European market review

This month’s highlights:

• Eurozone inflation was confirmed at 0.9% in February, unchanged from the prior month. Core inflation was down from 1.4% to 1.1%.
• The ECB announced that it would ramp up its asset purchase programme under the Pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) in upcoming quarters.
• Higher market confidence regarding the economic recovery has led to a shift away from government debt. UK bond yields have risen to an almost two-year high.
• Eurozone economic sentiment rose sharply this month, bringing Eurozone sentiment to 93.4 (up from 91.5 in January). UK consumer confidence rose sharply as well to the highest level since beginning of the pandemic.
• European residential investment remained strong at the start of this year.
• MSCI’s Monthly Index for February showed All Property returns continued to exhibit signs of recovery with month-on-month returns of 0.6%.