London opened the week with a faint sense of relief. After days of market strain, the tone from Washington shifted just enough to steady nerves. The rhetoric around trade, once thunderous, softened over the weekend, prompting a tentative recalibration across global markets.
The FTSE 100 inched higher through the morning, its recovery measured and uneven. The composition of gains revealed much about underlying sentiment. Miners and energy groups nudged upward, drawing strength from firmer commodity prices, while the broader index lagged its continental peers.
The threat of sweeping tariffs between the United States and China has hung over markets for weeks, unsettling supply chains and earnings forecasts alike. The latest moderation in tone did little to clarify outcomes but changed the emotional temperature.
Among domestic names, one of the most notable moves came from Lloyds Banking Group. The bank set aside a further provision approaching a billion pounds for historic motor finance liabilities, bringing its total to nearly two billion. A firmer gold price underscored the persistence of defensive demand, even as equities edged upward.
Fidelity Special Values PLC (LON:FSV) aims to seek out underappreciated companies primarily listed in the UK and is an actively managed contrarian Investment Trust that thrives on volatility and uncertainty.
