Economics 7 March 2026 - 17 March 2026

Reynolds Consumer Products Faces Key Cost Issue at Start of June
····

Reynolds Consumer Products Faces Key Cost Issue at Start of June

Reynolds Consumer Products Inc. is set to open Monday at $21.67, after sliding 1.95% on Friday. That loss capped a short Memorial Day week where the stock ended down about 0.6% from the previous Friday’s close. With not much in the way of new company news, the setup is now in focus. The main thing for investors is whether they reward Reynolds for a strong Q1 or keep the pressure on the stock as June gets underway with aluminum and resin costs still up.
June 1, 2026
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Share Price Rises After RBA Hike, but Split Vote Clouds Outlook
···

Commonwealth Bank of Australia Share Price Rises After RBA Hike, but Split Vote Clouds Outlook

Commonwealth Bank of Australia shares finished Tuesday at A$176.12, a 0.34% gain, after the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted rates by a quarter point and CBA confirmed it will pass the full increase on to mortgage customers. The bank announced variable home-loan rates will go up 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage point, starting March 27. This is relevant right now because CBA, the country’s top lender, serves as a gauge for the wider banking sector. While higher policy rates typically boost net interest margins — that’s the gap between what banks make on loans versus what they pay out on deposits — the RBA’s 5-4 split suggests that further tightening, along with any incremental earnings upside, could prove tougher
March 17, 2026
ANZ Group Holdings Limited Share Price Near A$37.45 as RBA Decision Looms
···

ANZ Group Holdings Limited Share Price Near A$37.45 as RBA Decision Looms

ANZ Group Holdings Limited grabbed attention again Tuesday, with shares finishing Monday at A$37.45, a gain of 0.67%. Investors are eyeing the Reserve Bank of Australia’s policy move later today. The stock remains under its all-time high of A$40.20, set on Feb. 12 following a first-quarter update that topped forecasts. Timing is critical here. The RBA will deliver its decision ahead of ANZ’s upcoming market update. Earlier this month, the bank shifted its half-year results release forward to May 1, previously set for May 7. Interim dividend dates were also advanced.
March 17, 2026
Barclays PLC Stock Price Steadies as Bank of England Rate Bets Flip, Middle East Risk Watched
···

Barclays PLC Stock Price Steadies as Bank of England Rate Bets Flip, Middle East Risk Watched

Barclays stock edged up Monday — data from the broker-view page put shares at roughly 391.5 pence as of 1345 GMT, a gain of 1.3% on the day. Investors shifted their expectations for UK rates, looking ahead to the Bank of England policy call this week. The move is notable: Barclays, which had lost a significant portion of its gains from earlier this year, was down 18.2% for the year as of the March 12 London Stock Exchange tearsheet. Market sentiment has swung—from pricing in two Bank of England cuts pre-conflict, to now seeing the possibility of nearly one hike before year-end.
March 16, 2026
Westpac share price rises as traders bet on March 17 RBA hike
····

Westpac share price rises as traders bet on March 17 RBA hike

Westpac Banking Corp finished Friday up 1.1% at A$40.99, with investors buying back into Australian banks ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's March 17 policy call. This shift is significant—Westpac economists, from the country’s third-largest bank by market value, now tip a pair of 25 basis point hikes in March and May. That would push the benchmark cash rate to 4.35%. A basis point equals one-hundredth of a percentage point.
March 14, 2026
easyJet Share Price Falls 3% as Oil Above $100 Revives Fuel-Cost Fears
···

easyJet Share Price Falls 3% as Oil Above $100 Revives Fuel-Cost Fears

easyJet shares slid 2.99% to 369.4 pence on Friday, MarketScreener data showed, capping a five-day loss of 9.66%. The stock has now fallen 27.65% since the year began. This shift lands at a tricky moment: oil is back over $100 a barrel, right as European airlines ramp up for summer bookings. Jet fuel has spiked sharply—Reuters put it at $150-$200 a barrel, up from $85-$90 just days ago. Goldman Sachs on Friday also bumped its average Brent price target for March above $100.
March 13, 2026
NatWest Group Plc stock price slides as oil shock upends UK rate-cut bets
···

NatWest Group Plc stock price slides as oil shock upends UK rate-cut bets

NatWest Group Plc slid 2.55% to finish at 573 pence on Thursday, weighed down as rising oil prices shook UK banks and put rate-cut bets back in doubt. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.3% as trading got underway Friday, with London’s market still struggling by 1058 GMT. NatWest started the week in a solid spot—profit targets raised, a £750 million buyback on the table, and stepping harder into wealth management. It’s a strong story among UK banks. But with oil prices elevated, inflation still sticky, and the BoE possibly holding off on rate cuts, those positives face a tougher test.
March 13, 2026
Barclays Share Price Falls Again as Oil Shock Delays Bank of England Rate Cuts
···

Barclays Share Price Falls Again as Oil Shock Delays Bank of England Rate Cuts

Barclays dropped another 1.7% to 382.75 pence by 0918 UTC on Friday, deepening Thursday’s 5.1% loss. UK bank shares took a hit as January growth data showed the economy flatlining, while brokers delayed their bets on Bank of England rate cuts. This is a key point for Barclays, which just finished an attempt to recast its equity narrative. Back on Feb. 10, the lender bumped up its targets, after reporting pretax profit for 2025 at 9.1 billion pounds, and announced plans to hand more than 15 billion pounds to shareholders over 2026 to 2028.
March 13, 2026
ANZ share price slides 2.5% as oil shock revives Australian rate-hike bets
···

ANZ share price slides 2.5% as oil shock revives Australian rate-hike bets

ANZ Group Holdings dropped harder than the wider Australian market Thursday, finishing at A$37.02. Fresh inflation jitters and a rapid shift in interest-rate bets fueled selling across bank shares. The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark slipped 1.31%, settling at 8,629. The drop stands out—ANZ had surged just a month back after a surprisingly strong first quarter and the first real signs that CEO Nuno Matos’s cost cuts were starting to work. Now, Thursday’s close puts the stock roughly 8% under its Feb. 12 record of A$40.20, a sharp shift from celebrating execution to fretting about the wider economic outlook.
March 13, 2026
Macquarie Group Stock Price Falls 2.7% as Oil Shock Revives RBA Hike Fears
···

Macquarie Group Stock Price Falls 2.7% as Oil Shock Revives RBA Hike Fears

Shares of Macquarie Group finished Thursday’s session down 2.67% at A$195.75, deepening losses for Australia’s top investment bank as local financial stocks struggled with rising oil prices and renewed rate jitters. The S&P/ASX 200 shed 1.31% to close at 8,629.00. The decline cuts into gains sparked just a month back. On Feb. 10, Reuters noted shares had jumped 4% to A$221.32 after Macquarie announced stronger profits across its major businesses. But with Thursday’s close, the stock sits significantly lower—right before the Reserve Bank of Australia’s March 17 meeting.
March 12, 2026
Barclays Stock Price Today: Shares Slip After 5% Jump as Oil Rebound Clouds BoE Outlook
····

Barclays Stock Price Today: Shares Slip After 5% Jump as Oil Rebound Clouds BoE Outlook

Barclays PLC shares slipped in London on Wednesday, with delayed Reuters quotes showing the stock at 413.4 pence, down 1.05%, as a rebound in oil prices knocked back part of the prior session’s rally. The pullback followed a 5.13% jump on Tuesday, when the shares closed at 417.8 pence. The move matters because Barclays is trading on the UK rate path as much as on any fresh company headline. Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley have pushed their calls for a Bank of England cut into the second quarter, a reset that matters for Barclays and domestic peers such as Lloyds and NatWest as investors re-price UK borrowing costs again.
March 11, 2026
Glencore Share Price Slips as Australia Strike Threat Tests Copper-Led Growth Story
···

Glencore Share Price Slips as Australia Strike Threat Tests Copper-Led Growth Story

Glencore plc dipped Wednesday, slipping to 515.7 pence by 13:00 GMT—a decline of 6.9 pence—after unionized workers at its Townsville copper refinery in Australia threatened to walk out. Investors kept picking over management’s latest attempt to pitch Glencore’s copper business on its own. Timing is key here. Glencore dropped its 2025 annual report on Tuesday. Just two days before that, Chief Executive Gary Nagle floated the idea of a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, or ASX, as a move to potentially widen the shareholder base following Rio Tinto’s exit from takeover discussions.
March 11, 2026
Westpac Banking Corporation Sees Consumer Sentiment Lift, but Late-Week Drop Sets Up RBA Test
···

Westpac Banking Corporation Sees Consumer Sentiment Lift, but Late-Week Drop Sets Up RBA Test

Westpac Banking Corporation on Tuesday reported a slight uptick in Australian consumer sentiment for March, though the headline number hid a sharp late decline as Middle East tensions escalated mid-survey. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index posted a 1.2% rise to 91.6, yet late survey returns pointed to a reading nearer 84. Sentiment below 100 signals more pessimists than optimists. This puts Westpac in the spotlight, just weeks after executives assured investors that household and business credit demand would hold up, following a first-quarter profit beat. For the December quarter, Westpac logged unaudited net profit of A$1.9 billion, buoyed by A$12 billion in fresh deposits and A$22 billion in new lending. Shares hit a record high after the numbers landed.
March 10, 2026
Natural Gas Prices Today: Europe Gas Slides From 3-Year High, but Supply Risks Linger
···

Natural Gas Prices Today: Europe Gas Slides From 3-Year High, but Supply Risks Linger

European natural gas prices tumbled Tuesday, with the market shedding risk premium as traders eyed a possible faster resolution to the Middle East conflict. The Dutch front-month Title Transfer Facility contract, the region’s key benchmark, slid 7.98 euros to 48.47 euros per megawatt hour by 08:52 GMT, a steep drop from Monday’s intraday peak of 69.50 euros. Over in the UK, April gas futures dropped 19.90 pence, settling at 123.63 pence per therm. This drop isn’t trivial for Europe, where gas storage sits at less than 30% capacity and Qatar can’t ship LNG—liquefied natural gas—out of the still-blocked Strait of Hormuz. Even after Tuesday’s pullback, both Europe and Asia are scrambling for alternative cargoes.
March 10, 2026
Silver Price Today Slips as Dollar Surges, Oil Shock Hits Fed-Cut Bets
···

Silver Price Today Slips as Dollar Surges, Oil Shock Hits Fed-Cut Bets

Silver lost ground Monday, pulling back 0.3% to $84.06 an ounce as of 11:10 a.m. ET. A stronger dollar and the prospect of higher U.S. rates were enough to overshadow safe-haven flows linked to the escalating Middle East conflict. Gold slid 1.7%. Platinum ticked up 0.6%, with palladium gaining 1.4%. “Inflation worries and expectations of higher interest rates” were the main drags on bullion, said Kitco Metals analyst Jim Wyckoff. Silver finds itself pulled in two directions right now. Like gold, it's a magnet for crisis buyers, but at the same time, its demand comes from jewellery, electronics, electric vehicles, and solar panels. The Silver Institute flagged just last month: for the sixth year running, demand is on track to
March 9, 2026
Dow Jones Today: Index Slides as Oil Shock Revives Inflation Fears
···

Dow Jones Today: Index Slides as Oil Shock Revives Inflation Fears

NEW YORK, March 9, 2026, 1:14 PM EDT The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 321.95 points, or 0.68%, to 47,179.60 Monday. The S&P 500 shed 0.35%. The Nasdaq Composite barely budged. An oil shock rippling out from the widening conflict around Iran rattled traders, as Brent crude hovered close to $100 following a steep surge earlier. Investors remained preoccupied with inflation risks, sidelining bargain hunting for now.
March 9, 2026
Gold price slides under $5,100 as oil shock lifts dollar and rate bets
···

Gold price slides under $5,100 as oil shock lifts dollar and rate bets

Gold slid over 1% on Monday as the stronger U.S. dollar and firmer rate-hike bets weighed, taking the shine off the metal’s reputation as a go-to during geopolitical flare-ups. Spot gold slipped 1.7% to $5,080.99 an ounce just after 11 a.m. ET. U.S. gold futures for April lost 1.3%, settling at $5,089.80. “If we get some hot inflationary numbers this week… it could see a further drop in gold prices,” said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals. The day’s action skipped the usual bullion playbook; instead, risk bets landed squarely in energy and rates. Oil soared about 25%, spiking up to $119.50 a barrel at one point—lifting the dollar and heightening concerns that inflation could stay stubborn if supply
March 9, 2026
Oil Nears $120 as Iran War Hammers KOSPI, Asian Stocks and Wall Street
······

Oil Nears $120 as Iran War Hammers KOSPI, Asian Stocks and Wall Street

Oil jumped to levels not seen since mid-2022 on Monday, with Brent spiking to $119.50 a barrel after the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran disrupted Gulf supply routes and clogged traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Stocks tumbled from Asia through Europe, and Wall Street followed with a weaker open after Asia’s latest selloff. This shift lands at a tricky moment, threatening to spark fresh inflation just as hopes for easing borrowing costs had started to build. Money markets quickly swung to price in possible rate hikes across Europe. IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, for her part, cautioned that policymakers ought to "think of the unthinkable." Her warning: if oil prices climb 10% and stay elevated most of the year, global inflation
March 9, 2026
Spain’s IBEX 35 Suffers Worst Week in Four Years on BME as Oil Shock Bites
·····

Spain’s IBEX 35 Suffers Worst Week in Four Years on BME as Oil Shock Bites

Spain’s IBEX 35 notched its steepest weekly drop since 2020, with Bolsas y Mercados Españoles showing the blue-chip index at 17,074.40 on Friday—down roughly 7% from last week’s close at 18,360.8. A surge in oil prices fueled inflation jitters, and traders dumped risk, putting heavy pressure on one of Europe’s more resilient markets, according to Reuters/LSEG data. This shift is notable. Madrid’s IBEX, after all, had already pushed past its 2007 high back in October and, as of March 5, was still showing a gain of over 30% from a year ago—performance fueled by its heavy banking sector and Spain’s relatively strong local economy.
March 7, 2026
Bombay Stock Exchange Last Week: Sensex Logs Worst Week in 14 Months as Oil Shock Hits Indian Stocks
···

Bombay Stock Exchange Last Week: Sensex Logs Worst Week in 14 Months as Oil Shock Hits Indian Stocks

The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange logged its steepest weekly drop in over a year, tumbling 2.9% after sliding 1.37% on Friday to close at 78,918.90. That was the worst week for the index since Dec. 20, 2024. Soaring crude prices, fueled by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, pushed investors toward the exits and kept risk appetite low. India feels the pinch from rising oil prices almost immediately. With over 80% of its crude coming from overseas, any prolonged jump can blow out the current account deficit—already sensitive to shifts in trade and remittances—while also stoking inflation and knocking the rupee lower. According to bankers speaking with Reuters, the RBI stepped in, selling around $12 billion this week to
March 7, 2026
Last Week on Toronto Stock Exchange: TSX Slides 3.7% as Oil Shock Wipes Out Record Run
···

Last Week on Toronto Stock Exchange: TSX Slides 3.7% as Oil Shock Wipes Out Record Run

Canada’s main stock index slumped to a two-week low on Friday, wrapping up its roughest week in more than a month as surging oil prices and inflation jitters dragged down almost every major sector. The S&P/TSX Composite Index settled at 33,083.72, a 1.6% drop for the session and down 3.7% for the week. Nine out of ten sectors finished in the red, with financials off by 1.9%, industrials down 2.4%, and consumer discretionary sliding 2.8%. Still, the index remains up 4.3% for the year, after notching a 28.25% jump in 2025. The drop stands out against a late-February Reuters poll, where strategists had predicted more record highs for the TSX this year. Their reasoning? The index’s tilt toward financials, industrials,
March 7, 2026
1 … 4 5 6 7 8 … 13