FTSE 100 Live: Natwest shares fall after deal; Political jitters in bond market February 9, 2026 Good morning and welcome to the Morning Wire liveblog. Markets will have a lot to catch up on this morning after the latest escalation in political dramas over the weekend. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff announced his exit from government amid mounting pressure over the appointment of Peter Mandelson to US ambassador. [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Starmer unease rattles markets; Big tech sell-off February 6, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Speculation over Keir Starmer’s future has unleashed a fresh round of market unease as investors dumped the pound, UK equities and long-dated government bonds amid rising political uncertainty. The gulf in price between the UK’s short- and long-term debt – known as the yield curve – reached [...]
Secure Trust Bank sells motor finance arm after £21m hit February 5, 2026 Specialist lender Secure Trust Bank has offloaded its motor finance arm, becoming the latest UK bank to retreat from the sector, which has been wrapped up in scandal. The bank sold its remaining vehicle finance loan book to European Alternative Investment Fund Manager LCM Partners in a move expected to increase the bank’s CET1 ratio – a [...]
Bank of England Live: Interest rates held in narrow 5-4 call February 5, 2026 Good morning and welcome to the Morning Wire liveblog. The Bank of England’s monetary committee has decided to hold rates in its first meet of the year. Markets – and Morning Wire‘s own Shadow MPC – had placed their bets on a hold as the Bank continues its gradual chop to the base rate. In [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Beazley seals $15bn Zurich deal, Santander in $12bn takeover February 4, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Shares in Europe’s biggest data, publishing and legal software groups slumped on Tuesday after AI giant Anthropic unveiled a new tool aimed directly at in-house lawyers. The move rattled investors who had long viewed the sector as an AI winner. In London, Relx fell close [...]
Rolls-Royce: FTSE 100 giants shares eye all-time high in tariff comeback February 3, 2026 Shares in aerospace giant Rolls-Royce were back on the march to an all-time high after a tariff salvo from the US sent the City giant’s stock tumbling. The FTSE 100 titan’s stock was up 1.6 per cent to 1,250.50p on Tuesday morning, making it one of the top risers on the blue-chip index. The Derbyshire-headquartered [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Gold back on climb; Musk’s major Space X merger February 3, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. It was quite the day for the FTSE 100 on Monday, with the index getting swept in the global metals sell-off in early trading before clawing its way out of the red and enjoying a steady stream of gains all the way to a record [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Miners lead stock fall as gold rout deepens February 2, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. There’s one big event the City is looking towards this week but all signs point to zero surprises. On Thursday, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will meet for the first time this year and decide whether to take the chop to interest rates. [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Gold rally eases; Trump warns UK on China trade January 30, 2026 Good morning and welcome to the Morning Wire liveblog. As we round off the first month of trading, miners have dominated market activity. After becoming the FTSE 100’s top riser in 2025, gold miner Fresnillo has continued with gains in the new year, netting 20 per cent already. This is an inch below the FTSE [...]
Lloyds shares rally after profit boost and £1.8bn buyback January 29, 2026 Shares in Lloyds Banking Group jumped on Thursday as the bank launched a £1.8bn share buyback after breezing past profit expectations in the 2025 financial year. The FTSE 100 banking giant recorded a 12 per cent jump to pre-tax profit in the full-year netting £6.7bn and easily surpassing the £6.4bn pencilled in by internal analysts. [...]