FTSE CLOSE: Pound slips after Carney drops hint of rate cut; John Lewis boss exits; Tesco and M&S report modest sales rise; BA boss Willie Walsh retires

The FTSE 100 closed up 23.19 points at 7598.12 and the pound was at $1.31 against the dollar.

Trading sentiment was increasingly bullish over the future for multinational stocks after President Trump clarified yesterday evening that he wanted to avoid a full-on conflict with Iran.

The European markets also pushed higher as a result of easing global political tensions.

Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones rose as traders geared up for Friday's US non-farm jobs report.

The price of oil also continued to tumble, making a slightly smaller loss than on Wednesday. Prices had surged higher at the start of the week when the political climate was much more hostile.

The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil fell 0.55 per cent to $65.36.

Departing Bank of England governor Mark Carney sparked a fall in the pound after he suggested an interest rate cut could be on the cards.

In company news, retailers dominated the agenda as both Tesco and Marks & Spencer posted modest revenue rises over the Christmas period.

Tesco closed marginally higher after it eked out a 0.1 per cent rise in UK sales over Christmas trading despite subdued consumer spending.

The UK's biggest grocery chain said it outperformed in a challenging market, delivering its fifth Christmas in a row of sales growth. Shares closed 2.3p higher at 253.3p.

Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer dived in value after the high street stalwart saw clothing and home sales tumble during the third quarter.

UK revenue grew 0.2 per cent on a like-for-like basis as it was boosted by a stronger food business, but investors remained unimpressed. Shares slid 24.2p to 194.4p.

Elsewhere, British Airways owner International Airlines Group saw shares rise despite announcing that long-serving chief executive Willie Walsh will retire after a 15-year career with the group.

IAG said Mr Walsh will be succeeded by Iberia chief executive Luis Gallego. Shares in IAG were 16.2p higher at the close of play.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were NMC Health, up 82.5p at 1,340p, Vodafone, up 4.46p at 151.96p, Rolls-Royce, up 19.8p at 685.4p, and LSE, up 224p at 7,766p.

The biggest fallers on the index were Ocado, down 57.5p at 1,276.5p, Kingfisher, down 6.5p at 217.5p, BHP Group, down 36.8p at 1,771,2p, and British Land, down 10.2p at 592.6p.

Savers should brace themselves for more misery after outgoing Bank of England Governor Mark Carney hinted a further interest rate cut could be on the cards.

The pound fell after Carney confirmed the Bank's policymakers would take 'prompt' action if the country's economy continues to flounder.

Carney confirmed the bank was already mulling over the merits of 'near term stimulus' in a bid to give the national finances a much-needed boost.

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Nearly 160 savers who transferred stocks and shares Isas into failed investment firm London Capital & Finance will be compensated by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme it announced today - but most investors will not receive any money.

The government-funded safety net which protects savers and some investors up to £85,000 had been looking into the £236million collapse of LCF since last May, and today announced the results of some claims.

Andy Scott, associate director at JCRA -

“Sterling slid by around half a percentage point against the Dollar and the Euro, following a clear signal that the Bank of England is ready to provide monetary support if economic growth doesn’t pick up. Mark Carney said the Bank could cut interest rates and increase the asset purchase programme ‘if evidence builds that the weakness in activity could persist.’

“Following an emphatic victory for the Conservative Party which has a clear message and determination to “get Brexit done” and quickly, there is an expectation that consumers will begin to spend and businesses invest more.

"It is built on the premise that there is a more certain path ahead, as Boris Johnson has a commanding majority in Parliament so is not restricted by either opposition MPs or rebel sections of his own party. Already, there have been tentative signs of improvement in the services sector PMI from the December survey and in Halifax house price data, but we will need to wait and see what the first quarter releases show.

 “We saw in the US last year that the Federal Reserve opted for ‘insurance’ rate cuts due to the headwinds created by the trade war with China. It’s possible to draw some comparisons with the US and UK economies given the very high levels of employment and rising wage growth, but fairly benign inflationary pressures.

"One key difference is the pace of growth, with the UK economy only managing around 1% last year while the US grew at 2%. This suggests the Bank of England could justify an ‘insurance’ rate cut due to continued Brexit headwinds which may ease temporarily, but could still turn into a hurricane come December!'

Shares in Card Factory have slumped after the group revealed it suffered a 'challenging' period of trading over Christmas and lowered its full-year earnings outlook.

Blaming dwindling High Street footfall, the General Election and weak shopper sentiment, Card Factory said Christmas trading had been 'softer' than expected and revealed it would not be dishing out a special dividend to its shareholders next year. 

The card retailer, which is listed on the FTSE 250 index, has seen its share price drop by over a quarter today, with shares currently trading down 25.77 per cent or 36.10p to 104.00p.   

Marks & Spencer sold almost £700million more food in the run-up to Christmas than clothing and homeware, it revealed today. 

The High Street stalwart, which is battling to win over shoppers at its bricks-and-mortar stores and online shop, said that a 'standout' performance in food sales was tempered by 'one-off' struggles elsewhere.

Problems with food waste, menswear and gift lines hampered Marks & Spencer over the crucial Christmas period, the retailer admitted. 

Poor performance in Central Europe and Asia saw Tesco's sales fall over the Christmas period despite the supermarket enjoying its biggest day of food sales in Britain in its 100-year history on 23 December.

The supermarket's banking division also took a major hit over the Christmas trading period, with revenue falling 18.8 per cent to £361million.

But UK and Republic of Ireland sales experienced minor growth, with like-for-like sales in the 19 weeks to 4 January rising by 0.4 per cent. 

The pound fell after Bank of England boss Mark Carney said policymakers are mulling the possibility of an interest rate cut, and stressed action would be "prompt" if the economy remains under pressure. 

Carney said the predicted rebound in the economy was "not, of course, assured" amid ongoing Brexit uncertainty and amid a wider global economic slowdown.

He said: "As is entirely appropriate, there is a debate at the MPC over the relative merits of near term stimulus to reinforce the expected recovery in UK growth and inflation."

"With the relatively limited space to cut the bank rate, if evidence builds that the weakness in activity could persist, risk management considerations would favour a relatively prompt response," he added.

A couple who spotted that their credit card details were being used for fraudulent transactions have won a payout and an apology from NatWest after the bank failed to take action when they first tried to report it.

Jean and Ken Day, from Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria, had flown out to visit their daughter in New Zealand at the start of December.

On Monday 16 December - having arrived in the country four days earlier - they noticed two purchases worth £338 on their credit card for retailer Next, which they did not have an account with.

Liberty Steel Group is planning to cut 355 jobs in South Yorkshire and South Wales after a review of its UK business in response to 'challenging market conditions and a lingering reduction in demand for UK steel products', the company has announced.

All 79 Mothercare stores are set to close by the end of the week - putting 2,500 people out of work.

The mother and baby retailer is currently selling off its remaining stock with huge discounts of up to 80 per cent available.

Emails have been sent to customers encouraging them to buy the last of its products.

International Airlines Group's long-serving chief executive Willie Walsh has revealed plans to retire from the British Airways owner after a 15-year career with the group.

Mr Walsh - who orchestrated the creation of International Airlines Group through the merger of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia - will step down from the role and board of IAG on March 26 and retire on June 30. 

He will be succeeded by Iberia chief executive Luis Gallego.

Problems with food waste, menswear and gift lines hampered Marks & Spencer's results over the crucial Christmas period, the retailer has admitted. 

The High Street stalwart, which is battling to satisfy shoppers at its bricks-and-mortar stores and online shop, said that while its outlook for the year remains unchanged, its margins were now expected 'to be around lower end of guidance.'    

The FTSE 250 listed company's share price has fallen sharply in early morning trading and is currently down 10 per cent to 196p. 

A year ago, the retailer's share price was hovering at around the 276p mark.

John Lewis' first-ever female managing director has been sacked just three years into the job, as the department store battles with a sales slump.

Paula Nickolds joined the retailer's flagship Oxford Street store in 1994 working in the haberdashery and rose up the ranks through fashion and home. 

She was due to take up a newly-created 'executive director of brand' role across John Lewis and Waitrose this year, but the partnership claims they have decided it is 'time she moves on'. 

Her departure comes just three months after Waitrose's managing director was forced to step down following a restructure designed to cut costs and boost the brand amid a slow-down in sales. 

Russ Mould, an analyst at AJ Bell, said: 'It must fix stock availability problems, reduce the size of its store estate, improve distribution capabilities, sharpen the online proposition and make sure the food joint venture with Ocado is perfectly executed.'

Only one company out of 141 found to have underpaid the minimum wage in the last three years has repaid owed wages plus a fine.

That's the finding of a new study which condemns the UK's lax enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) laws. 

The Resolution Foundation estimates that 'at the very least' 11,000 businesses underpaid their workers and that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has, at most, a  minimum wage underpayment detection rate of 13 per cent.

Pet care business Pets at Home has announced a donation of £100,000 to the WWF to support its efforts tackling the Australian bushfires.

It says the bushfires are having a 'devastating impact' on Australian wildlife and that the money will help emergency animal care services and help to restore habitats that have been lost to the wildfires.

The bushfires that have raged across Australia for weeks has affected millions of animals, caused billions in economic damage and killed at least 26 people. Some species like the southern brown bandicoot have been pushed to the brink of extinction.

The Australian government's Bureau of Meteorology says three quarters of the country experienced their worst fire weather conditions ever last month and 2019 was the hottest year on the continent's record. 

WWF-UK's Michael Dent said: 'Our sincere thanks to Pets at Home Group for this generous donation and on behalf of our colleagues in Australia - where the bushfire crisis continues to cause devastation for families, homes, wildlife and habitats.'

'It will make a massive difference in helping to restore vital habitats for wildlife. It is great to see that animal lovers here in the UK are so keen to support the wildlife appeal in Australia.'

The 2010s were the weakest decade for house price growth since the 1990s, new research has revealed. 

House prices rose by 33 per cent during the 2010s, while the 1990s saw the average property grow in value by 21 per cent, according to data from Nationwide. 

In the 1980s, house prices rose 180 per cent while in the 2000s they rose 117 per cent, with the rate pushed down by the financial crisis slump at the end of that decade. 

What do you want to happen to house prices? Amid the reams of data produced and words written on the property market, this is a question that rarely gets pondered.

The past month has produced an even greater wave of house price reports for us to cover than usual, as we came not just to the end of a year but also a decade.

That makes it a time for both looking back and dusting off dodgy crystal balls to peer into the future.

Shops suffered their worst year in at least a quarter of a century as sales fell for the first time.

In a sign of the trouble affecting the High Street, total retail sales in stores and online fell by 0.1 per cent in 2019, figures from accountants KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show.

It was the first decrease since records began in 1995 and followed a 1.2 per cent rise in 2018.