The Week Ahead: 31 March - 4 April

Another week of economic to-ing and fro-ing has resulted in more disruption to both the domestic and international markets.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her modest tweaks to spending plans in her Spring Statement, which left a further £10bn of headroom in the fiscal budget. But within 24 hours that headroom was proven to be not large enough, when Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on all cars and car parts manufactured outside of the US.

These tariffs are due to come into effect on 3 April and, at the time of writing, Reeves has said she and her team are working to secure an exception. The US is the second largest export market for the UK’s car companies.

Automobile manufacturers around the world endured a rocky Thursday after the latest trade war escalation.

The US markets in general have had a bad first quarter, lagging their peers in Europe (a rare occurrence). Fund managers have been exiting the US market en-masse, resulting in outflows which have disrupted the virtuous cycle of growth driven by the size of the passive market.

Onto next week, when the flurry of news from both individual companies (hopefully) macro events looks likely to be dying down. There are however a very large number of companies going ex-dividend on Thursday, so watch out for any share price falls on the day.

It’s also the final week of the 2024/25 tax year so investors should make sure they have made the most of their ISA allowance. Remember, if there aren’t any assets that take your fancy at the moment, simply depositing your cash in your ISA will ensure you make the most of your allowance.

Economic Calendar

Companies Reporting