Markets tumble as impatience mounts over Trump's policies - as it happened
Shares fall in Europe and Asia after Wall Street suffered its worst day this year amid concerns that President Trump will not be able to deliver on policy pledges
3.24pm GMT
Before we close up for the day, we'll take a look at the markets.
On Wall Street, markets are mixed now trading is fully underway:
3.13pm GMT
Michel Barnier, the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit has set out the bloc's conditions and priorities for talks.
Among the priorities cited were the need for early agreements on citizens' rights, money and borders.
Guaranteeing their rights as European citizens, in the long term, will be our absolute priority from the very start of negotiations.
3.05pm GMT
The Dutch government has come out in support of Jeroen Dijsselbloem after the Dutch finance minister faced calls to resign as the leader of the Eurogroup.
The controversy centres on comments Dijsselbloem made to a German newspaper, which were taken as a criticism of Southern European countries. Specifically:
I can't spend all my money on booze and women and then ask you for your support.
The position has not changed. Premier Rutte has repeatedly said we are very supportive of Dijsselbloem in his role at the Eurogroup.
2.38pm GMT
Oil prices are at near four-month lows after the latest figures showed US crude inventories rose faster than expected, exacerbating fears of over supply.
Brent crude is down 1.6% at $50.15 a barrel, and fell as low $50.05 earlier, the lowest since 30 November when OPEC countries agreed to cut output to ease oversupply fears.
OPEC's market intervention has not yet resulted in significant visible inventory drawdowns, and the financial markets have lost patience.
2.19pm GMT
Thames Water has been handed a record 20.3m fine after huge leaks of untreated sewage.
The prosecution was brought by the Environment Agency, which said the enormous volume of sewage, at 1.4bn litres, was unprecedented. It relates to numerous offences in 2013 and 2014 at sewage treatment works at Aylesbury, Didcot, Henley and Little Marlow, and a large sewage pumping station at Littlemore.
Related: Thames Water hit with record 20m fine for huge sewage leaks
2.00pm GMT
The pound appears to have lost some of the boost it gained from the sharp rise in UK inflation revealed on Tuesday.
(The consumer prices index jumped more than expected to 2.3% in February from 1.8% in January, pushed higher by food and fuel prices.)
Related: Rising food and fuel prices hoist UK inflation rate to 2.3%
1.51pm GMT
Wall Street will be closely monitoring any developments in the debate on the Republican health care bill, which seeks to overturn Obamacare.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill on Thursday, and failure to pass it would be a huge blow to Trump.
Trump offers carrots/sticks to health care dissenters as bill falters. Where things stand ahead of a nail-biter vote https://t.co/UM45UCC5vN pic.twitter.com/ntbUYf7hEr
1.37pm GMT
And we're off...
US markets have opened lower, but the early falls are modest:
1.20pm GMT
Donald Trump is awake and would like to reassure markets:
Big day for healthcare. Working hard!
1.18pm GMT
Twitter has reacted with a combination of anger and humour to those Dijsselbloem comments that appear to be critical of the behaviour of Southern European countries.
Dijsselbloem's offensive remarks are unacceptable! Real shame for representative of our political family to defy unity, respect, solidarity!
Who said: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."
12.51pm GMT
The FTSE 100 is currently down 65 points or 0.9% at 7,314.
The FTSE 250 is down 1.1% at 18,788.
A partial reversal of the so called 'Trump Trade' has sent defensives and precious metal producers to the top of the FTSE 100 today, as investors worry that President Trump's conflict with Congress will prevent him delivering the pro-business agenda on which he campaigned. Only six FTSE 100 stocks had made it into positive territory at lunchtime, with Randgold topping the list, up 0.8%.
Despite recently warning that conditions remain challenging, hopes of an uptick in the global economy helped FTSE 250 shipping group Clarkson enjoy a strong run recently. However, with pro-Trump sentiment wavering it's perhaps unsurprising to see this bellwether of global trade lose some of the wind from its sails, sending the shares down 4.5%.
12.20pm GMT
Earlier the Bank of England published its latest agents' summary of business conditions.
The Bank has 12 regional agents who have discussions with about 700 firms across the UK to glean the latest snapshot of conditions.
Moderate rates of activity growth had continued overall. Retail sales volumes growth had eased. It was expected to slow further during the year ahead as the fall in sterling fed through to higher prices, reducing households' purchasing power. In contrast, export volume growth had picked up. That was due to the fall in sterling and stronger world growth.
Investment intentions had picked up, pointing to modest growth in spending in the year ahead. That reflected continued moderate demand growth and less uncertainty about economic prospects, particularly in the near term. But a lack of visibility of the United Kingdom's future trading arrangements was weighing on longer-term plans for some contacts.
12.10pm GMT
Over in Brussels, Jeroen Dijsselbloem - head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers - appears to be in a spot of bother.
In the euro crisis, the northern eurozone states demonstrated solidarity with the countries in crisis. As a Social Democrat, I believe solidarity is extremely important. But whoever demands it also has obligations.
I can't spend all my money on booze and women and then ask you for your support. This principle holds at personal, local, national and even European levels.
EU Commissioner @vestager on Dijsselbloem's comments on "women and alcohol": "I wouldn't have said it and I think it's wrong"
11.35am GMT
Now for some news from Coventry, where the grand opening of the first new car plant in Britain for more than a decade is taking place today.
Related: London Taxi Company opens 300m Coventry plant for electric cabs
11.12am GMT
Global equities could have quite a bit further to fall according to analysts at Saxo Bank, as Trump's pro-growth policies hit several hurdles along the way.
Peter Garnry, the bank's head of equity strategy, explains:
So much of the narrative has revolved around US president Donald Trump since his election on November 8 but the conviction in the reflation trade faded abruptly in the last US session with the S&P 500 declining more than 1% for the first time since October.
So what are we to make of all of this? Where do we go from here?
10.51am GMT
Gold is benefitting from the widespread equities sell-off and weaker dollar.
It seems that equity investors decided to take some money of the table, perhaps getting slightly wary about the progress in President Trump's legislative agenda.
Gold will likely continue to rally going into Wednesday's session as Tuesday's US stock market sell-off was significant and will likely have a knock-on effect on international equity markets over the next 24 hours.
10.26am GMT
Some people are feeling the pinch more than others of course.
Related: UK CEOs 'earn 386 times more than workers on national living wage'
10.08am GMT
Investors are not the only ones feeling pessimistic.
UK households are the most downbeat about prospects for their finances since November 2013 according to the Markit Household Finance Index.
UK households reported greater pressure on their financial wellbeing in March, as rising inflation has started to erode incomes and reduce cash available to spend. On average in the first quarter of 2017 survey respondents have reported the sharpest increase in their everyday living costs for three-and-a-half years.
A combination of rising inflation and subdued pay trends has forced households to recalibrate their expectations for the year ahead. After holding steady last summer, UK consumers are now more downbeat about their financial outlook than at any time since late-2013.
9.49am GMT
US futures suggest the sell-off on Wall Street is likely to continue when markets open later:
9.45am GMT
Is this the end of the Trump rally, asks David Morrison, senior market strategist at Spread Co?
European stock indices are weaker across the board this morning. Investors are responding to last night's sell-off on Wall Street which saw the majors close out on their lows. Not only that, but US stock index futures are weaker again this morning. Yesterday's sharp reversal took many investors by surprise, particularly as the US session opened with fresh all-time highs for Facebook and the Nasdaq index.
Unfortunately for traders, much of yesterday's move was down to political factors rather than market technicals. There are fears that the Trump administration won't have enough votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act when it goes to Congress tomorrow.
9.40am GMT
The final scores in Asia:
APAC Closing Prices:#ASX 5684.51 -1.56%#NIKKEI 19041.38 -2.13%#HSI 24320.41 -1.11%#HSHARES 10456.96 -1.76%#CSI300 3450.23 -0.46%
9.30am GMT
Back in the UK, estate agent Savills has published results. Shares are currently down 1.8%. Julia Kollewe reports:
9.22am GMT
US bond yields are at three-week lows as investors dump equities in favour of lower-risk assets.
The yield on benchmark 10-year US treasuries - an indicator of how much it costs the government to borrow from the financial markets - fell to 2.4%.
U.S. 10-yr yield falls to 3-week low below 2.4%. It was above 2.6% only 8 days ago.
Yield curve also flattest in 3 weeks.
9.01am GMT
Kingfisher, the company behind B&Q and Screwfix, is the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 this morning following the publication of annual results.
8.50am GMT
Investors are not happy at all this morning. Losses are widening across Europe on fears that Trump is not going to be able to deliver on his policy pledges.
Much of the optimism about his policies to boost US (and therefore global) growth has already been priced into markets since his election, with Wall Street and European markets hitting record highs. But as President Trump deals with the reality of governing, it seems determination alone is not enough to push through his flagship policies.
Based on the mess Republicans are making of their healthcare reforms it seems increasingly unlikely that the Wotsit-in-Chief will be able to deliver on his sweeping tax changes and $1 trillion infrastructure spending.
Combine that with the Wall Street Journal, a notably right-leaning publication, claiming that if Trump doesn't 'show more respect for the truth' then 'most Americans may conclude he's a fake president', and the optimism that caused investors to flock to the major indices has been seriously undermined by, well, Trump himself.
Related: Republicans unveil make-or-break bid to repeal and replace Obamacare
8.24am GMT
The pound is just about holding on to the gains it made against the dollar on Tuesday following the sharp rise in UK inflation to 2.3% in February from 1.8%.
8.08am GMT
European markets have opened lower, as fears ripple across the Atlantic over Trump's ability to push through growth-boosting policies:
8.01am GMT
Nouriel Roubini, the economist who is probably best known for predicting the global financial crisis, has also warned on Trump's policies.
Specifically, the professor at NYU's Stern School of Business, says markets have over-estimated how many beneficial policies the President can carry through, while underestimating the potential negatives.
[Markets] are overestimating the positives of the US-Trump policies. Infrastructure, stimulus, deregulation, tax cuts: I think Trump will achieve much less on those dimensions.
And they're underestimating the risk that the US protectionist policies are going to lead to trade wars, that the restrictions on immigration are going to slow down labor supply, and that micromanaging the corporate sector is going to be negative.
Nouriel Roubini warns: Markets are overestimating Trump policy positives https://t.co/Yd64Z4gpJZ
7.49am GMT
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
Shares in Asia are down sharply this morning following Wall Street's worst day this year. It appears that hopes are evaporating of swift action on the growth-boosting policies promised by President Trump.
After the S&P 500 posted its biggest one day fall since last October last year, the question being asked is whether the scales are starting to fall away from investor's eyes as to whether President Trump will be able to deliver anything close to what has been priced into markets since his election last November.
Even the mistiest eyed optimist appears to be coming to the realisation that even on health care, where there is some form of consensus, reforms are likely to take a lot longer than realised and as such any other programmes like tax and banking reform and infrastructure spending are likely to get pushed further out into the future.
Our European opening calls:$FTSE 7337 down 41
$DAX 11882 down 80
$CAC 4977 down 26$IBEX 10153 down 59$MIB 19798 down 121