9am: AstraZeneca and GSK (LON:GSK) climb on possible tariff escape
UK pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:LON:AZN) and GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) are both avoiding the sell-off this morning, up over 1%.
Based on a clarifying fact sheet produced by the White House alongside President Trump’s announcement, it appears that drugs imported into the US will be exempt from higher-rate ’reciprocal tariffs’.
“At least for now,” says analyst Sean Conroy at Shore Capital.
“It is still somewhat unclear whether the broader reaching 10% baseline tariffs could still be levied against imported drugs and vaccines, in our view.
“Given the globalised natural of supply chains across the industry, there had likely been some perceived risk to near-term guidance for GSK and AstraZeneca, who had travelled poorly into ’Liberation Day’, along with the broader cohort of large-cap pharmaceutical companies.”
Conroy says he has been told by GSK that no changes to their outlooks are expected based on the available information, while AZ said they are assessing the implications of the announcement and believe that essential medicines should be exempt but are also actively seeking to mitigate any impact.
8.50am: Downing Street dealmaking reported
Other measures for the UK are reportedly being considered by the government, according to reports, including some give-and-take over online laws in exchange for a better tariff deal.
UK ministers are offering a “review” of online safety law in exchange for better tariff deal, reports @g_lanktree pic.twitter.com/7vd8lk0S8G— Esther Webber (@estwebber) April 3, 2025
8.45am: Investors waking up to a new world
Some tariff analysis from the City commentariat.
The investors are “waking up to a new world this morning after Trump’s tariff announcement”, says Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
“The US president seems determined to roll back the era of globalisation, though it seems more likely he is just going to trim its effects on the United States.
“Investors have voted with their feet and have resumed the selling of US stocks despite a small overnight bounce. The world is echoing to the sound of earnings estimates being frantically revised, and this portends a further leg down for US stocks.”
He says it “it won’t stop here” and retaliation from trading partners is expected, “or at least threats of retaliation”.
“Should major partners like the EU impose higher costs then we can be certain the US will also respond in kind. Markets face the kind of trade war not seen for decades.”
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, says: “I won’t make this long or complicated. Trump’s tariff announcement was worse than expected.
She notes that the UK was one of many that comes out “less harmed” with a 10% rate, while Vietnam and Lesotho are the hardest hit with tariff rates of 46% and 50%, respectively.
“Of course, Trump said that partners could negotiate with the US to lower these rates, but the tension building into the announcement and the initial shock will be hard to digest for many trade partners and will more likely than not lead to retaliation.
“China already announced it would restrict investments to the US, Europe already warned there will be retaliation, and Japan said it will protect domestic industries and jobs.”
8.29am: Moonpig flies higher
Moonpig Group PLC (LON:MOONM) (LSE:MOON) shares are bucking the trend, up 1% after a positive trading update for the past year.
The online greetings card group promised a new £60 million share buyback as it expects underlying earnings to be at the top end of its previous guidance.
Revenue for the year to 30 April 2025 is expected to be between £350 million and £353 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin is set to be at the top end of its 25% to 27% guidance, leading to double-digit percentage growth in adjusted earnings per share.
8.12am: FTSE 100 plummets, Asia- and US-focused stocks lead falls
The FTSE 100 has plummeted 127 points in opening trades, down 1.5% to 8,507.51
And the FTSE 250 index has also fallen 205 points or 1.05% to 19,386.
Big blue-chip fallers include Asia focused lenders Standard Chartered PLC (LSE:LON:STAN), down 7.4%, and HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:LON:HSBA), down 3.5%. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is down 5% too.
Paper and packaging maker Mondi (LON:MNDI) PLC, US-exposed retailer JD Sports Fashion PLC (LON:JD), life insurer Phoenix Group Holdings (LON:PHNX) and tech investment funds Polar Capital Technology (LON:PCT) Trust PLC and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:LON:SMT)/
Anglo American (LON:AAL), Ashtead Group (LON:AHT) and InterContinental (LON:IHG) Hotels are all down over 4%.
8.03am: China calls for dialogue
China has pushed back against the steep 54% US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump last night, calling for dialogue.
The Commerce Ministry in Beijing said the tariffs ignore years of global trade cooperation and the fact that America has long profited from international trade.
“China urges the US to immediately cancel unilateral tariff measures and properly resolve differences with trade partners through equal dialogue,” the ministry said.
“There is no winner in a trade war, and there is no way out for protectionism.”
Trump revealed a hefty 34% tariff on Chinese imports last night, on top of an earlier 20%, bringing the total to 54%, while also closing a loophole that let low-value Chinese parcels enter the US duty-free.
7.57am: PHP makes rival bid for Assura
Primary Health Properties PLC (LSE:LON:PHP, OTC:PHPRF) has launched a counter bid for Assura Group (LON:AGRP) (LSE:AGR), looking to disrupt a rival £1.6 billion offer that has already been backed by the board from KKR and Stonepeak Partners.
Rather than look to top the KKR-led bid, PHP has made a cash and shares offer worth £1.5 billion, based on the last closing price of its shares, but instead highlighted the benefits of merging the two similar REITS.
offer for its fellow healthcare property peer, which was priced at 49.4p per share.
PHP said Assura shareholders would own roughly 48% of the combined group’s shares.
And it said a combination of the two companies “would deliver significant strategic and financial benefits for both sets of shareholders”, including forming the eighth largest UK listed REIT with a combined £6 billion portfolio of assets, mostly let to government tenants, along with cost and operating synergies and one of the lowest cost ratios in the sector.
7.32am: Currys turns up the dial
Currys PLC (LSE:LON:CURY) has turned up the dial on its profit guidance for the soon-to-finish financial year.
The electrical goods retailer said trading has been “robust” since January, echoing a similar post-Christmas statement at that time.
Like-for-like sales growth has remained positive in the UK & Ireland and the Nordics, which had been softer over the festive period.
7.28am: China the big negative surprise
US tariffs on other countries in the American continent are lower than expected, says Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn)’s currency analyst George Saravelos, while European tariffs are as expected, and tariffs on Asia are “significantly higher than expected”.
On the bigger picture, “the big determinant of the market moves over the next few weeks will be the relative fiscal policy stance in the US, Europe and China, not the tariffs themselves”, he says.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s emphasis on fiscal tightening right after the tariff announcement was “un-supportive of both US assets and the dollar”, he adds.
Beyond that, he says the key focus over the next few days should “clearly be China” as the big negative surprise was the 50% tariff rate on China and the key connector economy Vietnam – affecting $600 billion worth of manufactured goods to the US combined.
“The question is simple: how willing will China be to wait for trade negotiations (the 20% “fentanyl” tariff arguably leaves an opening) and/or to absorb this negative terms of trade shock domestically via fresh domestic demand stimulus?
“Or will it try to “export” the shock to the rest of the world via a devaluation of the CNY to regain goods competitiveness and re-direct the supply of Chinese product to the rest of the world?”
7.24am: Tariff countermeasures prepared
Countries have responded to the US tariffs in different ways already, with the EU having warned that it had countermeasures ready when the US launched steel and aluminium tariffs last month.
EC president Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement overnight that the US tariffs are a “major blow” to the world economy, including the 20% tariff on the EU.
“We are already finalising the first package of countermeasures in response to tariffs on steel,” she said.
“And we’re now preparing for further countermeasures to protect our interests and our businesses if negotiations fail.”
She said the tariffs will “hurt consumers around the world. It will be felt immediately”, with higher grocery bills, higher costs of medicines and transportation, meaning inflation will go up.
“All businesses – big and small – will suffer from day one,” she said.
The pound is up 0.7% at $1.3089, close to a six-month high, with a similar story for the euro, up 0.8% at $1.0936. The DXY dollar index is down over 1% to its lowest since October.
7.14am: FTSE 100 called 123 points lower
The FTSE 100 is predicted to tank over 120 points at the open on Thursday after US President Donald Trump imposed a blanked 10% tariff on the UK and all other countries, with much higher rates for some, such as China.
Futures for the London blue-chip index were pointing to a 123-point crash, with Asian markets bathed in red and US futures down sharply too.
Wall Street closed higher yesterday, before Trump’s White House speech saw him slap a 20% tariff on all goods from the European Union, 24% on Japan, 34% on China and some even higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index has plunged 3.2% this morning, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which included many Chinese tech giants, is down 1.2%, while the Shanghai Composite index is only 0.2% lower.
5am: What to watch on Thursday
The fallout from last night’s sweeping tariff announcement from Donald Trump is likely to dominate the day in Europe.
Economic data on Thursday includes the S&P Global PMI services sector survey for the UK and major economies. The UK services PMI jumped to a seven-month high of 53.2 in the mid-month ’flash’.
Added to the manufacturing survey the final composite PMI for March was 52.0 in the flash release.
Released at the same time, will be the Bank of England decision maker panel survey, which includes a measure of one-year-ahead CPI expectations, which stood at 3.1% a month ago.
In company news, Moonpig Group PLC (LSE:MOON) is expected to deliver a missive on recent trading, fresh from a possible Mother’s Day boost (have you bought your card yet?), though some analysts think the company’s targets are overambitious…read more
Announcements due on 3 April:
Trading update: Moonpig Group PLC
Finals: VH Global Energy Infrastructure PLC
US earnings: ConAgra Brands Inc, Acuity Inc, Lamb Weston
Economic announcements: PMI Services (UK, EU, US), PMI Composite (UK, EU, US), Continuing Claims (US), Initial Jobless Claims (US), ISM Services (US)
