A sharp slide from Brent Crude left the FTSE far and away the worst performer on an otherwise somnambulant start to the week.
Down 3% as investors fret over what will be discussed between Trump and Putin, namely whether or not the US President will encourage Russia to up its oil production once more, Brent Crude found itself in trouble the wrong side of $73 per barrel.
This led to a bloody afternoon for the FTSE’s oil stocks, with BP (LON:BP) and Shell (LON:RDSa) falling 2.6% and 2.3% respectively; combine that with a similarly red-soaked showing from the miners and the UK index ended up plunging 1% as the day went on, sinking under 7600.
In contrast the pound had a half decent Monday, rising above $1.3265 thanks to a 0.3% climb, though it did slip 0.1% against the euro. All this is just foreplay, however, ahead of a busy, potentially Bank of England-shifting week for UK data, with the jobs report (and all-important wage growth reading) on Tuesday, the inflation figure on Wednesday and the retail sales numbers on Thursday.
Elsewhere the Dow Jones didn’t do a lot as the US session got underway, sitting flat just above 25000. Still, that’s not bad given it started July lurking around the 24300 mark, the index recovering despite the broadly negative US-China trade war developments seen in the last few weeks.
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