Wall Street drops as interest rate rises loom after US inflation hits 7.5% – as it happened

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Economists expect several US interest rate increases this year
• US inflation jumped to 7.5% in January
• Prices rose another 0.6% in the month
• Eurozone growth forecasts cut as inflation and omicron hurts recovery

Earlier:

• Unilever to hike prices due to surging costs
• Exceptionally challenging': how rising shipping costs hit UK firms

Data analytics group Relx is now the top faller in London, down 4.75%.

It has warned that it can't predict when its exhibitions business will return to normal, after reporting solid growth across its operations last year.

London-based Relx on Thursday said it hosted 269 in-person events in 2021, compared with a yearly schedule of more than 500 before the pandemic.

However revenue at the business rose 44 per cent from 2020 to 534mn, and it posted a 10mn profit after a 164mn loss the year before.

What do you do after you've shown your best hand, and find out no one was that impressed? After being rebuked and scorned over a failed 50bn stab at taking over GSK's consumer unit, Alan Jope's answer is to chuck some money down on the table and pass the shoe.

Results from Unilever are decent but the announcement of a 3bn share buyback is not lifting the spirits of investors: shares have dropped 3% in early trading. Nor has the commitment to rule out making any large transformational acquisitions in the near term.