FTSE 100 Live: Stocks drop as oil holds firm over $110; UK growth slashed April 29, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. Oil prices are holding firm tipping over the $110 mark, bringing the cost of a barrel closer to the highs of $118 it peaked at earlier in the Iran war. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – advanced another one per cent on [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jitter as inflation surges; Trump extends ceasefire April 22, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. Inflation has surged this morning follow the outbreak of war in Iran. Fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown the consumer price index rose by 3.3 per cent in the 12 months to March 2026. That’s up from three per cent [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks flat as Trump’s deadline looms; Job vacancies shrink; Primark gets spin-off April 21, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. New unemployment figures this morning have showed an unexpected twist where the joblessness rate slipped under the five per cent mark. But this was accompanied by a blow to the market with the number of vacancies fell by an estimate of 29,000 in the three [...]
‘No more Mr Nice Guy’: Oil prices spike as Trump renews Iran power plant threats April 20, 2026 The price of oil has been driven higher by the latest round of escalations in the Middle East renewing fears of a drastic global energy shock. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – jumped over six per cent on Monday morning to over $96. It follows a weekend of tensions where shipping [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks slump on renewed Iran threats; UK to be ‘pushed to brink’ of recession April 20, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. Markets are returning from the weekend to a fresh round of volatility. The mood ended last week on a high following the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz but that sentiment was quickly squashed over the weekend as tensions renewed. Shipping in the Strait of [...]
FTSE 100 jumps as Strait of Hormuz fully open following ceasefire April 17, 2026 The Iranian regime has reopened the Strait of Hormuz following a ceasefire in the Middle East between numerous warring nations. Tehran’s foreign minister said on Friday afternoon: “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire”. Traffic [...]
Easyjet shares grounded after revealing £560m hit from Iran war April 16, 2026 Easyjet expects to make a whopping loss in the first half of the financial year after the war in the Middle East led to major disruptions across operations. The budget airline said on Thursday it is forecasting a loss before tax of between £540m and £560m as the industry battles against rising costs. Shares in [...]
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 PM 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 [...]
BP toasts to ‘exceptional’ oil trading after Iran volatility April 14, 2026 Energy giant BP has forecast “exceptional” results in its oil trading division after a period of volatility in prices triggered by the war in the Middle East. The FTSE 100 oil major said upgraded its outlook on Tuesday, which marks a sharp recovery from the “weak” performance reported in the final quarter of 2025. The [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks uneven as Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade begins April 14, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM 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 [...]
