Thursday 11 June 2026 3:34 pm
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Thursday 11 June 2026 3:45 pm
Healey's resignation has heaped pressure on Starmer. Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Good afternoon and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.John Healey has resigned as defence secretary over a lack of funding for the armed forces, heaping pressure on Sir Keir Starmer. Industry officials have reacted with regret and paid tribute to Healey. The FTSE 100 also climbed on Thursday to defy fresh tensions between Iran and the US, which – along with a tech stocks sell off – has caused market spooks in Wall Street and Asia.The blue-chip index jumped by 0.8 per cent to 10,335p, buoyed by big risers Standard Chartered, Prudential and Intertek.Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said London has been spared this panic because it has few tech stocks and has managed to seek solace in its traditionally defensive listings.“As has often been the case during the Iran conflict, the UK’s flagship index has found support from its collection of energy companies and more traditionally defensive names.“Miners and other China-linked stocks were lifted by data suggesting the country is investing heavily in AI and consuming raw materials at a healthy rate,” he said.Intertek jumped nearly three per cent on the FTSE 100 after it extended a deadline on its private takeover, and Frasers rose on the FTSE 250 after it launched a €2.7bn takeover bid of Hugo Boss, though the German company’s shares rose by more over in Frankfurt.Oil prices fell slightly to $92.25, almost one per cent, having been pulled higher overnight on another set of tit-for-tat strikes between the US and Iran.The US carried out a “self-defence” action on Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communications systems, and air defence sites last night, following a back-and-forth strikes between the two nations.Trump said he spoke “directly” with officials in Tehran, who asked him to stop bombing that began at 10:30pm last night. He added “shortly” it would but threatened it could resume.Back in the UK, defence secretary John Healey rocked the government by announcing his resignation, slamming Sir Keir Starmer for being “unable and unwilling” to fund defence.We’ll be bringing you the latest market reaction and more.Here’s a few of our top headlines this morning
