FTSE 100 Live: Entain leads modest stock jump; Surprise growth ‘pushed to rear view’ April 16, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Markets are betting the latest round of peace talks will bring some resolution to the conflict in the Middle East. US markets managed to clinch a record high close on the latest news of peace talks but in London the FTSE 100 splintered and finished [...]
Standard Life snaps up Aegon UK for £2bn to create savings giant April 15, 2026 Standard Life has snapped up the UK’s largest investment platform Aegon UK in a £2bn deal. The FTSE 100 giant – previously known as Phoenix Group – said the deal would create the UK’s top retirement savings and income business with near 16m customers and £480bn in assets under administration. Standard Life expects an annual [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery as Trump eyes Iran ‘grand bargain’; Reeves to meet Bessent April 15, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Hopes of peace talks in the Middle East were back on the table this morning, though markets weren’t holding there breathe after weeks of bait-and-switches. Donald Trump described the war with Iran as “close to over” during an interview with Fox news. “I think it’s [...]
Why Nationwide’s £7m boss was worth splashing the cash for April 15, 2026 Nationwide splashed the cash on it’s top boss, Debbie Crosbie, in this week’s column Samuel Norman asks if they got their monies worth. Nationwide has been proclaimed Britain’s best bank. The UK’s largest building society – which is, in fact, not a bank due its status as a mutual – has been handed the crown [...]
IMF: Middle East war risks sparking government debt doom loop April 14, 2026 Ballooning levels of government debt have left the global economy dangerously exposed to the aftereffects of the Middle East war, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which warned a fresh wave of inflation could trigger a historic bond crisis. In its latest Financial Stability Report, the financial body said that countries’ inability to rein [...]
Can vapes save Imperial Brands? April 14, 2026 Twenty years ago, tobacco companies were among the top performers on the London Stock Exchange, driven by consistent cigarette demand and aggressive global expansion. But the attitude towards smoking has since shifted, with the numbers of smokers in the UK dropping off the back of campaigns, the rise of vaping and public health policies. In [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks uneven as Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade begins April 14, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Markets were rocked yesterday by the US’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, adding a new layer of tensions to the weeks-long conflict in the Middle East. Vice-President JD Vance has accused the Iranian government of engaging in an “act of economic terrorism” through its [...]
Hungarian stocks surge as Peter Magyar topples Viktor Orban from power April 13, 2026 Hungarian-listed stocks hit records high in early trading after Prime Minister Viktor Orban was toppled from 16 years in power following a sweeping election defeat. Budapest’s BUX jumped 3.3 per cent upon market open, before settling at a 2.7 per cent gain, trading at 136,481 points, a fresh record high for the index. Gains were [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks tumble amid Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade April 13, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Markets are returning from the weekend to a major blow in hopes of a ceasefire in the Middle East. After Donald Trump revealed his two-week reprieve on strikes whilst negotiations begin, those very talks now look to be hanging by a thread. Vice President JD [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery as North Sea oil prices smash record April 10, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Markets are continuing to digest the ever-changing narrative coming out of the conflict in the Middle East but even as hopes of a peace deal rise, the economic overhang still threatens to send shocks across the country. In a speech by Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing [...]