Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.
The good old safety net of London’s blue-chip index strikes again.
The week kicked off with more tariff drama after Saturday’s announcement from President Donald Trump of a sweeping 15 per cent levy across the US’ trading partners.
As cool heads prevailed in government – who played coy on questions and pointed to ongoing discussions – the same appeared in the City market.
The FTSE 100 ended the day broadly unchanged down just two points at 10,684.74p.
That’s not to say the day was without drama, Trump threatened to use more “obnoxious” tariffs after stating the Supreme Court “accidentally and unwittingly” gave him more powers and than he had prior to the “ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive” ruling.
Lawmakers in the EU also postponed a vote on the trade deal with the US, demanding “full clarity” from the White House. It’s a move that bares similarity to the EU halting their work on the deal last month in a protest at Trump’s attempt to acquire Greenland.
“Investors looking for a safe haven from tariff madness and worries about Iran could do a lot worse than the FTSE 100 right now,” Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said.
“The index seems impervious to worries about US trade policy and the potential for a US-Iran conflict, holding steady today while US stocks fall back.”
We’ll be bringing you the latest on tariffs and more.
Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday:
- UK tech faces hiring crunch despite AI visa push
- Trump’s tariff decisions send shockwaves through the markets
- The Works shares jump after activist investor ups stake
- Rolls-Royce: FTSE 100 giant set to splash £1bn on shareholders
- Job vacancies at lowest level since 2021 as London worst affected
- Bank to business lending growth to halve amid global tensions
