Blow to AIM as pawnbroker Ramsdens snapped up by US giant for £206m Retail Pawnbroker Ramsdens has been snapped up by a US giant in a move that will lead to the firm dropping off London’ junior stock market. The deal – with Nasdaq-listed Firstcash – valued the retailer at a cool £206m, whilst shareholders are set to receive up to 609p per share as part of the tie-up. [...]
Oil on track for biggest weekly jump in 4 years as US mulls intervention Energy The oil market is set for its biggest weekly gain in four years after the crisis in the Middle East sent ripples through the energy markets. The price of Brent crude has risen by around 18 per cent in the last week, tipping over $85 a barrel. Should the gains hold up, it would mark [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Gas price surge after LNG halt, stocks slide amid Iran conflict Markets Good morning and welcome to the City PM liveblog. Global markets were in store for another dose of risk to kick off the new week after tensions in the Middle East reached a boiling point over the weekend. The cost of a barrel of brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – climbed [...]
FTSE 100 Live: WPP sinks; LSEG, Rolls-Royce bumper buybacks February 26, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. After a few days of tariff-induced risk aversion, the FTSE 100 was back on blistering form on Wednesday, finishing the day’s trading session with a new record. London’s blue-chip index soared over one per cent to seal yet another record close at 10,806.41p. This was [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Beazley seals $15bn Zurich deal, Santander in $12bn takeover February 4, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. Shares in Europe’s biggest data, publishing and legal software groups slumped on Tuesday after AI giant Anthropic unveiled a new tool aimed directly at in-house lawyers. The move rattled investors who had long viewed the sector as an AI winner. In London, Relx fell close [...]
Big banks bet on gold rally as metals channel meme stock February 3, 2026 It’s all over for doughnuts and cameras as social media’s retail investors set their sights on a new favourite investment meme. Precious metals’ start to 2026 has been nothing short of a rollercoaster. Gold rose 65 per cent last year, hitting multiple fresh records as geopolitical tensions flared. Investors flocked to the traditional safe-haven asset [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Gold back on climb; Musk’s major Space X merger February 3, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. It was quite the day for the FTSE 100 on Monday, with the index getting swept in the global metals sell-off in early trading before clawing its way out of the red and enjoying a steady stream of gains all the way to a record [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Miners lead stock fall as gold rout deepens February 2, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. There’s one big event the City is looking towards this week but all signs point to zero surprises. On Thursday, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will meet for the first time this year and decide whether to take the chop to interest rates. [...]
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 [...]
Trump tariffs: EU ‘has tools at disposal’ to hit back amid Greenland spat January 19, 2026 The European Union has pledged it has the “tools” to hit back at the US after President Trump’s latest trade offensive amid the deepening Greenland crisis. In a daily briefing the European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson and trade lead, Olof Gill, said “should the threatened tariffs be imposed, the European Union has tools at its disposal [...]
