The FTSE 100 was lower on Friday after the US President said that he was in no rush to end the war with Iran, sending oil prices higher and stocks lower.

While it’s difficult to know whether he actually means he’s in no rush or if it’s just another negotiating tactic, we do know that markets are growing tired of Trump’s posturing, and fears are mounting that the impasse in the Middle East could lead to a global recession.

This was reflected in a Brent oil price of around $105 and an FTSE 100 trading below 10,400 at 10,387 at the time of writing.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist, Wealth Club, said: “Brent crude is up around 20% on the week and is trading around the hot level of $105 a barrel, as any hopes of an immediate easing of the crisis are shattered.

“President Trump has stressed he’s in no rush to end the war, and with the ceasefire extended for another three weeks, there’s set to be fresh financial pain ahead as key shipments from the region remain blocked. That is set to keep costs elevated for a vast array of commodities, from oil and gas to fertiliser and helium, which are vital for electronics manufacturing.”

If the uncertainty in the Middle East wasn’t enough to unnerve investors on Friday, a Bank of England official has weighed in, labelling global equity markets overvalued.

“An official from the Bank of England has warned of a potential global stock market correction,” says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“Deputy governor for financial stability Sarah Breeden told the BBC that current share prices didn’t reflect economic pressures facing the markets.”

FTSE 100 Movers

Mondi was the FTSE 100’s top faller on Friday after the paper and packaging maker warned of rising prices due to the war in Iran, adding to a string of London-listed companies signalling a negative impact from the conflict.

“There’s no papering over the cracks in packaging outfit Mondi’s latest update. The business is heavily exposed to rising energy and raw materials costs and that’s putting significant pressure on profit, Russ Mould said.

“Mondi is increasing its prices but cannot pass on costs overnight so investors won’t see evidence of this until later in the year.”

Mondi shares were down nearly 8% on Friday.

At the other end of the leaderboard, British American Tobacco was the FTSE 100’s top riser after analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to ‘overweight’ from ‘underweight’. BATS shares rose 3%.

JD Sports has had a tough week, made worse by rising oil prices on Friday, which sent the stock down 3% to near its worst levels since the beginning of the Middle East conflict.

BP and Shell helped provide some balance to the index with gains of around 1%, but this wasn’t enough to offset weakness in mining companies such as Antofagasta and Anglo American that were among the many cyclical stocks that dragged the FTSE 100 lower on Friday.

Intel shares surged on Friday after the chipmaker announced revenue grew 7% on renewed demand for data centre CPUs.

Concerns that Intel was losing out to its peers in the AI race have been tempered by these results, which show the group’s offering is finally helping boost sales after a prolonged period of falling quarterly sales.

Sales for the first quarter rose 7.2% compared to a year ago to hit $12.67bn, with AI data centre sales doing much of the heavy lifting.

While investors will be delighted with the first-quarter performance, the strong share price reaction can largely be attributed to robust guidance for the second quarter, when Intel sees sales rising to £13.8bn – $14.8bn, well above analyst expectations.

Intel is also guiding 20 cents earnings per share in Q2, versus analysts’ estimates of 9 cents.

“There’s beating earnings expectations and then there’s smashing them – with no hint of hyperbole, it’s fair to say Intel has done the latter with its latest quarterly results,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan is strident in asserting that Intel is seeing a big boost as businesses move beyond just training up machines and begin putting them to work on specific tasks. This means increasing demand for ‘Intel inside’ as customers tap its flagship central processing units.

“For years Intel has looked like yesterday’s man in the chip space, but the company’s latest earnings suggest it has caught up – helped by an unconventional investment from the Trump administration and additional funds from Nvidia last year.”

The US government invested $8.9bn in Intel at $20.47 per share and has enjoyed a 4x return, based on a premarket price of $83.30 per share.

Mondi has reported a softer start to 2026, with underlying EBITDA easing to €212 million in the first quarter from €214 million in Q4 2025, as the packaging and paper group grappled with mounting cost pressures across its operations.

Shares were down 5% in early trading on Friday as Mondi became the latest company to warn of the impact of the war in Iran.

A concern for investors will be that profits fell despite higher sales volumes in both the Corrugated Packaging and Flexible Packaging units, with volume gains offset by lower average selling prices and rising energy-related input costs towards the end of the quarter.

Margins in the converting operations came under pressure, with Corrugated Solutions and Paper Bags bearing the brunt, while Consumer Flexibles held up on resilient end-market demand.

The cost backdrop has been further complicated by heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which have driven up energy, raw materials, and logistics costs across the business.

Mondi has limited direct exposure to the region but is feeling the knock-on effects and is pushing through price increases in response, although the full benefit is not expected to land until the third quarter, given the customary lag.

Adding to the pressure on reported earnings, Mondi now expects its full-year forestry fair value gain for 2026 to be nil, following a recent drop in South African wood prices, a step down that will remove a useful tailwind from the numbers.

There are a number of reason for investors are cautious, and management appears to recognise this by taking action on costs.

The group announced the closure of three further converting plants in April, a Consumer Flexibles site in Hungary and Corrugated Solutions facilities in Poland and Germany, taking recent closures to six and reducing headcount by 450 this year.

Computacenter has had a strong start to 2026, with first-quarter trading coming in significantly ahead of both last year and its own expectations, prompting the technology services group to upgrade its full-year guidance.

Group Technology Sourcing revenue led the charge, powered by hyperscale customers in North America and the UK, while Services revenue also edged ahead on the back of strong organic growth in Professional Services. A dip in Managed Services was more than offset by momentum elsewhere.

North America delivered what the company described as an excellent quarter, helped along by a record product order backlog carried over from the end of 2025 and stronger-than-expected hyperscale volumes.

The UK also posted excellent growth in Technology Sourcing, with AI-related project completions feeding through and Professional Services continuing to build. Germany was steady, though Professional Services there remains subdued, and Western Europe nudged slightly ahead.

On the outlook, Computacenter now expects a much stronger first half than previously thought. While management flagged the usual caveats around the macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop, and a tougher comparative in H2, it now anticipates full-year results will be comfortably ahead of market expectations, assuming no material deterioration in conditions.

Computacenter shares are around 50% higher over the past year, and today’s update has helped extend the rally with a 3% gain.

Professional services provider Diales (LON: DIAL) says interim operating profit will be 43% higher at £1m on revenues up 10% at £23.7m. Cash was £3.9m at the end of March 2026. The interims will be published on 1 June. The share price increased 19.2% to 28p.

Active Energy Group (LON: AEG) is acquiring a 2.5 MVA grid connection located at Taweela, UAE for £1.25m in cash and shares. The cash portion of £625,000 will be deferred and paid in two equal parts over 12 months. This takes total grid connection capacity to 15.5 MVA. The share price gained 12.4% to 0.15p.

Microchip designer and supplier EnSilica (LON: ENSI) has won two new space contracts and one could be worth more than $50m over its life. There should initially be $6,8m of non-recurring engineering revenues in the next three years and potential UK Space Agency funding of up to $3m on top. EnSilica should return to profit this year. The share price improved 11.4% to 73.5p.

Translation software and services provider RWS Holdings (LON: RWS) says interim revenues will be around 5% higher at £360m, with organic constant currency growth of 7%. Underlying pre-tax profit should be one-third higher at £24m after cost savings. Net debt was £33m at the end of March. Low single digit constant currency growth in revenues is expected for the full year.  The share price recovered 11.3% to 93.75p.

FALLERS

In content advertising technology developer Mirriad Advertising (LON: MIRI) says trading conditions are difficult, and the US joint venture partner has performed below expectations. Costs have been reduced, but cash is running out. The board believes it may have to place operating subsidiaries in administration or liquidation if no new capital is raised. That would lead to a suspension in trading of the shares. The share price slumped 73.3% to 0.0008p.

Powerhouse Energy (LON: PHE) has raised £400,000 in a placing at 0.2p/share and could add a further £250,000 from a retail offer. The cash will be used to progress the development of the Ballymena waste to hydrogen project in Northern Ireland. This will include gaining permitting and the design of the project. The company will also develop alternative fuels that can come from the distributed modular generation units. The share price dipped 28.8% to 0.21p.

Helium projects developer Rift Helium (LON: RIFT) joined AIM on Wednesday having raised £8.09m at 10p/share. The shares initially went to a premium but ended the first day at 9.75p. They have fallen a further 7.69% to 9p.

Deltic Energy (LON: DELT) says it is in discussions with three parties – Capricorn Energy, Petrogas International E&P Coöperatief U.A. and (iii) Blue Concept Hld AS, a private Norwegian company – about potential cash offers for the company. The share price more than doubled yesterday and it has fallen back 13.3% to 6.5p.

Health and beauty brands owner Creightons (LON: CRL) is changing its name to Potter & Moore, which has always been the main trading name, as part of a corporate rebrand. Full year revenues were flat at £53.8m with problems at customers and reduced contract manufacturing business hampering the progress of the business. Gross margin was maintained as NI and other cost increases were offset by improved efficiency. Even so, pre-tax profit is expected to decline from £3.5m to £2.7m. Cash was £3.6m at the end of March 2026. The share price fell 6.38% to 22p.

Ex-dividends

Airea (LON: AIEA) is paying a final dividend of 1p/share and the share price declined 0.5p to 23.5p.

Mortgage Advice Bureau (LON: MAB1) is paying a final dividend of 15.3p/share and the share price slipped 27.5p to 545.5p.

MP Evans (LON: MPE) is paying a final dividend of 42p/share and the share price fell 46p to £17.08.

Uniphar (LON: UPR) is paying a final dividend of 1.31 cents/share and the share price is 1p lower at 349p.