Last week was a positive one for Sterling, with stronger-than-expected employment figures, higher inflation (which pushes back expectations of interest rate cuts), and strong retail sales data.

Portugal has solidified its status as a global hub for media and events, experiencing continuous growth each year. This presents a compelling opportunity for investors, including those leveraging the Golden Visa residency-by-investment programme.

Federal Reserve minutes from their January meeting pressed home the fact that officials feel the need to see inflation continue to fall, before committing to lowering interest rates further.

Pound Sterling is now boasting 2025 highs against the Euro, with the rate being at its best level since January 2nd, due to inflation surprising markets and showing that the rate at which prices rise is now back up to 3%. This crucially has risen 0.5%, but also more alarmingly has beaten expectations of a meagre 0.3% increase.

RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) reduced their interest rate levels by 25 basis point this morning, down to a total base rate of 4.1%. While the monetary action was expected, comments from its members show a hawkish outlook moving forward in 2025 – with potentially two additional cuts planned to bring down the borrowing costs to 3.6% later in the year.

Monday is set to be a quiet day, with no major economic data releases. However, volatility is expected to pick up significantly from Tuesday onwards.

US Inflation released yesterday showed an unexpected rise in January, with figures climbing to 3% to hit its highest level in six months.

Markets are fairly steady currently, amid Trade War jitters with Donald Trump officially imposing a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports into the US earlier this week.