Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.
Oil is back on the rise this morning following a series of mixed messages on Monday that brought forward a day of whiplash for global markets.
The trading session started with nosedives into the red as markets digested President Trump’s 48 hour ultimatum on Iran, which was scheduled to finish on Monday night.
Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – was trading around $114 per barrel as trading kicked off.
It was followed hours later by a shocking Truth Social post from President Donald Trump that he was pausing strikes due to “productive” talks with the Iranian leadership.
But word coming out of the regime in Tehran appeared to contradict Trump’s comments, with media associated with the nation’s revolutionary guard pouring cold water on the idea of a peace deal.
It didn’t stop markets from flying the TACO flag however, as Trump’s five-day delay on his strikes threatened as part of the ultimatum helped pick up market sentiment.
The FTSE 100 finished the day down 0.2 per cent after an incredible amount of volatility that saw the index drop nearly two per cent deep into the red and one per cent into the green at different occasions.
“The hardest part is not predicting the war but predicting the communication from the White House and how much markets will react to it,” Mizuho’s Jordan Rochester said.
We’ll be bringing you the latest market reaction and more.
Here’s a few of our top headlines from yesterday:
- Government borrowing costs set for worst month since Liz Truss
- Manic Monday: How Trump rocked global markets
- Investors eye farming as AI’s latest cash cow
- 2026 Community Shield moved from Wembley to Cardiff over concert clash
- Ligue 1+: French football league losing hundreds of millions to piracy
- MoD looks to hire AI chief on £185,000 – just don’t use it in your application
- Mortgage deals shrink by a fifth since outbreak of Iran war
