News

Germany's February PPI monthly rate and the UK's February public sector net borrowing will be released in ten minutes.

ECB Governing Council member Nagel: If price pressures intensify further due to the Iran conflict, the ECB will need to consider raising interest rates next month.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission gave fuel giants permission to coordinate to ensure fuel supplies under certain conditions, but sharing information about prices or entering into price agreements between fuel suppliers was not authorized or approved.

ECB Governing Council Member Robert Mueller: The current situation is not unprecedented.

Citigroup: The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates unchanged in 2026, compared with the previous forecast of cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in June and September.

Serbia's Energy Minister said that Serbian oil industry companies subject to US sanctions have obtained another sanctions extension.

A Russian drone attack damaged two foreign-flagged merchant ships in the Odessa region of Ukraine, the local governor said.

Morgan Stanley: The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates unchanged in 2026, while the previous forecast was to cut interest rates once in April and November this year, and again in February 2027.

Barclays: The European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in April and June 2026, while the previous forecast was to keep interest rates unchanged.

Morgan Stanley: The European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in June and September 2026, while the previous forecast was for interest rates to remain unchanged this year. Faced with slower growth, we believe the ECB is likely to cut rates again in June and September 2027, to 2%, bringing them back to neutral territory.

Australia's S&P/ASX200 index closed down 69.40 points, or 0.82%, on Friday, March 20, at 8428.40 points.

According to CNN News Channel 18: Iran said it will allow more Indian ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

[Goldman Sachs: The Bank of England is not expected to cut interest rates this year and will gradually reduce them to 3% next year] Goldman Sachs: The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates unchanged throughout 2026, while the previous forecast was to cut interest rates quarter by quarter starting in July. The Monetary Policy Committee is expected to gradually lower the benchmark interest rate in 2027, eventually to 3%.

German Geoscience Research Center GFZ: A magnitude 6.06 earthquake occurred in the Vanuatu Islands.

European Stoxx 50 index futures rose 1.07%; German DAX index futures rose 0.82%.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Information Network, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica at 0:22 GMT on March 20, with a focal depth of 17.2 kilometers.

According to the Wall Street Journal: U.S. President Trump told his inner circle that some mass deportation policies have gone too far. Trump has said he wants more focus on arresting "bad guys" and less chaos in American cities.

Market News: Rio Tinto shuts down bauxite mine as hurricane hits northern Australia.

According to the network status monitoring website DownDetector: User reports indicate that Amazon in the United States is experiencing problems.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is seeking permission to deploy nearly 52,000 satellites capable of artificial intelligence computing into orbit, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing documents submitted by the company to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.