London midday: FTSE touch lower as banking stocks fall; tariffs in focus

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were a touch weaker by midday on Tuesday as US President Donald Trump's new global tariffs came into effect, with banking names under the cosh.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.1% at 10,677.93.

The new tariffs came into effect at the lower rate of 10% following backlash from the EU and the UK. According to Bloomberg, however, Trump is currently working on a formal order that will increase the rate to 15%.

Trump aside, worries about AI disruption continued to plague markets, with stocks on Wall Street selling off on Monday after Citrini Research outlined in a note the potential AI risks to various industries. DoorDash and American Express, both of which were mentioned in the research, tumbled.

Meanwhile, IBM also took a hit after AI start-up Anthropic said its Claude Code can help modernise COBOL, a programming language mainly run on IBM computers.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "London's FTSE 100 is on the back foot in early trade, with more pessimism seeping through following sharp falls on Wall Street. Nevertheless, the bluechip index is still showing resilience, particularly compared to indices stateside, helped by solid corporate results. Chemicals giant Croda and medical supplies firm ConvaTec surprised on the upside and also showed optimism about the outlook. Utility companies are also proving a draw for investors in the uncertain climate.

"Jitters over the impact of new artificialintelligence powered tools on some incumbents are spreading, with the cybersecurity industry now reeling from the effects. Developments released by Anthropic have been like a wrecking ball through realms of listed companies, with Claude Code Security still wreaking havoc on cyber firms.

"CrowdStrike shares fell sharply for a second session, bringing others down with it, amid worries the new tool can easily replicate some of its services. The wider economic impact is also a fear factor, given the potential for deep job losses, and labour markets have already been weakening. While this would ordinarily help lift hopes for faster interest rate cuts, sticky inflation won't make that course of action quite so easy."

In equity markets, Convatec surged as the medical products maker upgraded its medium-term organic growth target following a strong year.

Croda rose as it posted a jump in annual sales and earnings despite the ongoing impact of US tariffs and wider geopolitical uncertainty.

The speciality chemicals group posted a 6.6% rise in sales in the year to December end, to �1.7bn, on a constant currency basis, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 7.1% stronger at �396.6m.

THG rallied after founder and chief executive Matthew Moulding bought just under 24.4m shares in the company.

On the downside, Asia and Africa-focused bank Standard Chartered fell even as it reported a 16% rise in annual earnings on the back of a strong performance at its wealth management division and unveiled a $1.5bn share buyback to start immediately.

Pre-tax profit came in at $6.96bn, compared with $6bn a year earlier and the $7.2bn forecast by analysts in a company-compiled poll.

Banks more generally were in the red, with Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays also down.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said: "A narrative around credit concerns and a potential 2008 scenario forming is also starting to gain traction. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan, sounded a warning about the risks of bad loans in the banking system. He said that rival banks are doing 'dumb things' to boost net interest income.

"He added that AI disruption could cause a souring in the credit cycle as multiple industries come under pressure from AI concerns. This did not save JP Morgan from a sharp selloff across the banking sector on Monday, and JPM's share price dipped more than 4% on Monday."

Shares in The Unite Group fell sharply after the student accommodation specialist warned on earnings, while Oxford Biomedica also slumped after results.

In broker note action, Rentokil was knocked lower by a downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' at Deutsche Bank, while Ashmore surged after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Jefferies.