London midday: Stocks stay down as investors mull Trump tariffs; NatWest slumps
London stocks were still weaker by midday on Friday as investors mulled US President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs announcement, with NatWest under the cosh after results failed to impress.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,742.95.
On Thursday, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs which will target every country that charges duties on US imports.
He told reporters in the Oval Office: "On trade, I have decided for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less."
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "As the world holds its breath in anticipation of where the latest round of US tariffs will land, the Footsie has lost ground in early trade.
"Although President Trump’s pledge to impose reciprocal tariffs on trade partners has set off a fresh round of uncertainty, the more gradual approach has been tentatively welcomed. With a fresh deadline set for April, he’s essentially triggered fresh rounds of talks, and haggling is set to ensue with leaders.
"The UK government had hopes it may escape the worst of the tariffs given the majority of trade with the US is in services rather than goods. But with Trump’s claims that VAT is a tariff and the digital services tax on tech giants also in scope, trade envoys and ambassador Peter Mandelson will have their work cut out to claim that the UK should be viewed as a special case.
"Like other nations, the UK remains highly vulnerable to the whims of capricious US policy. The pound has regained further form against the dollar, still helped by the better than forecast growth in the UK economy at the end of last year, with traders also sanguine for now about the knock-on effects of US trade policy. This puts a little more pressure on the overseas earnings of the multinationals listed on the FTSE 100, although sterling is still trading 6% lower than its level back in September."
In equity markets, NatWest fell even as the bank just beat expectations as it grew its loan book and pulled in more deposits, boosted by an increase in customers.
Pre-tax operating profit rose 0.3% to £6.2bn in the 12 months to December 31 compared with estimates of £6.1bn. Net interest margin - the difference between loan and savings rates - was 1 basis point higher at 2.13%.
The bank reported a return on tangible equity of 17.5%, beating its own upgraded guidance. Total income for the year, excluding one-off items, grew by 2.2% to £14.6bn, reflecting growth in deposit margins and lending.
NatWest said it expected to achieve a return on tangible equity in the range of 15-16% this year and more than 15% by 2027. It expects to generate income of £15.2bn - £15.7bn this year.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: "NatWest’s numbers were solid enough - and actually came in slightly above expectations - but the 2025 outlook was only in line with the existing guidance and the market has reacted negatively to the lack of upgrades."
HSBC dipped following a Bloomberg report that it will initiate a fresh round of layoffs at its investment bank as early as Monday. It was understood the first cuts will be carried out in Asia and then be expanded to the rest of the lender's staff. The number of redundancies was not clear.
Wood Group tumbled as it said it had taken actions to mitigate weaker-than-expected trading in the fourth quarter, including cancelling executive and employee bonuses and actively managing working capital at year end.
It also guided to negative free cash flow in 2025 and said it was initiating steps to "strengthen significantly" its financial culture, governance and controls after a review by Deloitte identified "material" weaknesses and failures.
Russ Mould said: "It’s a lot of bad news to stomach, hence why investors have been quick to hit the sell button on the shares."
On the upside, Ladbrokes owner Entain surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as it emerged that US hedge fund Corvex Management now has about 5.3% voting rights in the company.
XPS Pensions surged as it said its full-year performance was set to be "materially ahead" of expectations.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 8,742.95 -0.25%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,977.74 0.29%
techMARK (TASX) 4,765.49 0.15%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Entain (ENT) 743.00p 6.57%
Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 23,170.00p 5.22%
Glencore (GLEN) 354.85p 2.72%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,892.00p 2.71%
Fresnillo (FRES) 816.50p 2.32%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 424.50p 2.22%
CRH (CDI) (CRH) 8,590.00p 2.12%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,515.00p 2.03%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,136.00p 1.92%
Kingfisher (KGF) 256.60p 1.58%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
NATWEST GROUP (NWG) 420.80p -3.71%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 338.80p -2.48%
Relx plc (REL) 4,047.00p -2.13%
Schroders (SDR) 376.20p -1.93%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 66.12p -1.75%
Diageo (DGE) 2,149.00p -1.65%
Rightmove (RMV) 671.80p -1.21%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 10,500.00p -1.18%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 11,830.00p -1.12%
Unilever (ULVR) 4,434.00p -1.09%
FTSE 250 - Risers
XPS Pensions Group (XPS) 384.00p 10.66%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 99.40p 6.77%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 201.00p 4.47%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 252.50p 3.91%
Bakkavor Group (BAKK) 149.00p 3.47%
Frasers Group (FRAS) 625.00p 2.54%
Man Group (EMG) 215.60p 2.18%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 1,024.00p 2.09%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 517.00p 1.77%
Foresight Group Holdings Limited NPV (FSG) 404.00p 1.76%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 43.68p -33.16%
Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 1,644.00p -2.55%
Trainline (TRN) 355.40p -2.04%
JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust (JII) 969.00p -1.92%
Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 685.00p -1.58%
Ruffer Investment Company Ltd Red PTG Pref Shares (RICA) 276.50p -1.43%
NCC Group (NCC) 137.80p -1.29%
4Imprint Group (FOUR) 5,690.00p -1.22%
Genus (GNS) 1,874.00p -1.06%
Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) 113.90p -0.87%