FTSE 100 Grappling With Restrictive Monetary Policy

The euro firmed against its major counterparts in the New York session on Friday, as risk sentiment improved after U.S. President Donald Trump delayed decision on joining the Israel-Iran conflict.

Gold climbed higher on Thursday amid renewed threats of a tariff war, simmering US-Iran geopolitical tensions, and a softer U.S. jobs data. Front Month Comex Gold for June delivery gained $59.60 (or 1.79%) to $3380.90 per troy ounce. Front Month Comex Silver for June delivery gained 4.70 cents (or 0.13%) to $36.213 today. In a significant development, U.S. President Donald Trump said that, in the coming weeks, he is going to send letters to nations trading with US, setting unilateral tariffs even ahead of the July 9 deadline he had already set for negotiations. Adding to geopolitical tension, the U.S. has begun evacuating non-essential staff from its Baghdad embassy. This move comes after Trump's statement where he said that he felt less confident of a US-Iran nuclear deal. He however had added that US would not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. Iranian defense minister responded to this saying Iran would attack U.S. bases if there is a conflict. According to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department, producer prices have edged up 0.1 percent for May 2025, compared to forecasts of a 0.2 percent increase. Also, the US Labor Department revealed that the initial jobless claims in the U.S. held steady at 2,48,000 for the first week of June contrary to market expectations of a drop to 2,40,000. Continuing jobless claims jumped by 54,000 to 19,56,000 in the week ending May 31. All these data indicated a soft U.S. labor market amid ongoing economic uncertainty. The U.S. dollar fell to a more than three-year low. In light of these developments, market expectations of a rate cut in September by the U.S. Federal Reserve has now increased.

The Swiss stock market was down again on Friday, albeit barely, despite spending most of the trading day in positive territory before a late swoon extended its losing streak.

The major European stock markets finished off the week in mixed fashion, finishing on opposite sides of the unchanged line on Friday.

Euro area consumer sentiment deteriorated unexpectedly in June following a strong improvement in the previous month, preliminary data from a European Commission survey revealed on Friday, amid the increased uncertainty due to trade tariffs and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

UK's Groceries Code Adjudicator or GCA announced the launch of a targeted investigation against e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. over alleged delays in payments to its suppliers. In a statement, the grocery regulator said the investigation is into whether Amazon has breached paragraph 5 of the Groceries Code, which indicates no delay in Payments, in relation to certain of its practices...

A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Friday said regional manufacturing activity remained weak in the month of June.

The FTSE 100 benchmark of the London Stock Exchange rebounded on Friday albeit at a level lower than its peers.