Recession fears weigh on UK shares

Mining stocks pushed the FTSE 100 up yesterday, due to reports that Chinese authorities are putting measures in place to ease credit access to property developers. Energy stocks were also among the biggest gainers as crude oil prices rose. The FTSE 100 ended the session 0.9% higher.

However, the index is down 0.4% this morning on the news that Apple is the latest company in a series to slow hiring, fueling fears of recession.

Investor sentiment also took a hit from reports that Gazprom told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of “extraordinary” circumstances, aka force majeure, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

It seems that Putin has decided to stop supplies through the Nord Stream 1  pipeline, which brings gas to Germany. It started annual maintenance on July 11, that was  meant to end on Thursday.

Meanwhile, data release today shows that the U.K. unemployment rate remained at 3.8% in the three months to May and the number of people in employment rose 296,000.

 

Things to read today:

EU to call on member states to ‘immediately’ slash gas usage (Financial Times)

Biden’s Saudi Arabia Visit Was Worse Than an Embarrassment (WSJ)