Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Middle East crisis live: Trump claims war will end in ‘two or three weeks’; Rubio says US should ‘re-examine’ Nato relationship

• Cost of living: how to prepare for the ‘awful April’ shower of bill increases

European stock markets are set to rally when trading begins in around 30 minutes, reports Emma Wall , chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown:

“Markets paint an optimistic picture this morning – choosing to believe the optimism from the White House that the war in Iran will be over in a couple of weeks. US President Donald Trump yesterday announced that he saw the war ending within a couple of weeks, and that he would be addressing the nation with further details later today.

This was enough to propel the S&P 500 into a relief rally, up 2.9%, the best day for the market since May last year. Asian markets have continued the optimism early today, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong up nearly 2%, and the Nikkei in Japan jumping 4.56%. European futures are also looking positive, with markets in the UK, France, Germany and Italy set to open up.

This is a fast-moving situation, and our update is based on assumptions that the Straits of Hormuz opens within 2-3 weeks and energy production in the Middle East returns to normal within a year

As one of the UK’s energy intensive and most globally connected sectors, food and drink manufacturing is unusually exposed to these shocks, with cost pressures on multiple fronts hitting the industry at once