, mainly due to solid performance from Shell, whose shares rose to a three-week high after announcing a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit of $7.3 billion, helped by consolidated gas profits A substantial increase of US$3.96 billion, with annual profits rising to US$28.25 billion, a sharp decrease from US$39.87 billion last year.
The dividend was also increased by 4% and a further $3.5 billion in buybacks were announced, funded primarily by a $3 billion increase in net debt.
