Barclays shares explode higher as FTSE 100 rebounds
Shares in FTSE 100 giant Barclays rocketed in early trading after Trump rolled back his ‘Liberation Day’ levies.
The bank’s stock shot up over 20 per cent as markets opened, before falling back to a 15 per cent gain. The firm topped the blue-chip index’s risers.
The gains helped reverse the lender’s losses in the wake of Trump’s tariff onslaught. Its one-month loss was reduced to three per cent.
Barclays shares took a bruising as geopolitical tensions exploded over the last week.
Shares in the lender fell nearly ten per cent after China fired its first batch of retaliatory tariffs against the US on Tuesday.
Barclays shares ‘geared into’ financial markets
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “In Barclays’ case, its investment bank is heavily geared into how the financial markets performed.
“Tumbling, or volatile, markets are likely to deter merger and acquisition activity and also new market floats, both areas where there are fat fees to be made.”
The firm’s investment bank has become a key part of business operations and helped drive profits.
It topped £11.85bn in total income for 2024, which beat analyst estimates of £11.7bn.
Barclays’ bounce back came as the FTSE 100 surged over five per cent.
Lenders have suffered some of the biggest losses amidst the escalating global trade war.
The FTSE 100’s ‘Big Five’ topped the index’s fallers last week. HSBC and Standard Chartered have been tainted by their operations in Asia, which Trump slapped with the steepest levies.
Ahead of US markets opening on Tuesday, calculations by Bloomberg determined major bank stocks had lost over $700bn (£544bn) in market value in a week.
Mould added whilst Barclays and its peers were viewed as “geared plays on economies and financial markets on the way down, they are likely to be seen as geared plays on them if they recover.”