By James Sillars, business and economics reporter
The FTSE 100’s 13-day winning streak is under threat.
The index is down by 0.3% at 8,470 in early deals today, despite some support from strong US tech results last night.
Energy stocks are providing the main drag – with Centrica, the owner of British Gas, Shell and BP leading the fallers.
Their respective shares are down by around 2% each.
It’s all on the back of plunging wholesale costs, with Brent crude oil hitting levels not seen for four years ago.
It is trading at $60 a barrel after the shock trade war-linked contraction for the US economy in the first quarter of the year and in anticipation of output hikes by Saudi Arabia.
Natural gas prices have also eased back on expectations of lower demand, given the tariff implications for global growth.
It all signals better news ahead for fuel and energy bills, if not your pension values.
Another stock moving in the wrong direction was Lloyds.
The UK’s biggest mortgage lender reported a near 7% drop in first-quarter profit to £1.52bn – damaged by higher costs.
The bank said it had set aside more than £300m, including £100m for tariff-related defaults and revealed some jobs had been lost amid a reskilling exercise across the group.
It added that the bank faced a £1bn hit this year alone from raised employer national insurance contributions, announced in the October budget but which kicked in last month.
Lloyds shares opened 1.7% down.