London open: FTSE edges lower as Trump's global tariffs come into effect

(Sharecast News) - London stocks edged lower in early trade on Tuesday as US President Donald Trump's new global tariffs came into effect.

At 0840 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.2% at 10,660.38.

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 heavily 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 note, 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.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The FTSE 100 is little moved this morning after a flat performance yesterday, but beneath the apparently calm surface, things are choppier than they seem. Commodity stocks have been riding on the coattails of stronger oil and metal prices.

"That's offset continued falls in software and data-focussed companies such as Sage, Relx, Experian and the London Stock Exchange Group as herd mentality stokes anxiety around the threats from Artificial Intelligence. Warren Buffett's mantra of being greedy in times of fear could serve investors well here, as long as they're prepared to hold for the long-term."

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 reported 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.

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.

Oxford Biomedica and Unite Group both slid after results.

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