Closing post
Calm has returned to the markets today, despite the anxiety caused by the new trade conflict between the US and China.
The Dow Jones industrial average is now flat, while the broader S&P 500 is now up 0.5%, as investors take the latest tariffs imposed by Washington DC and China on each others exports in their stride.
In London, the FTSE 100 share index has clawed back most of its earlier losses – and is now down just 0.1%, or 10 pints, at 8572 points.
Despite Goldman Sachs’s warnings that the eurozone faces a ‘sizeable hit’ from rising trade tensions, shares are now higher in Frankfurt and Paris.
And the pound has now recovered its earlier losses against the dollar, to trade around $1.246.
Our US Politics Live blog is covering the latest action in America:
US jobs openings fall
The number of job openings across the US fell at the end of last month, a possible sign that America’s labor market is cooling.
Job openings fell to 7.6m at the end of December, down from over 8m at the end of November, a three-month low according to Bloomberg.
The US Bureau of Labour Statistics reports:
The job openings rate, at 4.5%, decreased over the month.
The number of job openings decreased in professional and business services (-225,000), health care and social assistance (-180,000), and finance and insurance (-136,000). Job openings increased in arts, entertainment, and recreation (+65,000).
JOLTS showing some softness. Job openings fell to 7.6 mil and ratio of openings to unemployment rose. Conditions in the job market still appear solid but slowing. pic.twitter.com/rNFXmNOlrN
— Kathy Jones (@KathyJones) February 4, 2025
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