FTSE 100 Live: Stocks shaky ahead of interest rates decision; Rolls Royce shares jump
Welcome back to the CityAM FTSE 100 liveblog.
It’s Thursday morning and the Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates when its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announces its decision at 12pm today.
Analysts across financial firms in the City are expecting the MPC to leave interest rates unchanged at 3.75 per cent. But the Bank could roll the pitch for a series of interest rate hikes this year after price shocks triggered by the war in Iran rippled through the global economy.
The FTSE 100 slipped this morning after hitting its highest-ever level on Wednesday. The blue-chip index rose to a record 10,951 in early trading. These gains then fell back slightly but it closed well above the red.
UK investors brushed off the fresh flare-up in tensions between the US and Iran. President Trump told Fox News he would give Tehran “a beating” after it launched “surprise” attacks against US forces in the Middle East.
“We’re going to beat the f***ing s*** out of them. We’ll be hitting them hard,” he said. Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose more than six per cent to $89 per barrel on Wednesday, reversing falls from earlier in the week.
The Nasdaq and S&P fell as the US markets opened, as investors digested these latest tensions. The Federal Reserve voted to hold interest rates in the US for the fifth consecutive time on Wednesday, citing last month’s slowing rate of inflation.
We’ll be bringing you the latest market updates and analysis as the day develops.
This morning’s top stories:
- Bank of England may set the stage for interest rate hikes this year
- Andy Burnham pledges ‘cost £63bn’ – and tax ideas could backfire
- Miliband refused to meet motor trade body to discuss zero emissions mandate
- Greggs eyes 3,500 sites – but its plans could prove to be flaky
- Michael Dell, Lord Johnson and the ‘gun to the head’ meeting that ended a £15bn AI project