UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday, during European trading hours, that the government is in continuous talks with international partners on further steps to reduce the economic impact of the ongoing Middle East war involving the US, Iran and Israel.<\/p>\n
He said the UK has spent the last 18 months working to build resilience in the economy. He added that a longer conflict raises the likelihood of an economic impact.<\/p>\n
Starmer said Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is speaking with the Bank of England every day to stay ahead of any effects on energy prices. He also said he does not expect the energy price cap to change, as it runs to June.<\/p>\n
He said there is a need to find a way to de-escalate the situation in Iran.<\/p>\n
We are now seeing the long-term consequences of the conflict that was escalating when those remarks were made in 2025. The concerns about energy prices proved valid, as Brent crude has averaged over $100 a barrel for the last six months due to persistent supply chain fears. Derivative traders should be positioned for continued high oil prices, using long-dated call options to capture upside from any further escalation.<\/p>\n
That dialogue between the Finance Minister and the Bank of England foreshadowed the difficult policy decisions we’ve seen since. UK inflation has remained stubbornly above 4%, forcing the BoE to hold interest rates at a 17-year high through late 2025 and into this year. We believe interest rate swaps pricing in a “higher for longer” scenario still offer value as cutting rates now seems unlikely.<\/p>\n
The sustained economic pressure has heavily impacted the Pound, which has depreciated nearly 7% against the US Dollar since that period in 2025. The UK\u2019s high energy import bill continues to strain the national budget, suggesting more weakness for Sterling is likely. We recommend using FX options to hedge against a further slide in the GBP\/USD pair, potentially towards the 1.19 mark.<\/p>\n
Volatility in the equity markets has become the new normal, a direct result of the geopolitical instability that the government was trying to de-escalate. The FTSE 100 has been range-bound for months, reflecting investor uncertainty about corporate earnings in a high-cost environment. Traders should use options strategies like collars to protect their UK equity portfolios from sudden downside shocks linked to news from the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Starmer says UK in constant talks to curb economic fallout from Middle East conflict; monitoring energy prices daily.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":17032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t