It’s looking like a very quiet day in terms of corporate news, so we’ll take a quick look back at Thursday’s performance for equities as investors picked over the implications for UK listed stocks in the wake of Trump’s tariff announcements, which The Times quite accurately likened to a game-show.
Banks have fared badly, especially those with more exposure to emerging markets. Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) was the biggest faller on the FTSE-100 yesterday, down 13% given its high level of exposure to emerging markets. Barclays (LON:BARC) and HSBC (LON:HSBA) were also rattled, with losses around the 9% level.
It wasn’t all bad news however with defensive, UK-centric stocks proving to be a safe haven for many. Utilities topped the board including Severn Trent (LON:SVT) up almost 6% and SSE (LON:SSE) adding 5% whilst the likes of BT Group and Tesco also found favour.
There has been a determination of late to reinvigorate investor interest in the domestic market and whilst the UK government and regulators may have struggled to find a way ahead here, looking at yesterday’s market impact, will this act as a catalyst for some investors to acknowledge the risks now associated with cross-border exposure?
