|  Updated: 

FTSE 100 Live: HSBC carries blue-chips; Starmer eyes China trade

By: , and

Add as a preferred source on Google
Boris Johnson's former adviser has said China taken classified intelligence from the UK. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
A Chinese website put half a million British people's data up for sale.

Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog.

Gold’s magnificent rally was continuing on Tuesday morning after breaking through the $5,100 mark for the first time.

The flurry to safe haven assets notched up after Trump threatened Canada with 100 per cent tariffs if the country “made a deal with China”.

Last week Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a “strategic partnership” with China and agreed to reduce tariffs, which Trump initially hailed “a good thing”.

But tension between the neighbours boiled again in recent days following Carney’s speech in Davos where he said the US-led world order had been ruptured.

Trump’s showdown with Europe over the future of Greenland also led to the fleeing of the stock market, after he pulled back his threat of tariffs following butting heads with European leaders.

Fears of another US shutdown also rocked the already jittery markets, after Democrats threatened funding for the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Elsewhere, gold’s increase also came as the yen extended its advance against the dollar.

Markets are on heightened alert of a Japan government intervention, potentially with rare US assistance, after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned of action on “highly abnormal movements”.

Monday’s milestone is the latest in the historic run for the metal, with its pricing rocketing since Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “Haven investments are still in demand given the volatile backdrop, and silver posted a further six per cent gain as a result.”

We’ll be bringing you the latest on this and more.

Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday