FTSE 100 Live: Gold soars as Trump’s tariffs threaten trade war January 19, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. It might be a new year but it’s the same issues controlling the global markets. The FTSE 100 closed last week one per cent higher than it started at 10,235.29p. But this came around 24 hours prior to President Donald Trump’s fresh tariff attack on [...]
AJ Bell boss: Rachel Reeves ISA reforms ‘doomed to fail’ January 16, 2026 The chief executive of a top investment firm has issued a scathing broadside against the Chancellor’s proposal to restrict cash ISA limits. In a letter seen by Sky News, AJ Bell chief executive Michael Summersgill wrote to Rachel Reeves that efforts to push Brits towards investing with limits on cash savings are “doomed to fail”. [...]
Ofcom investigation launched into Grok AI deepfakes on X January 12, 2026 The media and online safety watchdog has announced an investigation into Elon Musk’s X, to determine whether the platform has done enough to protect Brits from explicit deepfakes generated by its Grok AI. Ofcom pointed to “deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Barclays slumps on credit card cap, Fed’s Jerome Powell faces probe January 12, 2026 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. The FTSE 100 broke through the five-figure mark last week in a welcome start to the year for the London markets. The index saw its best annual performance in 2025 since the recovery from the financial crash in 2009. That was helped along in no small part [...]
FTSE 100 defence stocks boosted by Trump’s calls for military spending hike January 8, 2026 Shares in top FTSE 100 defence stocks were boosted on Thursday morning, following President Trump’s push for a 50 per cent boost to the US military budget. BAE Systems shares shot up 6.7 per cent following the market open to highs not seen since October, while Babcock rose by more than 2.2 per cent. President [...]
Could D&D give a shot in the arm to London’s hospitality sector? December 24, 2025 We visited a D&D cafe transforming nightlife in an unloved corner of Elephant and Castle. Can Matt Kenyon slay the goblins facing hospitality? Burrowed within an almost cartoonishly dodgy corner of Elephant and Castle is a nerd’s nirvana. Finance bros sweep in from the Square Mile to swap gilets for broadswords and elven ears. I [...]
Treasury mocked for £100k financial services ‘leadership’ role December 17, 2025 The Treasury is searching for a Director for Financial Services to take on an “exciting and challenging leadership role” within the heart of the British economy, for a £100k salary. According to the job posting, the successful candidate would be tasked with “advising the Chancellor and Economic Secretary on financial services policy, taking account of [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Ofwat £11m fine; Unemployment at four-year high December 16, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. We received another gloomy snapshot of the economy ahead of the ever-important Bank of England rate decision on Thursday. New unemployment data showed another blow for the Labour government, which has denied that its policies have had an on the ailing jobs market. The UK [...]
Value of UK passport declines sharply under Labour December 16, 2025 The once-coveted British passport has tumbled in value since Rachel Reeves’ “wealth tax” Budget, according to a new report. In the latest Passport Index, put together by financial advisory firm Nomad Capitalist, the UK’s iconic blue travel document has slipped from 21st place in the previous list down to 35th out of 199 countries. This [...]
Stormzy, Emma Thompson, and Ray Winstone join star-studded Square Mile charity day December 11, 2025 Stars including rapper Stormzy, actor Emma Thompson and ex-Spice Girl Emma Bunton have taken to the trading floor as part of an annual charity initiative spearheaded by a financial services firm in the heart of the Square Mile. Celebrities are spending the day hitting the phones to help out brokers, ranging from actor Ray Winstone [...]
