London’s FTSE 100 has fallen into fear of a global slowdown

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The UK’s FTSE 100 fell on Thursday, investors were globally concerned about the growing impact of inflation on economic growth and corporate profits, and Royal Mail was sluggish after reporting disappointing results.

The export-oriented FTSE 100 fell 1.8%, adding to the defeat in the global market and weighing a strong pound on consumer companies.

Uniriva, Diagio, Lekit Benkeiser and British American Tobacco fell 1.7% to 5.3%, while supermarket chain Tesco fell nearly 4.1%.

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Investors wiped out nearly 25% of US retailer Target’s stock on Wednesday after halving profits, and fell another 4.9% on Thursday.

“The target is discount stores. You would have expected that the slowdown in consumer spending might not have been so bad. Inflation has hit them even more,” said Chief Market Anna, online trading platform IG. Chris Boshan, who is on the list, said.

“This morning, across European retailers, they’re looking at it in the hope that they’ll be a hit too (they’re depressed). The bad news is that there’s no hiding place.”

Royal Mail fell 12.4% to its lowest level since December 2020, after full-year profits were slightly below market expectations and postal companies warned of US margin pressure.

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Oil and gas inventories have also declined as concerns over slowing global economic growth have pushed oil prices down.

According to this week’s data, UK inflation peaked in April for 40 years, raising concerns about consumer distress and a potential recession.

The FTSE 100 and the domestically focused midcap index have fallen almost 2% so far this week.

On Thursday, housebuilder countryside partnership Plc fell 1.6% after a six-month decline in profits as the group recovered from operational problems such as costly expansion and manufacturing losses.

Low-cost carrier easyJet rose 0.1% after stating that bookings for the last 10 weeks were consistently above pre-pandemic levels.

HomeServe rose 10.2% to the top of the midcap index after Brookfield Asset Management of Canada announced that it had agreed to buy a UK home refurbishment service company for £ 4.08 billion ($ 5.04 billion). .. (Report by Sruthi Shankar and AmalS in Bangalore, edited by Subhranshu Sahu and Aditya Soni, William Maclean)