FTSE FEARS TRADE WAR
Fresh fears of a global trade war fuelled a shares slump yesterday.
Speculation of another Bank of England rate rise as early as May added to the stock market unrest.
The UK’s FTSE 100 tumbled 86 points to a 2018 low of 6952.
Big banks, including HSBC and Barclays, were among the biggest fallers in the top flight. Markets in the US also suffered. It came as President Donald Trump announced plans to slap £35billion of tariffs on Chinesemade goods.
China said it was ready to retaliate with “necessary measures”.
James Cox, of US City firm Harris Financial Group, said: “Markets are saying that these tariffs are going to cut into the global growth story.”
Here, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, headed by governor Mark Carney, voted seven to two to hold its base rate at 0.5% for another month.
Economist Alan Clarke at Scotiabank said he was “more and more confident” of a May rise.
But Samuel Tombs, of Pantheon Macroeconomics, said he believed the MPC will delay the first increase until August.
Another rate rise will help longsuffering savers.
But Fran Boait, executive director of the group Positive Money, warned of the impact on borrowers.
She said: “A rate rise without a proper pay rise could mean households drowning in the rising tide of debt.”