Business news live: Oil prices drop despite strikes on Iran, Industrial Strategy reaction and FTSE 100 falls

We’re hoping to hear more over the coming days on the UK’s new Industrial Strategy.

Yesterday, comments and reaction ranged from delighted at there actually being one, to dismay at certain sectors being overlooked in it.

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) are one such example where certain parts of the workforce overlap certain areas…but it wasn’t an announcement which specifically talks about which sectors play what role in the planned investment.

“Food and drink manufacturing plays a vital role in ensuring the nation’s food security, provides 500,000 high-quality jobs in every UK region, and contributes £37bn to our economy. It’s clear that government has ambitions for Advanced Manufacturing, and we look forward to seeing how this will translate to supporting the growth of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector – food and drink,” read the FDF’s statement.

Here’s a quick rundown of anything you need to know from yesterday, before we get to anything new and upcoming:

Good morning one and all – it’s another day and time to take a look at the upcoming news for Tuesday in the world of business and finance.

There isn’t much in the way of economic data to look forward to this week – though that was last week’s big focus – so it’s companies, markets and commodities which will dictate investor sentiment and risk.

Oh, and Donald Trump, the US, Iran, Israel and anybody else getting involved in Middle East tensions.

At the close of play today, the FTSE 100 has closed in the red, 0.17 per cent down.

That’s less than some of the European indices, with the DAX 0.3 per cent down and France’s CAC 40 stood at -0.65 per cent.

By contrast, US stocks are rising at the start of the day, with the S&P 500 up 0.37 per cent.

Perhaps that positive sentiment will filter through to Europe tomorrow…depending on what happens overnight, of course.

That’s it for our rolling business coverage today – we’ll be back at 7am on Tuesday to bring you plenty more. See you then.

Lots of focus on oil, but don’t forget the key bellweather commodity – gold.

Having dipped somewhat recently after reaching record levels, gold is back on the rise over the past few days and is up 0.47 per cent today.

The price of $3401 is some way of mid-June’s $3460-plus level, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

An investigation by EY has found that investment into projects in the green energy and utilities sector in the UK dropped sharply last year.

UK had previously been Europe’s leader in that regard, but France overtook the UK following a 57 per cent drop.

While a big surge in 2023 investment partly contributed to that, it will still be seen as a blow as the government tries to push for investment into projects which serve the decarbonisation agenda.

US President Donald Trump has demanded oil prices be kept low.

Not so much an official statement or request imploring markets maintain stability, more Mr Trump’s usual method of capital letters and exclamation marks via social media:

“EVERYONE, KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN. I’M WATCHING! YOU’RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. DON’T DO IT!”

You’ve had your orders.

Earlier, Brent Oil had risen several percent before giving back those gains. Fast forward to this afternoon and Brent’s price is at -0.1 per cent for the day, down to just below $77.

Markets just starting perhaps to feel the chances of a full Strait of Hormuz closure might not be the outcome?

A low-key and smaller rollout than initially anticipated of the Tesla robotaxi has started in Texas, with shares in the company up 5 per cent on opening today.

It makes the EV maker the highest riser in the Nasdaq 100, with a market cap edging back towards $1.1trn.

Tom Stevenson, investment director at Fidelity International, believes it would need a severe spike in oil price from this level to significantly impact global growth.

“Financial markets have responded with measured calm to geopolitical developments in the Middle East. While the developments over the weekend marked a significant geopolitical moment, investor reactions across asset classes suggest a belief that the broader economic and market impact may remain limited – at least for now.

“The oil price was unsurprisingly the main story, with an initial spike of nearly 6% in the cost of Brent crude, quickly being pared back to a gain of less than 1%.

“Stock markets have so far taken the events in their stride. The MSCI Asia Pacific index fell nearly 1% while the Stoxx Europe was 0.2% down, as was the FTSE 100. US market futures were little changed.

“While the market’s calm might seem strange given the geo-political backdrop, it reflects the reality that even an ongoing conflict in the Middle East may have only limited impact on global growth. The global economy is much less energy-intensive than it was in the 1970s when the Arab oil embargo had such a devastating stagflationary impact on western economies.

“In addition, the oil market is well supplied currently, with Opec+ countries able to deploy considerable spare capacity. Demand is relatively subdued in the world’s two biggest economies, the US and China, and supply is abundant. It would take a spike in the oil price to over $100 a barrel to have a serious impact on economic growth and current expectations are significantly lower than that.”