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London stocks on the FTSE 100 surged in early trade on Thursday, taking their cue from whopping gains in the US and Asia after Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for most countries except China.
At 0845 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 5.4% at 8,096.00.
Trump said on Wednesday that countries that were subjected to reciprocal tariff rates would see the rate go back down to 10% to allow for trade negotiations.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said: “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable”
Speaking to reporters after the announcement, he said: “China wants to make a deal, they just don’t know how quite to go about it.”
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The White House has finally seen some sense and given a whole host of countries a 90 day pause, with reciprocal tariffs immediately lowered to 10%, while isolating China in a tense battle.
“Was this Trump caving to pressure or his master plan all along? Who knows, but markets ripped on the news with the S&P 500 posting its 9th best day in history and the FTSE 100 opening a more subdued 1.2% higher this morning.
“We still don’t know if this tariff strategy is going to do more harm than good, and this should not be confused with a resolution to the underlying impact on areas like inflation and global growth. But it does give a host of countries a chance to come to the table and barter for a deal, while offering companies some much needed time to make whatever supply chain adjustments they can.
“What this means for the EU is still unclear, but given countermeasures were already declared it could find itself on Trump’s naughty list, as ever we await more clarity.”
On home shores, a survey showed that activity across the housing market slowed last month as price growth flattened out and new buyer demand slowed.
According to the latest Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the house price balance fell to 2 in March, from 11 in February and 20 in January.
New buyer demand, meanwhile, declined from -16 a month earlier to -32, the weakest reading since September 2023.
Respondents said the rush to complete sales before changes to stamp duty came into effect on 1 April tailed off as the month wore on.
Agreed sales were also marginally softer, down three points on February at -16.
Looking ahead, a majority of survey participants still expect sales volumes to rise long term. But they were more cautious shorter-term, with the three-month sales expectations pointing to a further dip in activity.
Rics noted: “Looking to next month, the impact on the UK property market from newly-imposed US global tariffs and potential tariff responses by other nations may stimulate further uncertainty going forward.”
Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at Rics, said: “The expiry of the stamp duty break was always going to lead to a pause in activity in the sales market.
“However, the latest results, and indeed the anecdotal remarks from respondents to the survey, suggest that the shift in sentiment has been aggravated by the slew of negative macro news flow over the past few weeks.
“Looking forward, the impact on the market will in no small part depend on how the economy is affected by the emerging trade war and the response of the Bank of England to the shifting environment.”
In equity markets, Barclays was the top performer on the FTSE 100, up 15.5%, closely followed by Melrose Industries and St James’s Place.
On the FTSE 250, Bodycote, Computacenter and Watches of Switzerland all racked up strong gains.
On the downside, Tesco slid as it warned profits in the current year could be squeezed, as competition from rivals ramps up.
The UK’s biggest grocer said group sales in the year to February 2025, excluding VAT and fuel, had jumped 3.5% to £63.64bn.
Group adjusted operating profits rose 10.6% to at £3.13bn, of which retail adjusted operating profit rose 7.7% at £2.97bn.
However, looking to the current year, the supermarket chain adopted a more cautious tone, following a “further increase in the competitive intensity of the UK market”.
As a result, it now expects group adjusted operating profit to come in between £2.7bn and £3.0bn in the 2025/26 full year.
Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer also lost ground.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Barclays | +11.38% | +27.50 | 269.15 |
| 2 |  |
Carnival Plc | +11.37% | +134.50 | 1,317.50 |
| 3 |  |
Melrose Industries Plc | +9.85% | +38.00 | 423.90 |
| 4 |  |
Smurfit Westrock Plc | +7.99% | +235.00 | 3,175.00 |
| 5 |  |
Pershing Square Holdings Ltd | +7.71% | +250.00 | 3,494.00 |
| 6 |  |
Aib Group Plc | +7.69% | +34.00 | 476.00 |
| 7 |  |
Wpp Plc | +7.58% | +37.60 | 533.80 |
| 8 |  |
Informa Plc | +7.47% | +47.80 | 688.00 |
| 9 |  |
South32 Limited | +7.31% | +8.80 | 129.20 |
| 10 |  |
Banco Santander S.a. | +7.13% | +33.00 | 496.00 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Tesco Plc | -6.15% | -20.60 | 314.60 |
| 2 |  |
Sainsbury (j) Plc | -4.83% | -11.40 | 224.40 |
| 3 |  |
Marks And Spencer Group Plc | -2.43% | -8.90 | 356.90 |
| 4 |  |
Aviva Plc | -0.24% | -1.20 | 499.00 |
| 5 |  |
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc | -0.04% | -2.00 | 4,795.00 |
| 6 |  |
Ck Infrastructure Holdings Limited | -0.00% | -0.00 | 471.00 |
| 7 |  |
Ricoh Co Ltd | -0.00% | -0.00 | 981.88 |
| 8 |  |
Lloyds Grp Dr A | -0.00% | -0.00 | 109.50 |
| 9 |  |
Lloyds Grp Dr A | -0.00% | -0.00 | 108.00 |
| 10 |  |
Smurfit Kappa Group Plc | +0.00% | +0.00 | 3,656.00 |
US close: Stocks skyrocket as Trump announces 90-day tariff pause
Major indices skyrocketed on Wednesday as Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause to a number of his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 7.87% at 40,608.45, while the S&P 500 advanced 9.52% to 5,456.90 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 12.16% firmer at 17,124.97.
The Dow closed a whopping 2,962.86 points higher on Wednesday, clawing back some of the heavy losses recorded over the previous four sessions.
Major indices soared after Trump announced that he had authorised a 90-day “pause” and a “substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately”. However, the president also stated he had again raised the tariff rate on China, this time to 125%.
Trump, who had earlier said it was “a great time to buy”, stated investors’ fears had been overblown, noting that he thought “people were jumping a little bit out of line”. “They were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” said Trump.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on to clarify that all nations, with the exception of China, would now be on the 10% baseline tariff rate, down from the egregiously high rates that rattled investors.
On the macro front, US mortgage applications surged 20% in the week ended 4 April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, more than erasing the three consecutive weekly declines preceding it. Applications to purchase a home were up 9%, in line with a nine basis point drop in benchmark mortgage rates to 6.61%, while applications to refinance a mortgage shot up 35% to their highest level since October.
Elsewhere, US wholesale inventories rose 0.3% month-on-month in February, according to final estimates from the Census Bureau, hitting $902.3bn. Durable goods inventories were up 0.2%, while non-durables rose 0.5%. On an annualised basis, wholesale inventories were 1.1% higher.
Finally, minutes from the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee‘s latest meeting showed policymakers were almost unanimous in their stance that the US economy faced risks of higher inflation and slower growth, with a number of committee members pointing out that “difficult tradeoffs” could lie ahead for the central bank. The FOMC’s March meeting was held after initial tariff announcements from the White House raised uncertainty regarding the US economic outlook and meant policymakers were more in favour of adopting a “cautious approach” and keeping interest rates higher for longer if inflation were to persist.
In the corporate space, Trump supporter and de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, South Africa-born Elon Musk, saw shares in his electric car company Tesla surge more than 22% thanks to the president’s tariff pause.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Royal Mail, Nato, Netflix tax
Royal Mail has unveiled a solar-powered “postbox of the future” with a built-in barcode reader and a hatch to accept parcels larger than letterbox size. In the “biggest change to postbox design since their introduction more than 175 years ago”, the hi-tech pillar box looks as if it is wearing a jaunty beret. The black, chequered lid is in fact solar panels that power the scanner. The postbox’s extra-large opening hatch offers a new way for the postal service to cash in on a roaring parcel trade. While letter volumes are in steep decline, Britain is in the grip of a secondhand selling boom as consumers use sites such as Vinted to make extra cash. – Guardian
Gordon Brown has called for an “economic coalition of the willing” to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs with coordinated economic policies, including a reduction of interest rates. The former prime minister also said it was a moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU, suggesting it should mean “collaboration that is even more extensive than removing post-Brexit trade barriers”. – Guardian
Military chiefs at Nato have been warned of global internet blackouts following a string of suspected Russian attacks on subsea cables. Telecoms companies including Vodafone, O2 owner Telefonica and Orange have written to UK, EU and Nato officials warning that a rise in sabotage incidents was putting critical services at risk. – Telegraph
US streaming giants should pay a “Netflix tax” to help pay for more high-quality British TV shows, MPs have urged. In a report published on Thursday, the culture, media and sport committee called on American media giants such as Netflix, Disney, Amazon and Apple to “put their money where their mouth is” by paying a 5pc levy on their UK revenues. The takings would be channelled into a new cultural fund, administered by the British Film Institute (BFI), to support high-end British dramas. – Telegraph
The Bank of England has warned that traders using similar artificial intelligence models to make key decisions risk escalating the impact of market shocks on the financial system. A report by the Bank’s financial policy committee said that while AI could be used to increase market efficiency there were also risks as traders could inadvertently “take actions collectively in such a way that reduces stability”. – The Times
