The FTSE 100 continued its upward march on Wednesday, as corporate earnings helped lift the index despite lingering concerns about Trump’s tariffs.
London’s leading index rose about 20 points in early trade before the rally faded to trade just above flat at the time of writing.
Anyone who bought into the Trump tariff-induced sell-off is being handsomely rewarded. The FTSE 100 is now over 10% higher than its closing low record in the aftermath of Trump’s liberation day tariffs and more than 2% higher year-to-date in 2025.
“There’s a footloose feeling to the footsie, with the blue-chip index shrugging off global economic worries and heading higher on a winning streak,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.
“It’s already clocked the best run since early 2017, and investors appear to have appetite for the defensive nature of the index, as they look set to tiptoe round more volatile US assets.”
London’s winning streak was further extended on Wednesday by another strong day of earnings for FTSE 100 companies, with Barclays, Taylor Wimpey, and GSK all giving investors reason to be optimistic.
Barclays
There was a lot to like about Barclays first quarter results. Profit before tax rose 19% to £2.72bn, smashing estimates of £2.49bn helped by strong investment performance. The bank also increased its 2025 net interest income to £12.5bn.
“Barclays has quite comfortably beaten expectations, after its investment banking arm cashed in on market volatility over the first quarter,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.
“In the main, trends across the portfolio look strong, from stable US credit card write-offs to low default levels on UK cards and loans. In fact, the only real sign that there could be an impending US or global recession was a slightly higher reserve build for its US consumer bank. If that wasn’t enough, management has raised guidance to add a confident cherry on top of the strong quarter – investors should be happy with what they’ve seen today.”
Barclays shares were 1.5% higher at the time of writing.
GSK provided a reassuringly strong set of Q1 results that helped shares rise over 1%.
Mark Crouch, market analyst at eToro, said: “GSK posted a Q1 earnings beat this morning, with rising profits and sales driven by continued growth in its Specialty Medicines division.”
A positive assessment of trading conditions by Taylor Wimpey and the reaffirmation of their competition guidance for 2025 helped the stock to marginal gains of 0.5% at the time of writing.
Natural Resource weakness
Upbeat reports from GSK, Barclays and Taylor Wimpey were offset by weakness in the natural resources stocks after Trump’s 100-day address to supporters overnight served as a reminder that the US President was seemingly hell bent on disrupting the world order.
Weak Chinese manufacturing data also added to the downside pressure on natural resources shares.
“Concerns about US tariffs are resurfacing, after a defiant Trump rallied his supporters, and a weaker than expected manufacturing update from China added to concerns about global growth prospects,” Streeter explained.
Glencore shares were at the FTSE 100 leaderboard at the time of writing having lost 3% of their value.