FTSE 100 suffers another big fall on rollercoaster day for global stock markets – business live​on April 7, 2025 at 4:15 pm

In London, stocks were heavily depressed during Monday’s session, although they briefly swung higher during a rollercoaster afternoon amid conflicting reports over a potential pause in tariff policy.

The FTSE 100 declined by 352.9 points, or 4.38%%, to close at 7,702.08.

Monday’s session began with firm drops in the Asian markets after more reciprocal tariff announcements over the weekend weighed on trading sentiment.

Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at IG, said: “The global stock market sell-off intensified on Monday after China retaliated against the US with reciprocal tariffs.

“Some Asian stock indices fell by 10% on the day with the S&P 500 entering bear market territory with several European indices close on its heels.”

The FTSE 100 closed down 4.38% or 352.90 points at 7,702.08, representing a third day of heavy falls across European stock markets.

By comparison, Germany’s DAX is down 4.3%, France’s CAC is down 4.8%, Italy’s FSTE MIB is down 5.2%, Spain’s IBEX is down 5.1%.

Major UK banks have been invited to a meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss the effects of Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have wreaked havoc on lenders’ share prices.

The Guardian understands that lobby group UK Finance is holding a working level call with public policy staff from some of the country’s largest lenders, as they try to understand the ripple effects of US import taxes.

While Trump’s tariffs are focused on physical goods rather than services, it will impact business borrowers and large corporate clients who sell products to the US.

The harm caused by tariffs could dampen appetite for loans and investment banking services – which provide support for mergers, takeovers and fundraising.

Tariffs could also make it harder for companies to repay their debts. That could, in turn, force banks to start putting aside money for potential defaults in their first quarter results, which are due later this month.

After holding relatively stable during last week’s global market turmoil, cryptocurrencies have joined the sell-off.

Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency dipped below $75,000 Monday morning before seeing a slight rebound, AP reported.

Bitcoin’s prices haven’t been this low since just after president Donald Trump’s Election Day victory last year launched a bull run in crypto prices. Trump, whose tariff announcements led to massive stock sell offs, has been a major promoter of the crypto industry and previously took credit when bitcoin’s price broke $100,000 in December.

Bitcoin has been on a relatively steady slide in price since Trump took office earlier this year.

London’s FTSE 100 is set to close and is likely to see another significant fall.

We will bring you the final figures once we get them.

President Donald Trump has threatened further tariffs on China if Beijing does not withdraw retaliatory measures, increasing trade war concerns.

On his Truth Social network, Trump posted:

Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set.

Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th.

Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Richard Branson has posted on X describing Donald Trump’s tariffs as a “colossal mistake” and has called on the president to reverse his decision.

America could be left “facing ruin for years to come”, he said.

He posted:

The ongoing market response to last week’s US tariff announcement was both predictable and preventable.

Even if you agree with the premise of these tariffs, every reasonable effort should be made to give US companies sufficient time to adapt.

The billionaire added:

This is the moment to own up to a colossal mistake and change course.

Otherwise, America will face ruin for years to come

A quick recap…

It’s turning into another very volatile day in the financial markets, as investors grow more fearful that Donald Trump’s trade war will trigger a recession.

European stock markets are in the red in late trading, with the FTSE 100 index down 2.5%, or 205 points, at 7849 points.

Germany’s DAX is down 3.5% in early trading, while France’s CAC has lost 4%.

It’s been a roller-coaster rise on Wall Street – stocks initially plunged, but then rocketed higher following a report that Trump was considering a 90-day pause to many of his new tariffs.

However, that rally fizzled out as the White House denied this claim.

Goldman Sachs added to the pressure on the White House, by raising the chances of a US recssion to 45%.

JP Morgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, warned that it may be “hard to reverse” the effect of Donald Trump’s tariffs, which he said would drive prices higher and make a US recession more likely.

Donald Trump supporter and billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman has said the president is losing the confidence of business leaders and should pause his trade war – which could cause an economic collapse while damaging his supporters the most.

The turmoil in financial markets today has overshadowed a co-ordinated push by UK regulators to show they are responding to chancellor Rachel Reeves’ demand for them to help spur economic growth.

On Monday, the FCA announced it was planning to loosen rules for more than 600 hedge funds, private equity and venture capital firms in a move that it says will “make it easier for firms to enter the market, grow, compete and innovate.”

The City regulator said it was looking to raise the threshold at which funds are subject to main rules for the sector, meaning they will only apply to those with more than £5bn under management (compared to €100m previously).

That will mean take the number of firms facing more burdensome administrative from around 699 to just 64, its consultation paper suggested.

It comes as regulators come renewed pressure to support UK growth. In the City, this has so far meant easing rules on the financial services sector, with Reeves having also encouraged more risk-taking across the industry.

The CEO of private equity lobby group, the BVCA, welcomed the move, saying:

“More effective, less burdensome regulation will make the UK private capital industry more globally competitive and help it to boost investment from the UK and international investors into growing British businesses.

Elsewhere, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) cheered the fact that new consumer protection rules had come into force, which ban fake reviews and drip pricing – where fees are added to the displayed price. The CMA will also be able to decide whether laws have been breached, and decide on compensation and fines, without having to go through the courts.

Ofwat, too, has tried to have a moment in the sun, telling water companies to build new reservoirs and other major projects more quickly in the coming years. In a letter to water company bosses, the watchdog said they must find ways to “deliver (projects) more efficiently, effectively and achieve earlier completion”.

Here’s a chart showing how US stocks jumped following that dubious report that Donald Trump was considering a 90-day pause to tariffs, but then fell back as the reports were dismissed.

The White House says any suggestion that President Donald Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs is “fake news,” CNBC reports.

We’ve just seen a wild few minutes in the financial markets, following a confusing report about a possible delay to Trump’s tariffs.

After plunging in early trading, Wall Street surged into positive territory. A few minutes ago the S&P 500 index was UP by 1.76% at 5,163 points, a gain of 89 points. However, that rally has now petered out again.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped too – it was briefly up 1.44%, or 551 points, at 38,866 points, having been DOWN over 1,000 points in early trading.

But that rally has fizzled out too, leaving the Dow down 747 points (for the next few seconds, anyway).

This dizzying roller-coaster follows a suggestion on CNBC that White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett has, apparently, suggested that Donald Trump is considering a 90 day pause on tariffs for all countries other than China.

That would obviously be a game-changer for the markets, and bolster hopes that negotiations might lead to reductions in the large tariffs announced by Trump last week.

However, we haven’t yet managed to stand up exactly what Hassett has said on this point. He WAS asked about the possibility of a 90-day pause on Fox News earlier, but he didn’t explicitly say it was under active consideration.

Stocks had briefly bounced back in London too, but the FTSE 100 is currently down 214 points or -2.6% today at 7842 points.

The chief executives of some of the world’s biggest banks have reportedly held private talks about the carnage in financial markets and the global economy precipitated by President Donald Trump’s new tariffs.

Sky News has learnt that bosses from lenders including Bank of America, Barclays, Citi and HSBC Holdings held a call on Sunday to discuss the ongoing chaos as plunging equity markets reflect fears of a worldwide recession.

Thet add:

Sources said that Sunday’s call was convened by the Bank Policy Institute, a Washington-based public policy group.

Brian Moynihan of BoA, Barclays’ CS Venkatakrishnan and Georges Elhedery of HSBC were among those who took part in the call, according to one overseas bank executive.

More here.

The current stock market turbulence is “a huge worry”, Professor Costas Milas of the University of Liverpool’s Management School, tells us.

Prof Milas suggests there’s a possibility that central banks might need to take action, if the market turmoil continues, which would set an unfortunate precedent …

From a historical point of view, investors react to periods of high uncertainty (like the current one) by reducing their exposure or fleeing the stock market altogether and investing in government debt (the so-called “flight to quality“ or “flight to safety“).

This means that stock market liquidity will soon dry up and company investments will freeze. If the stock market turbulence continues throughout this week, the Fed, Bank of England and ECB might be forced to act together by cutting interest rates before the Easter break.

If this was what Trump wanted, then he will get the message that he can always get his way towards dictating interest rates through, for instance, tariff threats…