Week of 16 March 2026
Weekly markets 16 03 2026
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The world's major central banks face their hardest call in years: hold rates and risk inflation, or act and risk crushing already fragile growth. With the Strait of Hormuz still partially blocked and oil potentially heading toward $164 a barrel in a sustained shutdown scenario, policymakers are paralysed. We look at how businesses are beginning to rethink their energy strategy in the wake of the crisis, with renewables getting a fresh look out of necessity rather than ideology. And we profile the UK's boom in ISA millionaires — FTSE 100 returned nearly 25% last year — but ask whether it was skill, luck, or both, and what the warning signs are for 2026.
