Trade war talk revival sees Footsie falter

Market report Perry Gourley

European stocks slipped on renewed trade war fears, with investors worried about the repercussions of US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU.

The news helped knock the FTSE 100 down 11.37 points to 7,678.2 points with European Commission president Jean-claude Juncker denouncing the US move as “protectionism pure and simple”, while a UK Government spokesman described it as “deeply disappointing”.

“Trade wars are driving market sentiment with stocks sliding heavily,” Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said.

“A full-blown international trade war is now more likely, although there remains plenty of time and room for manoeuvre for the main protagonists to avert such a development.“

Taylor Wimpey was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 with shares down 11.05p at 190.15p. Figures from the Nationwide Building Society released on Thursday showed house prices fell 0.2 per cent in May, marking the third decline in four months.

It comes as a faltering economy, pressure on household budgets and the prospect of interest rate rises dog the housing market.

Card Factory shares slumped 20.1p at 198.3p after reporting a 0.4 per cent slide in sales, but said it was performing strongly in an otherwise tough retail environment. The market update comes just months after the gifts retailer issued a profit warning in January. Shares in chemicals specialist Johnson Matthey rose 116p to 3,513p despite being reporting a 27 per cent drop in full-year operating profits. Shares in the engineering firm rose after it emerged that its finance director Ian Scapens had spent £50,000 on increasing his stake. Shares in the transport group were under pressure amid news that CEO Tim O’toole had resigned after the firm revealed a swing to the red.