FTSE 100 down 2% due to concerns about 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 Best Equity Index fell 2.1% and ran out in the Asian and European markets after Wall Street’s major index sank overnight due to warnings about margins from retail giant targets.

UK consumer companies such as Unilever, Diageo and Reckitt fell between 2% and 4%, while supermarket chain Tesco fell nearly 5%.

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“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 was down 8.6%, its lowest level since December 2020, after full-year profits were slightly below market expectations and postal companies warned of US margin pressure.

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

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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 3.6% 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 fell 0.4%, despite saying that bookings for the past 10 weeks were consistently above pre-pandemic levels.

HomeServe jumped 10.6% to the top of the midcap index after Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management announced that it had agreed to buy a UK home refurbishment service company for £ 4.08 billion ($ 5.04 billion). rice field. (Report by Sruthi Shankar in Bangalore, edited by Subhranshu Sahu and Aditya Soni)