15th Apr 2025 06:55
(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Tuesday, following news that US President Donald Trump might temporarily exempt the motor industry from tariffs he imposed on the sector.
The BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor, meanwhile, showed that warmer weather helped drive a modest improvement in UK retail sales. In March, UK total retail sales increased by 1.1% year-on-year, against growth of 3.5% a year ago.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 to open up 11.7 points, 0.1%, on Tuesday. The index of London large-caps closed 2.1% higher at 8,134.34 on Monday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3208 early Tuesday, higher than USD1.3183 at the London equities close on Monday.
The euro traded at USD1.1355 early Tuesday, lower than USD1.1375 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted lower at JPY143.13 versus JPY143.21.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 312.08 points, 0.8%, the S&P 500 up 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.6%.
The US central bank may need to lower interest rates sharply to support the US economy if Trump follows through on his threat to resume big "reciprocal" tariffs, a top official at the Federal Reserve has warned.
Christopher Waller, a Federal Reserve governor, said that if Trump reimposes the levies unveiled on April 2, economic growth is likely to slow to a crawl, unemployment will rise, and inflation will soar, forcing the Fed to quickly make a series of "bad news" rate cuts.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 1.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was marginally lower. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.2%.
Gold was quoted at USD3,224.95 an ounce early Tuesday, higher than USD3,207.11 on Monday.
Brent oil was trading at USD64.96 a barrel early Tuesday, higher than USD64.83 late Monday.
In Tuesday's corporate calendar, IntegraFin has a trading statement.
In the economic calendar on Tuesday, the UK has unemployment data, and the US has the Redbook index.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.