Daily Stock Market Report (Fri 1st May 2026) - SNYT, NWG, NRR, SRB, WTB

Good morning! Happy May Day - or Calan Mai, Beltane, Labour Day, or whatever you prefer to call it!
As it's Friday, I'll attempt to catch up on interesting stories we missed during the week.
Bank of England/ECB: there was lots of discussion yesterday about the need for rate hikes.
At the ECB, where rates are starting from a lower base, they considered hiking yesterday - but ended up pushing the decision back to June.
The Bank of England gave us a thought experiment - different inflation scenarios based on second-round effects kicking in from the oil supply shock.
No probabilities were attached to each scenario, but the one referred to as Scenario C was "likely to warrant a forceful tightening in monetary policy".

The consensus reads: "there is a risk of material second-round effects in price and wage-setting, which policy would need to lean against".
Markets are now pricing in two BoE rate hikes this year, although there is clearly the potential for more than that. Chief Economist Huw Pill wanted a hike yesterday.
The bottom line? Domestic stocks are unlikely to get a boost from rate cuts any time soon.

Spreadsheet accompanying this report: link.

Companies Reporting
Name (Mkt Cap)RNSSummaryOur view (Author)Natwest (LON:NWG) (£51.4bn...