HSBC seals $300bn price tag as FTSE 100 banks rally January 27, 2026 Shares in Britain’s banking giants were helping lift the FTSE 100 out of the red this morning as blue-chip lenders rallied ahead of earnings season. HSBC topped the index’s risers with a gain of nearly three per cent to 1,278.20 – an all-time high for Europe’s largest lender. The rally came after Citigroup raised the [...]
Starmer caps ground rents after fears of Rayner-led rebellion January 27, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer has introduced a cap on ground rents following fears of an MP rebellion led by the former deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. The Prime Minister announced the new move – which will cap ground rents at £250 a year for leaseholders in England and Wales – on TikTok, saying it will “make [...]
FTSE 100 Live: HSBC carries blue-chips; Starmer eyes China trade January 27, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Gold’s magnificent rally was continuing on Tuesday morning after breaking through the $5,100 mark for the first time. The flurry to safe haven assets notched up after Trump threatened Canada with 100 per cent tariffs if the country “made a deal with China”. Last week [...]
Profit warnings citing global upheaval hit ‘record high’ January 27, 2026 The proportion of profit warnings issued by UK-listed companies where bosses complain about policy uncertainty and geopolitics reached a record high last year, fresh analysis has shown. New data by EY has shown that 240 firms warned investors that profits would fall short of market expectations. Though this was the lowest figure since 2021 – [...]
Reeves told City at ‘critical juncture’ after claims of golden age January 25, 2026 Rachel Reeves has been handed a firm warning that Britain’s financial ecosystem is facing a “critical juncture” even after the Chancellor touted a “golden age” of opportunity for the City. The Chancellor faces a call to action following a report from lobby group TheCityUK and Big Four consultancy giant PwC revealing the “hard truth” that [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Babcock boss exits; Retail sales fall in golden quarter January 23, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Today is the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos and what a ride it has been for capital markets. The FTSE 100 started Monday’s trading session at a cool 10,235.31 before shedding some points as Trump turned up pressure on his tariff [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Defence and miners miss Trump ‘TACO’ tariff rally January 22, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Yesterday Donald descended on Davos. In a wide-ranging address to the economic elite, President Trump scolded Europe, touted his own successes and doubled down on the “need” to acquire Greenland. Beyond his scathing remarks about Nato peers, the central takeaway from Trump’s over-hour long speech [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Trump to rock davos; Stocks dip after inflation January 21, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Inflation spiked above expectations this morning, coming in at 3.4 per cent, according to fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This soared above a poll of economists by Bloomberg expecting 3.3 per cent. “Inflation ticked up a little in December, driven partly [...]
Andrew Bailey: Muted response to Trump does not bring ‘assurance’ January 20, 2026 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said the “muted” market response to President Trump’s latest tariff threats did not bring any assurance over global financial stability. Bailey on Tuesday morning suggested that President Trump’s tariffs on the UK and major European economies would not be a “trigger” for a financial breakdown. During a Treasury Committee [...]
FTSE 100 and Wall St sink as EU and Trump war of words heats up January 20, 2026 The war of words between the Trump administration and Europe ramped up on Tuesday as world leaders headed for a showdown in Davos whilst global markets sunk into the red. Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the tariffs imposed on European nations due to their staunch defence of Greenland’s sovereignty [...]