FTSE 100 jumps
Britain’s stock market has opened higher as investors in the City embrace hopes for a peace deal to end the Iran war.
The London market, which was closed yesterday for the Bank Holiday, is rallying, lifting the FTSE 100 share index by 65 points or 0.63% to 10,531 points.
Airlines group IAG (+3.3%), and jet engine maker Rolls-Royce (2.7%), are among the top risers, along with mining companies.
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Italy antitrust authority investigating easyJet over baggage fees
Italy’s antitrust authority said on Tuesday it had opened an investigation into easyJet Airline Company Limited over alleged unfair business practices, Reuters reports.
The company’s website and app made bundled baggage and sports equipment check-in for round trips the default option, showing only the average service price even when customers only wanted it for one leg of their journey, the authority said in a statement.
The pound is slipping this morning, as invesstors fret about the prospect of a US-Iran peace deal.
Sterling is down a quarter of a cent against the US dollar at $1.3480, having yesterday jumped by three-quarters of a cent.
UK consumers likely to face higher prices ‘for many months to come’
Higher prices could persist over the summer even if ceasefire talks between the US and Iran bear fruit, consumers have been warned, with economic shock waves likely to be felt “for many months to come”.
Disruption to global shipping, coupled with soaring prices for energy and raw materials, have driven up costs for UK companies, with the impact already filtering through to prices paid at the tills, according to fresh inflation figures.
Retailers have responded by launching promotions to tempt bargain hunters but businesses said it was getting harder to stave off price increases, and called on the government to go beyond existing measures to help alleviate the pressure.
Shop price inflation is already on the rise, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Furniture and health and beauty products are among the items that have risen most in recent weeks, driving an increase in shop prices of 1.2% year on year in May. The rate was slightly above the three-month average of 1.1%.
Introduction: Oil rising back towards $100...
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Global investors are clinging to hopes that a US-Iran peace deal could be close, but optimism could be waning after fresh US strikes in the Middle East.
Brent crude oil is creeping back towards the $100 a barrel mark, up 2.5% today at $98.57 a barrel, having dropped below that $100 mark yesterday for the first time in a fortnight.
US and Iranian negotiators are in Doha to discuss a potential end to the three-month war, after Donald Trump declared last weekend that a peace deal with Iran “has been largely negotiated”.
However, yesterday US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines, which has created some doubts that a deal is genuinely close.
Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank suggests the US attacks were “a warning shot that the ceasefire is fragile”, explaining:
These actions were described as “defensive” and not an end to the ceasefire with Iran.
Net net, optimism is still elevated that an agreement can be made to end the war. We have been here before, of course, but it has felt for some time that the move towards peace has been three steps forward and one or two back.
There are encouraging moves in the government bond market too. The yields (or interest rates) on US debt have dropped today as prices rally, lifted by hopes that a peace deal will reopen the strait of Hormuz and ease the inflationary pressures hitting the world economy.
Wall Street, which was closed yesterday, is on track to open higher.
Markets have become more “risk-sensitive,” reports Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, who cautions:
Markets are still leaning optimistic, but the tolerance for negative headlines is shrinking. If negotiations stall further or the Strait disruption worsens, the reaction across oil, yields and equities could become much sharper than it has been over the past few weeks.
The agenda
11am BST: CBI distributive trades survey of UK retail for May
1.30pm BST: Chicago Fed index of US National Activity for April
2pm BST: S&P/Case-Shiller index of US house prices
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