{"id":126627,"title":"London stock market in the red – The pound is falling","publisher":"Share Talk","author":"sharetalk","published":"2025-09-02T09:06:08+00:00","modified":"2025-09-02T09:16:18+00:00","canonical_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/london-stock-market-in-the-red-the-pound-is-falling/","markdown_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/london-stock-market-in-the-red-the-pound-is-falling.md","json_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/london-stock-market-in-the-red-the-pound-is-falling.json","category":"B2B","categories":["B2B","Blogs","Technology","Technology, Media & Telecoms"],"tags":["Bank of England","china","FTSE 100","FTSE 250","London Stock Exchange","US tariffs","USA"],"featured_image":"https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/dreamstime_l_220888494-scaled-1.webp?fit=1200%2C650&quality=80&ssl=1","format":"news","language":"en-GB","content":"The UK stock market slipped into negative territory this morning, tracking declines across Europe. The **FTSE 100 index** dropped 40 points, or 0.43%, to 9,156, pulling back from the record high of 9,357 reached last month.\n\nLosses were led by UK-focused stocks. **Marks & Spencer** fell 3.6%, while housebuilders **Taylor Wimpey** and **Barratt Redrow** dropped 3.4% and 2.5% respectively. **Sainsbury’s** also slipped 2.5%.\n\nThe selloff was mirrored on the continent, with Germany’s **DAX** down 1% and both Spain’s **IBEX** and Italy’s **FTSE MIB** lower by 0.9%.\n\nAlongside concerns over the bond market, investors appear increasingly anxious about the outlook for US trade policy. Overnight, US Treasury secretary **Scott Bessent** told *Reuters* he was confident the Supreme Court would uphold President Donald Trump’s tariffs and overturn a ruling last week that deemed them unlawful.\n\nBessent added that the White House has alternatives if Trump is prevented from using a 1977 emergency powers law to impose broad tariffs. He pointed to **Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930**, which permits the president to levy tariffs of up to 50% for five months against countries found to be discriminating against US trade.\n\nThe mention of Smoot-Hawley is unsettling for markets. The protectionist legislation is widely blamed for exacerbating the **Great Depression of the 1930s**, making its potential revival a chilling prospect for global investors.\n\n[embedpress]https://x.com/Share_Talk/status/1962806063473848450[/embedpress]\n\nThe **pound** is weakening against the **US dollar** and is on course for its steepest decline in nearly three months. Sterling, which often reacts sharply to changes in bond market sentiment, has fallen more than 1% against the greenback. So far today it has shed almost 1.5 cents, slipping to **$1.34**, which would mark its largest one-day fall since the middle of June."}