FTSE 100 Live: Gold soars as Trump’s tariffs threaten trade war January 19, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM 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 [...]
UK economy ‘languishing’ behind peers as living standards stagnate January 19, 2026 The Labour government risks leaving the UK economy falling further behind major trading partners, left-leaning economists have warned, as they urged Rachel Reeves to ramp up growth plans ahead of crucial meetings in Davos this week. A new report by the Resolution Foundation, the think tank where several current Treasury ministers brainstormed policies before becoming [...]
UK inflation faces December bump from travel and food costs January 18, 2026 UK inflation may have edged higher at the end of last year, with Christmas travel and higher duties pushing up prices, economists have warned. Several forecasters expect the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to have ticked up in December after falling sharply in November. Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics say they expect inflation to rise to 3.3 [...]
ChatGPT to trial adverts for some users for the first time January 17, 2026 Online AI tool ChatGPT will begin to show users adverts for the first time, as it looks to recover from financial losses. Open AI, the bot’s developer, said it would start displaying adverts in the coming weeks based on what people ask ChatGPT as well as personal data the tool stores on users. Relevant ads [...]
Sack Streeting, cabinet ministers urge Starmer January 17, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer has faced calls from cabinet ministers to follow Kemi Badenoch’s playbook and sack health secretary Wes Streeting for disloyalty. Ministers are becoming increasingly frustrated about Streeting’s forthright public criticisms of the Labour party, with some privately accusing him of putting his leadership ambitions first and “attacking No 10”. One cabinet minister told [...]
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”. [...]
UK growth spurt due to ‘payback for earlier weaknesses’ January 16, 2026 The UK economy’s growth spurt in November was just a recovery from “earlier weakness” after hits to Jaguar Land Rover’s production lines and “ongoing” problems with data calculations” weighted on earlier readings, top analysts have warned. Data published on Thursday morning showed the UK economy inched up 0.3 per cent in November despite expectations of [...]
Sadiq Khan’s AI fearmongering will set London back January 16, 2026 Sadiq Khan's warnings about AI has made London look like a city anxious, rather than ambitious, about AI, and investors will take note.
London’s ‘record low confidence’ blamed on Labour workers’ rights bill January 16, 2026 London is suffering from record low business confidence due to Labour government’s Employment Rights Bill, an industry group has warned. The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it recorded the lowest ever level of business confidence in its quarterly economic survey of 500 business chiefs across the capital. The group warned that the “punitive” [...]
UK economy grows more than expected but remains ‘fundamentally weak’ January 16, 2026 The UK economy grew more than expected in November last year but remained “fundamentally weak”, official data has shown, reflecting businesses’ nerves about Rachel Reeves’ Budget measures. New Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed growth in the UK economy inching up. Business analysts warned over several months that pre-Budget speculation had dampened spending and [...]
