FTSE 100 falls 8 points to 10,678, with banks hit by US finance sector falls. Croda and ConvaTec top leaderboard. Raspberry Pi shares rise 12% due to OpenClaw AI agent. Chinese engineers clone agent into ‘PicoClaw’. Analysts note social media chatter is driving share price momentum. Rentokil Initial downgraded as pest control margins lag behind peers. Analyst James Beard expresses concern about growth and margin issues. Market analyst Neil Wilson cites AI impact, tariff uncertainty, and Blue Owl fallout as investor concerns. US tariffs under IEEPA announcement creates short-term relief rally. Workday, Datadog, and IBM fall due to AI disruption fears. US private capital groups impacted by software stock exposure concerns. Market experiences volatility due to AI and tariff worries. Oxford BioMedica shares drop as trading update fails to address potential takeover. FTSE 100 holds small deficit with banks leading fallers, including Rentokil Initial and Barclays. The FTSE 100 has dropped 24 points to 10,660.8, led by banks and miners, as ‘AI fear’ selling continues. Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, and HSBC are down over 1%. Blue Owl private credit concerns may be contributing to the slide. Rightmove, RELX, LSEG, and Sage Group are also down. Fresnillo and Fresnillo miners are down as gold retreats. Donald Trump’s new 10% global tariff has begun, with plans for a steeper 15% tariff delayed due to backlash from US partners, including the EU and the UK. The White House has not ruled out the possibility of implementing the 15% tariff in the future. President Trump is preparing new national security investigations into industries like batteries and telecom equipment. State of the Union address may reveal more about US tariffs. Croda International sees profits at the top end of guidance, with sales up 4.4% and adjusted operating profit up 7.9%. FTSE 250 group aims for organic sales growth and improved profit margins.
FTSE 350 fallers include ICG, Pershing Square, and Bridgepoint due to US private credit spillover from Blue Owl Capital. Liquidity mismatch in private credit raises concerns about sudden exits. Blue Owl halts redemptions and sells $1 billion in loans, transferring leverage risk to insurers and pension funds.
FTSE 100 starts flat as traders consider potential red flags in various industries. US and EU trade concerns impact markets, with Germany’s DAX falling over 1%. Dow Jones, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all down overnight. AI fear trade spills over to delivery and payment stocks, causing significant drops.
Research from Citrini suggests AI disruption could lead to mass white-collar unemployment and economic contraction. Extreme scenarios are generating outsized reactions in the market, with concerns about capital flows within the software-financing ecosystem. Investors seeking liquidity from instruments tied to software companies, sparking worries about US company Blue Owl.
Read more at Proactive: Banks lead fallers amidst AI fears, Blue Owl spillover, US tariffs begin