Royal Mail slides on downgrade | Business

A flurry of well-received updates failed to keep London’s main index in positive territory.

The FTSE 100 gave up 36.26 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7,577.29 as investors and traders waited for the publication of the minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s March meeting, which could shed light on the trajectory of US interest rates. The FTSE 250, seen as a better reflection of the British economy given its domestic bias, lost 141.55 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 21,215.20.

The worst-performing blue chip this morning was Royal Mail, which is on track to close at its lowest level since December 2020, after Barclays snipped its price target on the stock from 640p to 400p as analysts reckon 2023 is likely