Top Stories — Wednesday, April 22, 2026
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- UK inflation jumps to 3.3% in March as fuel prices surge amid Iran war — CNBC
- European stocks set to open lower as Trump refuses to lift Strait of Hormuz blockade — CNBC
- CEO with over $3 trillion under management tells Gen-Z to think past ‘hobby investing’ — CNBC
UK inflation jumps to 3.3% in March as fuel prices surge amid Iran war
Source: CNBC • Published: 4/22/2026, 11:58:29 AM
U.K. inflation jumped to 3.3% in March as the Iran war sparked a sharp increase in fuel prices, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Wednesday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected the inflation rate to accelerate to 3.3%, up from 3% in the 12 months to February. The latest data is the first hard evidence of the Iran war's impact on consumer prices in the U.K.
The rise in inflation was largely due to increased fuel prices, which saw their largest increase for over three years, Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, commented Wednesday.
"Airfares were another upward driver this month, alongside rising food prices," he said in a post on X.
"The only significant offset came from clothing costs, where prices rose by less than this time last year. The monthly cost of both raw materials for businesses and goods leaving factories rose substantially, driven by higher crude oil and petrol prices," Fitzner added.
A sharp rise in energy prices on the back of the Iran war has been blamed for renewed inflationary pressures and, while the conflict continues, economists expect to see costs accelerate further.
"With the repercussions of the Iran conflict reaching the U.K.'s shores, pump prices and heating oil prices are likely to see a big increase to end the quarter," Sanjay Raja, chief U.K. economist at Deutsche Bank, said in emailed comments ahead of the data release.
As a net importer of energy, the U.K. is particularly vulnerable to global energy price shocks like the one caused by conflict in the Middle East.
Before the war began on Feb.28, the Bank of England was expected to cut interest rates as inflation was cooling to its 2% target.
Economists say the central bank could increase rates, although it's seen as a close call as to whether policymakers will do so at the next meeting on April 30.
A majority of economists polled by Reuters in the last week expect the BOE to keep rates unchanged for the rest of the year, arguing policymakers will choose to "look through" the spike in inflation caused by external factors. BOE rate-setters will also be wary of encouraging "stagflation" — slow growth, high inflation and rising unemployment — if they raise rates.
All eyes are on developments in the Iran war, with U.S. President Donald Trump extending a fragile ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday. The prospect of further peace talks is uncertain, however, with a second round of discussions that was set to be held in Pakistan this week put on hold.
"The extended ceasefire won't prevent a painful period of accelerating inflation with skyrocketing energy costs and food prices likely to lift the headline rate above 4% by the autumn, despite slower economic demand," Suren Thiru, ICAEW's chief economist, commented Wednesday.
"While these figures will make for uncomfortable reading among policymakers, the looming downward pressure on prices from a weakening economy should give rate-setters enough latitude to look through this period of intensifying inflation and keep rates on hold."
Please check for further updates.
European stocks set to open lower as Trump refuses to lift Strait of Hormuz blockade
Source: CNBC • Published: 4/22/2026, 11:52:01 AM
LONDON — European stocks are expected to open in negative territory on Wednesday as traders assess the Iran ceasefire extension and the prospect of further peace talks.
The U.K.'s FTSE index, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 are all expected to open 0.3% lower, respectively, while Italy's FTSE MIB is seen just a touch below the flatline, according to data from IG.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday extended the two-week U.S. ceasefire with Iran, saying the extension was warranted due to Tehran's government being "seriously fractured."
Trump said the ceasefire, which he earlier had said would end on Wednesday, would continue "until such time as" Iran's leaders and representatives submit a "unified proposal" to end the war with the U.S. and Israel.
The President's announcement came after reports that an expected trip by Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan for a second round of peace talks with Iranian officials had been put on hold.
Iranian state news outlet Tasnim also reported that negotiators from Tehran had informed their U.S. counterparts through an intermediary in Pakistan that they would not appear for further talks.
While the ceasefire extension saw oil prices moderate, market sentiment was kept in check by Trump's refusal to lift the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
He said in a Truth Social post: "They only say they want [the Strait of Hormuz] closed because I have it totally BLOCKADED (CLOSED!), so they merely want to 'save face.'"
Trump added that lifting the blockade would mean "there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included."
Back in Europe, the U.K.'s first inflation print covering the period since the Iran war began was released on Wednesday. The country's inflation rate jumped to 3.3% in March, official data showed, in line with economists' expectations and up from 3% the previous month. Officials said higher fuel costs had helped push the prices higher.
Suren Thiru, chief economist at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said in a note following the data release that Trump's extended ceasefire deadline for Iran "won't prevent a painful period of accelerating inflation with skyrocketing energy costs and food prices likely to lift the headline rate above 4% by the autumn."
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.K. government bond was last seen trading almost 2 basis points lower at 4.873%. Sterling ticked higher against the U.S. dollar, gaining 0.1% to settle at around $1.35.
— CNBC's Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this market report.
CEO with over $3 trillion under management tells Gen-Z to think past ‘hobby investing’
Source: CNBC • Published: 4/22/2026, 11:11:10 AM
Capital Group Chief Executive Mike Gitlin wants Gen-Z investors recoiling from war-driven commodity trades to start thinking long-term, as the asset management industry races to win over a generation with fundamentally different rules of investing.
Responding to an audience question at CNBC's Converge Live conference in Singapore on Wednesday, Gitlin said younger investors should approach markets with a long-term wealth-building mindset, rather than "hobby investing," adding personal interests to one's portfolio.
The question came from a father in the audience who said his teenage children had objected to his plan to rotate from gold into oil, denouncing it as "profiting from war." He added that an informal survey at his children's school found roughly 80% of Gen-Z peers shared the same disinclination.
Whether gold or oil, "neither of them is where they should be thinking about where they're going to invest their money for the next 75 years," said Gitlin, who leads Capital Group, the world's largest active investment manager with $3.3 trillion in assets under management.
"Trying to time commodity markets is super, super hard for professionals, let alone 13-year-olds. Get them interested in the broader markets," he said.
Instead, Gitlin urged younger investors to build a "paper portfolio" of several stocks, conduct due diligence research, aided by artificial intelligence tools, and focus on fundamentals rather than market swings.
"Get them interested in stocks and bonds, the broader macro conditions, what is happening in the world," he added.
The comments come against a backdrop of what researchers describe as deepening disillusionment among younger investors and rising mistrust in wealth management institutions.
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Retail Investor Outlook, Gen-Z's trust in traditional financial institutions has fallen over the past two years, with nearly 20% of non-investors citing distrust of financial institutions as a reason for staying out of markets entirely.
A small but growing cohort has embraced what has become known as "financial nihilism," a rejection of traditional wealth-building milestones altogether. The majority of those young investors surveyed by WEF also said they would invest more if they had more trust in their investment platform.
Gitlin's remarks came against a backdrop of striking market resilience as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran dragged on for almost two months, with a murky outlook for a permanent ceasefire.
Global equities have reclaimed pre-war levels, with the MSCI World Index erasing a 3.29% post-conflict slump to trade nearly 2% above its March 2 close — the first session after hostilities broke out — as investors unwound geopolitical risk hedges even as the conflict remains unresolved.
"The markets are super resilient," Gitlin said. "People are looking three to five years forward — to earnings, to companies becoming more profitable. You have to look through that for the longer term."
Notably, some of the world's best-performing markets this year have been major energy importers, despite the disruption to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea's Kospi is up 50%, and Taiwan's benchmark has gained 30% — far outpacing the S&P 500's 3% advance.
The critical wildcard, Gitlin warned, is how long oil prices stay elevated. "The only 'if' in all of this is how long oil is going to be inflated," he said. "If oil stays elevated for a long period of time, you're going to have higher inflation and lower growth — and then markets would react accordingly."
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