Markets post worst month since 2020, as recovery slows and rate hike worries rise – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• S&P 500's worst month since March 2020
• Stoxx 600 fell 3.9% in January, worst since October 2020
• Soros: real estate crisis and Omicron threaten Xi's ambitions
• Eurozone growth slowed to 0.3%
• Germany contracted, but France, Spain and Italy kept growing
• Ryanair prepares price cuts as it warns of hugely uncertain' financial outlook
• China's factory growth nearly stalling
• Bank of England poised to raise interest rates on Thursday as high inflation takes toll

Ryanair is well-placed to thrive as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic, says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell - even it it has to cut prices to fill planes in the next few months:

The latest trading update from Ryanair, covering the last three months of 2021, was always likely to show strong growth on a year-on-year basis given the comparative quarter saw some of the tightest Covid restrictions.

However, the numbers are not as good as they might have been had Omicron not intervened. With his typical tact Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary blamed media hysteria' about the new Covid variant for the impact on the business.

Ryanair's third-quarter numbers demonstrate how far the airline sector has come since the start of the pandemic.

With revenue up 286% year-on-year, load factor at 84% and revenue some 331% higher than it was in Q3 last year, its recovery is fairly advanced.

We see [today's] Q3 statement as broadly a holding one before we enter the Easter/summer period. But it is important to remember that Ryanair's cost position (both fuel with hedging and ex-fuel), network expansion, customer proposition, employee growth and obviously balance sheet/cash flows are poised for its next phase of growth.

We continue to believe that these low cost' tenets will show favourably, if not dramatically, this summer.