FTSE 100 Live: Stocks fall as Trump ramps up pressure; Unemployment at four-year high

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.

Thousands more Brits exited the jobs market in November as the estimated number of payrolled employees fell by 33,000.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the UK unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and hit 5.1 per cent in September to November 2025, up in the latest quarter and above estimates from a year ago.

“The number of employees on payroll has fallen again, with reductions over the last year concentrated in retail and hospitality, and reflecting ongoing weak hiring activity,” Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS said.

Unemployment has remained one of the Labour government’s biggest headaches.

In December, the ONS released damning figures that showed the number of payrolled employess fell by 22,000 in September while the unemployment rate hit 5.1 per cent for the period between August and October.

“The overall picture continues to be of a weakening labour market,” McKeown said following December’s release.

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer gave strong hints – along with Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Budget – that the government will unveil sweeping welfare reforms in the forthcoming year.

Though it’s an effort already attempted by the government after it failed to fend off a major rebellion of backbench MPs last summer.

Meanwhile, attention in the City will still be fixed on markets after investors sought to sell their risk on Monday after President Trump’s latest salvo.

European markets were swimming in the red with the FTSE 100 ending the session down 0.39 per cent at 10,195.35p.

Despite the losses it’s a far less hasty reaction than Trump’s last tariff offensive in April 2025, which saw the FTSE 100 lose over 11 per cent in the span of a week.

Investors may be ready to call Trump’s bluff after one too many instances of ‘TACO trade’ (Trump Always Chickens Out).

We’ll be bringing you all the major news and analysis of the morning.

Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday:

• US tariffs war could ‘trigger UK recession’
• Greg Jackson: London IPO a ‘no brainer’ if capital flows reverse
• Gatwick’s £2.2bn second runway to be challenged in court
• IMF: UK economy to lag behind growth of advanced economies
• Kemi Badenoch tells Tory MPs: Don’t damage us from within