Britain’s stock market has suffered its steepest one-day drop since the early phase of Donald Trump’s trade war, as the sell-off gripping global markets swept through London.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 123 points lower, down 1.27% at 9,552, marking its weakest finish since 22 October.
Today’s decline is the sharpest since 7 April, shortly after Trump unveiled his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs that rattled markets worldwide.
Among the biggest fallers were Melrose (-3.9%), Antofagasta (-3.7%) and private-equity group 3i (-3.6%), reflecting the broad-based pressure across industrials, commodities and financials.
UK, European and Asian markets tumbled on Tuesday, while bitcoin slid to a seven-month low, after US Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller warned that “eye-popping” layoffs could soon hit major companies.
The grim outlook added to already-fragile sentiment, with investors bracing for pivotal data on the health of the US economy and growing anxious that artificial-intelligence high-flyers may be on the brink of a sharp correction.
Nvidia shares fall ahead of chipmaker’s results tomorrow
Nvidia shares slipped 2pc on Tuesday as investors braced for the company’s highly anticipated earnings release on Wednesday night.
The California-based chipmaker — now the world’s most valuable company — will report its third-quarter results at 10pm tomorrow, a moment that could send ripples across Wall Street given Nvidia’s outsized influence on this year’s market rally.
