Markets, banks, property and the pay gap

It’s the morning after an 18-month campaign – and the markets have started to digest Donald Trump’s surprise election as US President.

In early trading, the FTSE 100 index jumped by 49 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 6960. The Dow Jones industrial average is on track to hit a new record high when the US stock market opens later today. Last night the Dow closed near to its highest levels. And, after touching almost $1,340 an ounce yesterday before falling back, gold is up slightly this morning at $1,291.

Meanwhile, Dame DeAnne Julius, a former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, told the BBC Today programme: ‘The difficulty with Trump’s rather dangerous ideas about trade is that it would involve unwinding all the supply chains that American companies have with their trading partners, not just in Mexico and Canada – their biggest trading partners – but also in China for companies like Apple.