Trump troubles traumatise traders

In mid-morning trading, the FTSE 100 is flat on the day, as concern grows among investors about the state of US politics.

-       FTSE refuses to let 7500 go
-       UK workers now firmly in a squeeze
-       Trump - not finished yet?

The FTSE 100 is holding its ground, apparently unconcerned by the growing crisis in Washington. Buyers have come back in this morning, and while Europe falters under the impact of an ebullient euro performance over the past few days, the UK’s top 100 index seems determined to hold above the 7500 level it breached yesterday. One of those helping this morning is Lloyds, with the government’s final departure from the bank’s shareholder registry being greeted with a 2% gain. RBS is sulking in a corner, barely moved, as its cousin enters a brave new world. The government made a profit on its Lloyds investment, and with dividends looking healthy it seems that private investors are convinced they
 can prosper too with the bank. UK unemployment may have fallen to its lowest level since 1975, but the wage growth figures underline the point of yesterday’s CPI numbers, namely that UK consumers face a tough time for the next few months at least. That helps to explain why the FTSE 250, which is still outperforming the 100 index year-to-date, has been lagging its cousin since the Bank of England meeting last week.

Fresh bad news for the White House emerges daily now, and it may finally be having something of an impact on Wall Street. Still, it is too early to predict the demise of this president just yet. His election campaign always seemed one day away from disaster, and his presidency thus far has been remarkably similar. But the campaign won out in the end, and it would be unwise to assume that impeachment is now a given. Over-eager bears should tread with care. Ahead of the open, we expect the Dow to start at 20,846, down 133 points from last night’s close.