The FTSE 100 was steady again on Friday as the continued de-escalation of trade tensions supported US equities overnight and helped lift the mood in Europe on Friday.

London’s leading index was 0.1% higher at the time of writing and looked set for another weekly gain as the FTSE 100’s recovery from the Liberation Day selloff ground on.

“Another strong session on Wall Street yesterday lifted spirits at the end of the trading week, resulting in small but welcome gains across much of European equities markets on Friday,” says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“The past three weeks have been chaotic and investors have been subjected to a whirlwind of events. That chaos is now easing away and replaced by a tentative feeling of serenity. Donald Trump could easily turn markets back on their head with a single remark, but for now, we can embrace a moment of calm.

“First, we had indications that the Trump administration might soften its tone in the fight against China. Now we have reports that China might exempt certain US imports from tariffs. While tariffs are unlikely to go away completely, any easing of the trade war will be lapped up by financial markets.”

A softening in trade tensions was reflected in buying pressure for stocks that had been heavily impacted by Trump’s tariff announcement.

Melrose was the FTSE 100’s top gainer as bargain hunters continued to buy the engineering firm after being battered by tariff concerns.

Babcock and Rolls-Royce also gained, demonstrating a clear interest in the sector as concerns about the trade war subside.

There were also table gains for the US-tech focused Polar Capital Technology Trust after a strong session for the sector overnight. The trust’s top holdings include Nvidia, Apple and Alphabet.

The improvement in investor sentiment curtailed demand for gold, sending the price lower on Friday and taking Endeavour Mining to the bottom of the leaderboard with a 2% loss.

WPP has released its trading update for the first quarter of 2025, revealing a decline in revenue against the backdrop of challenging macroeconomic conditions.

The company reported revenue of £3,243 million, representing a 5.0% decrease on a reported basis and a 0.7% decline on a like-for-like basis compared to the same period last year.

Revenue less pass-through costs, a key performance metric for the firm, stood at £2,482 million, down 7.6% on a reported basis and 2.7% on a like-for-like basis.

Despite the soggy start to the year, the advertising giant said that performance was in line with expectations outlined during February’s preliminary results announcement.

The organisation has reiterated its full-year guidance for 2025, projecting like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to range between flat and -2%, with headline operating profit margin expected to remain approximately flat, excluding foreign exchange impacts.

WPP shares were 0.2% higher at the time of writing.

“In a fiercely competitive advertising arena, WPP is struggling to spark fresh ideas that could kickstart its return to growth,” said Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“With this weakness set to continue into the second quarter, WPP’s leaving itself a lot of work to do late in the year, and there could be room for disappointment as the year progresses.

“Add to that the fallout from recent US-led tariffs, which have sparked major uncertainty across global markets. If they cause an economic slowdown, and WPP’s customers need to rein in their costs, advertising budgets will likely be one of the first things on the chopping block. WPP hasn’t seen client behaviours change yet in response to tariffs, but the picture can change quickly.”

The FTSE 100 traded sideways within a relatively tight range on Thursday as investors enjoyed a break from the onslaught of volatility and uncertainty emanating from the White House.

London’s leading index was down just 7 points at the time of writing and had traded within a range barely more than 30 points for most of the session. This could, of course, change very quickly.

“UK and European markets are taking a breather this morning, with the FTSE 100 flat at the open after a strong showing yesterday. The investing world is back to hanging onto every word out of the White House, but with such a confusing and often contradictory stance on tariffs, volatility is all we can really guarantee,” said

“US markets caught a tailwind yesterday, with the S&P 500 climbing 1.67% as investors found reasons to cheer across the board – from upbeat corporate earnings and resilient economic data to signs of a cooling tone in Trump’s domestic and foreign rhetoric.”

How long the calming conditions in market persist remains to be seen, but the welcome break from Trump-induced volatility did allow investors to take a more stock-specific approach to FTSE 100 stocks on Thursday.

Unilever produced the standout corporate update with its Q1 trading statement, which confirmed that investors shouldn’t expect fireworks from the consumer giant anytime soon.

Underlying sales growth came in at 3% helped by strong performance in the Personal Care unit, and the company said it was paying attention to performance in emerging markets.

“For years, Unilever has followed the theory that slow and steady wins the race and it has once again delivered another pedestrian performance. First-quarter underlying sales growth was better than expected, giving some support to its share price, but it hardly shot the lights out,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“The recent change in leadership for the group suggested the board and/or shareholders felt that Unilever could move faster, and chairman Ian Meakins said at the time there was more to do. It’s interesting to see new boss Fernando Fernandez now say that Unilever is ‘moving at pace’ given the Q1 numbers do not support that statement.

“Patience is required and at least the current performance shows the business is moving forwards rather than backwards.”

St James’s Place clawed its way to the top of the leaderboard as investors reacted to positive inflow data and an increase in funds under management to $188bn.

BP and Shell were higher amid rising oil prices, but failed to push the index to meaningful gains.

Endeavour Mining was back among the gainers, rising 2%, as gold resumed its march higher. Legal & General was the FTSE 100 top fallers as it traded ex-dividend.

MicroSalt has started 2025 on a strong footing. A business update released on Thursday revealed a material uptick in the volume of low-sodium salt delivered to one of the world’s largest snack food companies. The company also signalled it was gearing up for a further increase in demand as the year progressed. 

MicroSalt manufactures and supplies low-sodium salt, which has 50% less sodium than traditional table salt. Increasingly, food producers are taking the overconsumption of sodium and its associated cardiovascular diseases seriously, as evident in MicroSalt’s update.

MicroSalt has shattered previous performance metrics with total bulk sales reaching an impressive 98 metric tonnes (216,190 lbs) in Q1. The company said low-sodium salt bulk revenue generated in the first quarter alone equates to 142% of the revenue generated in the whole of 2024.

“We are very excited about the growth of our MicroSalt products and its ever-widening acceptance within the food manufacturing community,” said Rick Guiney, CEO of MicroSalt.

“Our growth story is now evidenced by growing sales volume, number of topical applications, and countries served. Continued regulatory support for lower sodium food products acts as a catalyst to our growth both in the US and across the globe in short and long term.”

The company’s expansion spans existing markets in Canada, Mexico and the United States, whilst simultaneously breaking ground in newly opened markets across Great Britain and Belgium.

The driving force behind MicroSalt’s Q1 bulk sales has been various divisions of a global powerhouse—identified as ‘Customer 3’—one of the world’s largest food, soft drink and snack manufacturers. MicroSalt has yet to name any of its biggest partners, presumably because their customers want to keep secret how they will achieve low sodium in their foods.

MicroSalt’s Premium product line

January saw the launch of MicroSalt’s Premium product line, specifically targeting the quick service and fast service restaurant (QSR/FSR) market, with particular emphasis on French fries.

MicroSalt has the response ‘has been very well received and is already in final consideration for rollout with a top international brand Q3 of this year’.

The company said the development demonstrates the expanding versatility of MicroSalt, which is no longer limited to topical applications and is now penetrating diverse markets, including cheese, peanut butter, chicken breading, and coatings.

The strong start to 2025 resulted in MicroSalt guiding for revenue generation of at least $2.5m for 2025. However, this guidance came with the suggestion that revenue could be significantly higher than the $2.5m level.

MicroSalt’s revenue guidance doesn’t include any sales from MicroSalt’s Premium product line, which is expected to be rolled out with a major player in the second half of 2025. MicroSalt also believes revenue generation is likely to accelerate through 2026.

It’s too early to make any firm assumptions to inform forward earnings multiples, but a very rough trajectory of revenue growth going into next year could put MicroSalt’s current market cap at around 4x to 8x 2026 sales. We are yet to gain a clear insight into the margins MicroSalt can achieve when operating at scale.

The next significant catalyst for the stock could be the unveiling of its partners and the products in which MicroSalt is being used later this year.