FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks slip as Trump lowers China tariffs and settles rare earths roadblock with Xi Jinping

The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European stocks were mostly lower on Thursday as traders digested the new trade deal between US president Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The two world leaders met in Busan in South Korea this morning, with Trump agreeing to reduce tariffs on China from 57% to 47% in a one-year deal. This was in exchange for Beijing resuming purchases of US soybeans, the continuation of rare earth exports and a crackdown on the trade of fentanyl.

Trump characterized his discussions with Xi as "fantastic," emphasizing a "great relationship" between the two leaders, while premier Xi noted that both parties had achieved "a basic consensus" despite ongoing differences.

Furthermore, the leaders agreed to collaborate on issues concerning Ukraine and stated their intention to eliminate shipping tariffs and fees.

Today marked the first face-to-face meeting between the two since Trump returned to the White House in January, with Trump stating that he will visit Beijing in April.

"On a scale of one to 10, the meeting with Xi was 12," he told reporters on route back to the US.

Elsewhere, investors will also be focused on the European Central Bank (ECB) policy decision this afternoon, where rates are widely expected to remain on hold at 2%.

President Christine Lagarde is likely to reiterate that policy remains “in a good place.” Deutsche Bank's European economists said they expect the tone to stay unchanged, though dovish risks include trade uncertainty, energy inflation, and credit transmission concerns.

London’s benchmark index (^FTSE) was around 0.4% lower in early trade Germany's DAX (^GDAXI) rose 0.3% and the CAC (^FCHI) in Paris was hovering around the flatline The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was down 0.1% Wall Street is set for a negative start as S&P 500 futures (ES=F), Dow futures (YM=F) and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were all in the red after a mixed performance yesterday. The pound was 0.1% up against the US dollar (GBPUSD=X) at 1.3204

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24 mins ago

LaToya Harding

Asia and US overnight

Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) flat on the day in Tokyo, after he Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept interest rates steady at 0.5%, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 0.2% in Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.7% down by the end of the session and in South Korea, the Kospi (^KS11) added 0.1% on the day.

Across the pond on Wall Street stocks likewise lacked direction. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) ended flat on the day, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was 0.6% higher as Nvidia (NVDA) became the first company to reach a $5trn market capitalisation. The Dow Jones (^DJI) lost 0.2% during the session.

On the data front, ahead of the Fed decision last night, US September pending home sales were unchanged versus expectations for a 1.2% rise, though the annual rate did still pick up to a 10-month high of 1.5%year-on-year. 47 mins ago

LaToya Harding

Coming up

Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog. As usual we will be taking a deep dive into what's moving markets and happening across the global economy.

To the day ahead, the key event will be the ECB decision, alongside a full slate of European data releases — including Germany’s Q3 GDP, October CPI, unemployment rate, France’s Q3 GDP, Italy’s Q3 GDP and September unemployment, Eurozone confidence data, and the region’s Q3 GDP print.

On the earnings front, highlights include Apple, Amazon, Eli Lilly, Mastercard, and Samsung Electronics.

Here's a snapshot of what's on the agenda:

7am: Trading updates: Shell, Standard Chartered, Haleon, WPP, Coca-Cola HBC, Computacenter, Essentra, Filtronic, Gem Diamonds and Spectris 10am: Eurozone GDP 1.15pm: European Central Bank rate decision 9pm: Apple and Amazon quarterly earnings

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