The largest sector of the UK economy affected by the slowdown that is hitting Sunak

Thank you for joining me. We start the day with predictions from business leaders about the upcoming general election.

The head of the Federation of Small Businesses, which represents more than 500,000 small businesses and traders, said victory was not expected for either side, although they were starting to feel more confident.

5 things to start the day well

1) Traders oppose summer rate cuts despite falling inflation | The upcoming elections and higher than expected price increases are pushing expectations to November

2) CVC and Abu Dhabi have made a £5 billion bid for Hargreaves Lansdown | A British Stock Exchange cheerleader may be considered private

3) Barclay family begins forced sale of Very Group | A failing business empire wants to fire a retailer to pay off mounting debts

4) Anglo American agrees to takeover talks with BHP | Mining giant FTSE is entering negotiations with a rival to find a simpler deal

5) Jeremy Warner: Economy stars supported early elections. The Tories had nothing left to lose | Sunak knows full well that the break in the clouds will not last forever

What happened at night

Several Asian equity benchmarks fell as markets digested the fallout from policymakers in major economies preferring to take a patient approach to cutting interest rates.

Geopolitical tensions were also at the forefront of investors’ minds as China’s military launched two days of “punishment” drills in five areas around Taiwan, just days after Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, took office.

This sent Chinese blue chips down 0.9%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index similarly fell 1.4%.

In the broader market, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index lost 0.5%, also hit by a decline in some commodity prices.

A more hawkish-than-expected minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting, higher-than-expected inflation in the UK and a sobering assessment of New Zealand’s inflation problems by the country’s central bank have caused investors to limit their bets on the pace and scale of expected global interest rate cuts. this year.

In America, the S&P 500 index fell 0.3% to 5,307.01, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.2% to 16,801.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading U.S. companies fell 0.5% to 39,671.04.