Good morning. European markets are set to open the week in the red as tensions between the US and Iran intensified over the weekend following the assassination of General Qassim Soleimani.

Oil prices continued to climb with Brent crude futures surging above $70 a barrel. Gold also hit a seven-year high as investors ploughed into safe haven assets as the crisis escalated.

Tehran said it will not abide by any of its commitments to the 2015 nuclear agreement it signed, while Donald Trump threatened to attack 52 targets in Iran – including cultural sites – if the country retaliated.

Mr Trump added he would impose severe sanctions on neighbouring Iraq if it asked US troops to leave the country on an unfriendly basis.

5 things to start your day

1) Top central banks will sweep up bonds worth hundreds of billions of pounds to kick-start growth again in 2020 in their latest unprecedented intervention into financial markets. The balance sheets of the four main central banks in the eurozone, US, ­Japan and UK are collectively expected to swell to more than £12 trillion by the end of 2020 after policymakers resorted to rebooting their quantitative easing (QE) programmes.

2) Saudi Aramco shares closed more than 10pc below their post-float highs yesterday as the fallout from the assassination of Qassim Suleimani by the US sent Middle Eastern shares plunging