FTSE 100 plunges 6% to one-year low

Old_Joe

Following is a short current report in The Guardian:

Britain’s stock market has plunged deep into the red at the start of trading.

Stocks are sliding sharply again, adding to last week’s heavy losses, as investors grow more fearful that Donald Trump’s trade policies will lead to recession.

In London, the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks has plunged by 488 points, or 6%, taking the index down to 7566 points, its lowest level since February 2024.

That’s an even more severe plunge than the near-5% wipeout on Friday after China retaliated against the US with its own new tariffs.

Every share on the FTSE 100 is in the red, with UK manufacturing firm Rolls-Royce tumbling by 13%.

Miners, banks, and investment firms are also in the top fallers.

There is widespread disappointment this morning that there was no progress on US trade tariffs over the weekend, with Trump described his new tariffs as necessary ‘medicine’.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, says investors are desperate to see ‘concrete action’, such as a pause or u-turn on Trump’s tariffs.

This market is looking for concrete action, not talk of action. The best panacea for financial markets right now would be a pause or reversal from the US on its tariff programme.