That's it from me for today. Head over to our US site for more market moving news.

Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at online trading platform IG, said:

Sterling ticked up against the dollar on Monday, starting the week at around the $1.26 mark, as EU leaders meet in Paris to discuss next moves for helping defend Ukraine.

David Morrison, senior market analyst at FCA regulated fintech and financial services provider Trade Nation, said:

Here's the data:

Taxpayers will have to foot a £130bn bill over the next five years to cover the Bank of England’s (BoE) losses stemming from its bond-buying programme, a burden that critics are describing as a “stealth subsidy to bankers.”

The Treasury will need to inject this significant sum to offset the BoE’s cumulative losses from rising interest rates and the unwinding of its quantitative easing (QE) programme.

The BoE’s indemnity agreement with the Treasury will cost taxpayers £130bn from 2025 to 2029 — an average of £26bn per year, according to the Bank of England’s latest Asset Purchase Facility Quarterly Report - 2024 Q4. The New Economics Foundation (NEF), has said this amount could fund over half a million new social homes.

Read more on Yahoo Finance

It's relatively quiet today, but coming up this week we're watching:

Tuesday brings the UK's jobs report, which will be a good indicator of whether chancellor Rachel Reeves has more cause for optimism.

Wednesday, more crucial data comes in the form of an inflation reading closely watched by the Bank of England.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting will be in focus for investors, alongside updates on activity in the manufacturing and services sector, and on consumer sentiment.

Corporate earnings season rolls on, headlined by quarterly reports from Alibaba (BABA) and Walmart (WMT).

Overall, 46 S&P 500 (^GSPC) companies are expected to release results during the holiday-shortened trading week.

Vicky McKeever writes:

Pharmaceuticals giant GSK (GSK.L) said on Saturday that its five-in-one meningococcal vaccine, Penmenvy, had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "While this approval is a solid win for GSK, it also signals broader optimism for the industry, despite some lingering nerves around pending approvals given the shakeup that’s expected under the Trump administration, including layoffs at the FDA.

"Recent developments at GSK have significantly reduced key risks," he said. "But with forecasts largely unchanged, the valuation pressures look overdone, and this could present an attractive entry point for an impressive business trading at a 42% discount to the sector."

Despite this news, shares dipped more than 1% on Monday morning, following reports that the world's most profitable hedge fund had built a short position in GSK.

The Times reported on Friday that Citadel had built a net short position equating to 0.51% of GSK's issued share capital. A spokesperson for Citadel had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK's request for comment at the time of writing.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said:

Consumer confidence has come off a one-year low, according to the latest S&P data, with interest rate cuts at the front of people's minds when it comes to future affordability.

Despite this, job insecurity is still a worry.

Views on the 12-month financial outlook for households likewise improved but were still the second lowest seen over the past 10 months – and also far below the post-election recordhigh seen back in July 2024, having suffered a further negative shift following the Budget last October.

There was a marked improvement evident among mortgage holders where future confidence was among the highest seen over the past three years, coinciding with greater prospects of lower interest rates, and concentrated on higher earners.

"Households remain worried about their finances, with savings falling and income from employment showing the second-weakest rise since June 2024," said Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

"Job market worries also remain widespread, with February seeing job insecurity prevail for a second month running, contrasting sharply with the record level of job security recorded in the middle of last year. "

Yahoo Finance UK's Pedro Goncalves writes:

Gold prices gained ground on Monday, buoyed by a weaker US dollar following disappointing retail sales data for January. Investors are also awaiting further details on president Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff plans, which could escalate the risk of a global trade war.

The spot price of gold rose 0.6% to $2,900.91 per ounce, while gold futures climbed 0.4% to $2,911.60.

The dollar index remained near a two-month low, reflecting the impact of the weaker-than-expected retail sales data for January.

A softer dollar typically makes gold more attractive to holders of other currencies. "Gold is being supported by the dollar's weakness and uncertainty over how Trump will engage with major trading partners in enforcing his tariff policy," said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at OANDA.

Trump renewed his tariff threats on Friday, announcing that levies on automobiles could be imposed as early as April 2. This came shortly after he instructed officials to explore reciprocal tariffs against countries that impose duties on US goods.

The World Gold Council (WGC) in its forecast for 2025 predicts moderate yet positive growth for gold prices.

"Upside could come from stronger-than-expected central bank demand, or from a rapid deterioration of financial conditions leading to flight-to-quality flows," it said in its Gold Outlook 2025 report.

Neil Wilson, analyst at TipRanks, writes:

• Tariffs: a drag on capex expectations and a boost to inflation expectations.

• Deregulation might not be a near-term tailwind, but broader optimism and capex expectations have improved sharply.

• AI: limited near-term macro risk in either direction.

The AI rally that has fuelled Chinese tech stocks in recent weeks slowed on Monday, as the reality of US tariffs and new tensions in Russia's war on Ukraine set in.

The Hang Seng (^HSI) closed 0.1% lower, but was boosted by a surge in Tencent (0700.HK) stock, which rose 4% after it said its Weixin messaging app has launched beta testing with AI disruptor Deepseek.

The Nikkei (^N225) in Japan ticked up 0.1% and the SSE Composite (000001.SS) gained 0.3%.

The three major US indices were slightly higher in premarket trade.

US markets will be closed on Monday for Presidents Day.

Our US team writes:

US stocks closed mixed on Friday with the Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) notching a record high close to cap a busy week of tariff hikes, inflation updates, and retail sales data, which fell short of estimates.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped slightly while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.4% to close out its best week of 2025. Both indexes gained for a third consecutive week. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell almost 0.3%, following Thursday's sharp gains.

Retail sales booked their biggest monthly drop in a year, down 0.9% in January — significantly below the 0.2% expected. The report on Friday wrapped up a week of key data, with inflation top of investors' minds after two hot readings tempered hopes for interest rate cuts.

Markets took a pause following this week's fast-moving stream of policy shifts from President Donald Trump. These ranged from 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium to Ukraine peace talks with Russia to a review of CHIPS Act terms for projects.

The average UK house price rose 0.5% in February to £367,994, as the number of available homes for sale hit a 10-year high, according to new data from housing platform Rightmove (RMV.L).

A supply glut has meant weaker price growth than the market normally sees in February.

Buyers are now looking to the stamp duty deadline, with a conveyancing log-jam expected to get purchases over the line before the 1 April change.

There are more than 550,000 homes sold yet awaiting legal completion, 25% more than at this time last year, Rightmove said. First-time buyer purchases between £500,001 and £625,000 are most affected, with an extra £11,250 at risk for this group if the deadline is missed.

The average time to complete a property transaction is still around five months, meaning that the typical mover has been working against the clock for some time to complete before the end of March and beat any stamp duty increase.

Read more on Yahoo Finance

Hello from London. It's another week. While tariff news seems to be quieter for now, geopolitical tensions are still high with prime minister Keir Starmer saying he is "willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary".

European leaders are meeting in Paris this afternoon to discuss defence and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

This morning we've also had the latest UK house price numbers from Rightmove (more on that to come).

Let's get to it.