St James Place : Rate runes

Political commentators have their stock of regular metaphors, but few win as many column inches as the Ides of March, the date of Julius Caesar's assassination. Last week the commentators could take extra delight in the Dutch election, starting shot of a widely-feared series of national elections around Europe, falling on the same date. Yields on government bonds in the Netherlands remained high early in the week, as they did in France, which faces a presidential election in a few weeks.

Yet if 15 March was supposed to mark the political tide turning against the EU in Continental Europe, the election result did the opposite, delivering a better-than-expected outcome for the party of the current prime minister, which beat Geert Wilders' Eurosceptic Party for Freedom by 13 seats. As a result, media and markets alike quickly moved on, and by the end of the week it was central banks that held investor attention.

This week's bulletin also includes:

• The US Federal Reserve raised rates by 0.25% and slated two further rate hikes for the year ahead.
• The Bank of England left rates on hold, but the vote tally suggested a hawkish turn may yet lie ahead.
• Philip Hammond was forced into a Budget U-turn on his plan to cut NICs advantages for the self-employed.
• With 13 working days to go, many people risk failing to make the most of their tax year-end planning opportunities.

View this week's Market Bulletin, which contains thoughts and opinions of St. James's Place and our range of investment managers on the key issues affecting investors.