Shares fall and gold hits seven-year high as Iran fallout rattles markets – live updates – the telegraph, telegraph.co.uk
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Agenda: Investors seek haven assets as crisis in Middle East deepens
Qassim Soleimani was killed by the US on FridayCredit:
Ebrahim Noroozi / AP
ood morning. European markets are set to open the week in the red as tensions between the US and Iran intensified over the weekend following the assassination of General Qassim Soleimani.
Oil prices continued to climb with Brent crude futures surging above $ a barrel. Gold also hit a seven-year high as investors plowed into safe haven assets as the crisis escalated.
Tehran said it will not abide by any of its commitments to the 2015 nuclear agreement it signed, while Donald Trump threatened to attack 70 targets in Iran – including cultural sites – if the country retaliated.
Mr Trump added he would impose severe sanctions on neighbouring Iraq if it asked US troops to leave the country on an unfriendly basis.
5 things to start your day
(1)Top central banks will sweep up bonds worth hundreds of billions of pounds to kick-start growth again in 20200106 in their latest unprecedented intervention into financial markets. The balance sheets of the four main central banks in the eurozone, US, Japan and UK are collectively expected to swell to more than £ (trillion by the end of
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rebooting their quantitative easing (QE) programs.
(2)
Saudi Aramco shares closed more than pcbelow their post-float highs yesterday as the fallout from the assassination of Qassim Suleimani by the US sent Middle Eastern shares plunging
3)A former pensions minister has hit out at the Treasury, calling it the “largest barrier to pensions policy”. It is “shocking” that the Treasury has supported the introduction of new forms of Isas such as Help to Buy and Lifetime Isas but resists other reforms that would boost pension savings but would require upfront tax relief on individuals’ income, said Sir Steve Webb, who was a Liberal Democrat pensions minister in David Cameron’s coalition government.
R ead more here.
4)Pay is slumping among the country top bosses, with chief executives’ hourly wages dropping by more than £ 823 amid rising pressure from shareholders and increasing public scrutiny.Read more.
5)
The largest offshore wind farm developer in the world has laid off around people from its business, and is currently weighing further cuts, as the company warns that wind might not be quite as effective as previously thought.Here’s why.
Coming up today
No major UK companies are set to report today.
Economics:
New car registrations, reserves changes (UK), composite and services activity gauge December final reading (UK, eurozone and US), inflation (eurozone)********************** (Read More)
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