Caroline Hepker

He called for closer work on defence financing among European countries and talked up nuclear cooperation plans with France.

The attempt to rebuild ties comes as Starmer talked of the need to replace US capabilities.

The Trump administration's top sanctions official, John Hurley, is set to leave his post after friction with the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant.

Sources have told Bloomberg that he plans to step down after months of tensions over the tactics and targets of U.S.

sanctions policy.

It's part of a wider Treasury shakeup that has raised questions among officials about the department's stability.

So those are our top stories for you this morning.

Yes, a little plug there for Team GB at the Olympics, you know, struggling to get some medals, but finally getting there at the weekend.

In terms of the European markets, let's think about those.

They're up by three tenths of 1% in terms of the overall stock 600.

I know NatWest Group actually seeing the biggest bounce high.

We spoke to the NatWest CFO on Friday.

after their results.

FTSE 100 is also up by a tenth of 1% right now.

It is slower around the world, of course, because Asian markets and most of them are closed for the Lunar New Year holidays and the U.S.

shut for President's Day.

Stock futures for the U.S.

are pointing higher for trading on Tuesday.

In terms of the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, slightly firmer.

The euro at 118.66 is slightly down.