- FTSE 100 climbs 31 points to 9,255
- Defence stocks climb after Trump comments on Ukraine war
- On The Beach tumbles, airlines dragged lower
- Mining giants lifted by copper price spike
4.12pm: FTSE heading for solid day
After spending the first half ot the day in the red, the FTSE 100 has enjoyed a late rally thanks to the mining sector, currently up 0.3%.
Chile-focused copper giant Antofagasta PLC (LSE:ANTO) is up 9.2%, Anglo American PLC (LSE:AAL) and Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN), which also have substantial copper interests, climbed 4.1% and 3.1% after copper prices spiked on a warning from US rival Freeport-McMoRan of lower supply.
Defence groups Babcock International PLC (LSE:BAB) and BAE Systems PLC (LSE:BA.) also drove gains after punchy comments from Donald Trump about the war in Ukraine.
Housebuilders, oil producers and utilities were also among the bigger risers.
3.31pm: Bosses rail against workers' rights and cutting government debt
More and more CEOs are coming out and putting pressure on the government ahead of the Budget.
Today's bosses were BT's Allison Kirkby and AO World's John Roberts.
Kirkby said the tax and compliance burden was 10 times higher in Britain than in Europe.
She warned that uncertainty about further increases would deter investment in the UK, with easy links being drawn to recent pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca pulling out of investments in British facilities.
Ahead of November's budget, where the Chancellor needs to fill a £10-30 billion black hole in public finances, Kirkby said: "We pay in business rates, energy levies, and other costs associated with regulation and compliance 10 times the amount our peers pay in countries like Germany and the Netherlands."
The UK was "already at peak government-inflicted costs", she told an audience at the Connected Britain conference on Wednesday.
Earlier, AO World CEO and founder Roberts told BBC Radio 4 that the UK’s employment rights bill, which is designed to do away with zero-hours contracts, ban fire-and-rehire and improve whistleblowing and sexual harassment protections, will make it harder for businesses to recruit staff.
"Fundamentally, at the end of the day, we have inflation coming through, and we are now feeling that in the costs across businesses, business leaders that I speak to right across the piece are looking at how they can take people out."
He said: "It is much more difficult to recruit people. It’s much less flexible than it has ever been to recruit people."
3.17pm: US corporate debt worries
The failure of US auto lender Tricolor Holdings earlier this month and bankruptcy proceedings at car parts supplier First Brands Group have "raised the alarm" about lending standards, according to the FT.
Tricolor had triple-A ratings for its bonds as, while First Brands had issued close to $10 billion of debt and other off-balance sheet financing and was close to raising more last month, the newspaper notes.
While one-offs might have been written off, two incidents around companies using asset-backed debt have worried many in credit markets, with some investors telling the FT they had combed through their portfolios to look for companies that might be in similar trouble.
2.55pm: Wall Street wobble
US stocks started higher, quickly dropped into the red and are now roughly flat.
The Dow Jones is up 33 points or less 0.1% higher at 46,326, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both just below flat.
1.52pm: Miners lift London index as copper price spikes
The FTSE has climbed into the green.
Miners are the key here, with Antofagasta (up 6.4%), Anglo American (up 5%) and Glencore (3.1%) now overtaking the defence sector as the main driver.
The reason is that copper prices have shot up. They were down slightly earlier, but are now up 1.3% at $4.6402 per lb.
Looking around this could be to do with Freeport-McMoRan expecting lower consolidated sales for copper in the third quarter.
The US company, one of the world's largest copper producers, accounting for approximately 8.5% of global mined copper, said it was expecting consolidated sales to be lower by about 4% for copper and nearly 6% for gold in the third quarter.
1.24pm: Throwback Wednesday
"Irrational exuberance" is a phrase from former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan that market analyst Kenny Polcari has revived today.
Greenspan, who used it in a speech in December 1996, was questioning whether the stock market had entered a state of excessive valuation, or "irrational exuberance".
At the time, notes Polcari, the S&P had rallied 74% off the March 1993 lows of 439 to a high of 738 and Greenspan rathern than calling the market overvalued, "demanded that investors consider what pushing stocks beyond fundamentals meant and questioned whether it risked a painful and protracted contraction".
US stocks sold off about 6% over the next week, but eventually shrugged it off.
Jerome Powell's comments that the FOMC does "look at overall financial conditions, and we ask ourselves whether our policies are affecting financial conditions in a way that is what we’re trying to achieve, but you’re right, by many measures, for example, equity prices are fairly highly valued".
Polcari questioned if the market is at a "level of irrationality yet", something that the main Wall Street indices did yesterday.
Tech and consumer stocks sold off, with the money flowing into energy, utilities, real estate and consumer staples.
"We have five more trading days until the end of the month and the end of the quarter. By all accounts, it has been good for both – So far, we are up 9% for the qtr. and 3.7% for the month. I for one am surprised that we saw the strength this month that we saw, but there is always October," says Polcari.
12.51pm: Wall Street set for small rally
The FTSE has slipped as the US session nears, with Wall Street futures pointing slightly higher.
Dow Jones futures are just above flat, those for the S&P 500 are up 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures are indicating a 0.2% rise.
The Mag 7 group are all slightly higher in pre-market trading, after yesterday's slip-up.
In London, Burberry and JD Sports are the biggest fallers, down 3.3% and 2.2%.
Yesterday, London Fashion Week came to a close with Burberry's show, which offered a first look at creative director Daniel Lee's spring/summer 2026 collection.
Analysts at Jefferies also said the fashion group's margin rebuild thesis will face a stern test in the months ahead, with H2 profit delivery demanding "a clear acceleration in momentum".
12.02pm: IPF gets higher potential offer
International Personal Finance (LSE:IPF) has jumped almost 8% after receiving a higher cash offer proposal from US-based BasePoint Capital, of 235p per share, up from the 220 pence outlined in July.
Shareholders would also remain entitled to the 3.8p interim dividend declared in July and payable on 26 September.
The board said the revised terms are at a value it would be minded to recommend unanimously, should a firm offer be made.
BasePoint has completed due diligence, though the proposal remains subject to customary pre-conditions, including board approval.
The UK takeover panel has extended the 'put up or shut up' deadline to 5pm on 22 October 2025. There is no certainty a formal offer will be made.
11.39am: Footsie pares losses but remains in red
The FTSE 100 has pared much of its losses, helped by gains for defence contractor Babcock, which is top of the blue-chip leaderboard in London.
National Grid, Land Sec, Metlen Energy, SSE, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce are next.
Three of the four largest stocks on the index, HSBC, AstraZeneca and Unilver are in the red, along with the rest of the big banking and pharma names.
11.17am: Government urged to include investment trusts in Pensions Schemes Bill
The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) says it is "very frustrating" that the government has not taken the opportunity to amend the Pension Schemes Bill in the House of Commons to include investment companies.
The Bill will give the government powers to compel pension schemes to invest a percentage of their portfolios in private assets.
Under the current draft of the bill, pension schemes would not be able to meet this requirement by investing in listed investment companies that hold private assets.
While it does not advocate pension funds being compelled to invest in private assets, if the government is seeking such powers, the AIC's argument is that investment trusts should be one of the options available.
"For pension savers to achieve the best outcome, we need a competitive market which includes the widest choice of investments, and this includes investment companies," said Richard Stone, AIC chief executive.
"Choice ensures pension schemes can invest in the most appropriate private assets for their savers by weighing up performance, costs, liquidity and risks.
"Excluding investment companies would be bad for competition, resulting in higher costs and a lower quality offering for pension savers."
The AIC is urging the government to amend the bill as it passes through the House of Lords.
"Investment companies are a tried and tested way for all investors, including pension schemes, to access private assets. Investment companies have invested over £110 billion in private assets such as infrastructure, renewables, property, venture capital and private companies – all providing vital capital and helping support UK growth," says Stone.
The AIC wrote to Treasury minister Torsten Bell in July to urge this amendment.
10.32am: JD gives little away
The interims from JD Sports Fashion PLC (LSE:JD) were laced up pretty tight this morning, with not much new seemingly given away, and the shares are down 1.1%.
With revenue and gross margins already reported, adjusted PBT of £351 million was the "new news", says Alison Lygo at Deutsche Bank.
This represents 40% of the current full-year consensus forecast, in line with August guidance, with the company not yet having provided a guidance range this year.
Rather than cut its outlook, the company has simply confirmed that it is happy with market expectations, which Lygo notes have continued to shift down, now £878m, down 6% since before Donald Trump's 'liberation day'.
"As is usual from JD Sports, there is no explicit comment on current trading. On US tariffs, JD expect little impact from tariffs this year, with direct impact immaterial and majority of inventory brought into the US by brands ahead of tariffs ramping."
On first take, she says the statement "contains little in the way of surprises".
Others felt the results were "not pleasant reading".
10.08am: German sentiment dips
Earlier, the Germany IFO business confidence survey dropped unexpectedly, with the economic outlook remaining weak.
The IFO Institute's business climate index declined to 87.7 in September from a revised 88.9 the month before, below the Reuters consensu of 89.3.
Looking forward, the IFO expectations sub-index dropped to 89.7 from 91.4.
Clemens Fuest, president of the institute, said: "Companies were less satisfied with current business, while their expectations clouded noticeably. Prospects for an economic recovery have suffered a setback."
10am: Baltic and Fiske fall
Some more movers.
On the FTSE 250, Baltic Classifieds Group PLC (LSE:BCG) is the biggest faller, down to a year's low after it said early signs of recovery in the Estonian car market have "stalled".
Fiske plc (AIM:FKE), the asset manager, dropped 22% after announcing it had agreed to a voluntary requirement with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that introduces restrictions on some of its activities.
While the VREQ does not affect existing clients or prevent the company from accepting new funds and assets from them, the restrictions impact the onboarding of any new clients that are not already connected to existing ones, as well as certain limitations on transfers of company assets.
There's a big drop for genedrive PLC (AIM:GDR) too, as the pharmacogenetic testing firm completed a deeply discounted (64%) equity raise to bring in £3.2 million to support the firm's "near-term commercialisation" and a planned expansion.
The cash will enable investments to improve manufacturing scale-up and efficiencies, as well as an FDA submission in early 2026, along with other items on the team's to-do list.
On the way up was AIM-listed Blue Star Capital, as it flagged that Vortex, a decentralised exchange incubated by its 50%-owned SatoshiPay, launched an upgraded website, widget and API platform.
SatoshiPay is seeking complementary commercial partnerships to the Vortex project and is in talks with several payment service providers, wallet developers, and on/off-ramp aggregators.
9.26am: Good win for Goodwin
Shares in Goodwin PLC (LSE:GDWN) jumped 14% after the engineer reported a big increase in its workload and signed an agreement with US defence giant Northrop Grumman for four programmes.
The mechanical and refractory engineering group signed a memorandum of understanding with the US group with an initial order valued at $16 million, with expected orders likely to exceed $200 million as US submarine programmes release funding.
At the end of August, the group had a workload of £357 million, up 24% since April, supported by strong trading across both its refractory and mechanical engineering divisions.
9.09am: Amazon concedes grocery defeat, mostly
I remember when Amazon's insurgency into the UK grocery market around five years ago was held as a great threat to the supermarket sector.
But last night the US ecommerce giant said it would shutter almost all its food stores in the UK to focus on online delivery instead, though it will convert some shops to its Whole Foods brand.
The US said five of its 19 Amazon Fresh stores, all dotted around greater London, would be switched to its Whole Foods fascia.
8.55am: Defence bucks the morning downturn around Europe
London's blue-chip index has fallen below the 9,200 level for the first time in a week.
The Footsie's 0.3% decline is almost exactly mirrored in Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid.
Defence stocks are leading the gains around Europe, with Babcock and BAE Systems bucking the downturn along with Rheinmetall in Germany, Leonardo and Saab.
Market analyst Neil Wilson at Saxo says: "I would be surprised if Russia heeds the warning – expect a big pullback in equity markets – ex-defence, which would surge – if a Russian jet is downed, but this should be treated as an opportunity.
"Utilities and defensive names are also firmer in London, while financials and anything cyclical lead the decliners this morning. I'm not convinced banks would do all that badly from war though."
8.33am: On The Beach falls
On the Beach shares have lost their footing in the sand, tumbling 15%.
Shore Capital analyst Katie Cousins says while it was another record year for TTV and adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be around 34%, ahead of her 33% forecast
"However, pricing for summer 26 bookings is impacting initial demand and reflective of a later consumer booking trend. This is said to have impacted OTB over the last 4/6 weeks of FY25F."
The decision to dispose of the B2B operations to focus on the core B2C operations.
"As a result, management is now guiding to adjusted PBT of £34.5-35.5 million, which is below our forecast of £39.5 million and consensus of £38.4 million (including B2B)."
8.15am: FTSE 100 opens lower
The FTSE 100 has slipped lower in Wednesday's early trades, down 26 points to 9,197, despite gains for defence companies BAE Systems and Babcock.
Bigger fallers are Burberry, Barclays, Entain and IMI.
On the up along with the defence battalion are utilities, precious metals miners and grocers.
8am: On the Beach announces new buyback
On the Beach Group (LSE:OTB) has posted a year-end trading update, with a share buyback of up to £25 million announced as it ended the year debt-free.
It said the year to 30 September was a third consecutive year of record growth, with total transaction value rising 11% to £1.23 billion and summer 2025 and winter 2025 bookings 12% ahead of the prior year, which it says significantly outperformed the package holiday market.
Adjusted profit before tax is expected to be between £34.5 million and £35.5 million.
This excludes the B2B segment, which the board has decided to wind down, so will be presented as discontinued operations.
7.49am: Trump to impact European defence and oil stocks
US stocks slipped overnight due to falls for tech stocks and the consumer discretionary sector, triggered by very measured comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, including that there is no "risk free policy path ahead".
"As we move into the middle of the week, the market is digesting two things," says Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, the sell-off in US AI stocks, and Donald Trump’s controversial speech at the UN.
She says "not unusual" for a central bank head like Powell to spell out the downside risks.
Amazon and Oracle were two of the weakest performers on the S&P 500 yesterday, while Nvidia was lower by more than 2% as the debate raged on about its $100bn investment in Open AI, where the money will be used to buy Nvidia chips to build Open AI’s data centres.
"This is leading to fears about a ‘circular’ financing model, and Nvidia funding the cost of its own chips," says Brooks.
"Investors will need to decide if this is a cynical ploy, or another way to generate revenue. We think that the market will eventually focus on the latter, and this will be a temporary blip for Nvidia."
On Trump, she says his UN speech is expected to have an impact on financial markets in Europe today, after he lambasted Europe for immigration and climate change policies, but he also said that with the support of the European Union, Ukraine could ‘win’ the war with Russia, and reclaim all of its territory taken by Russia since 2022.
"This could boost European defense stocks on Wednesday, and defense names have also risen during the Asian session."
Brooks says we could also see European bonds rally at the open, especially German debt, as it may ease the need for rapid defense spending on the continent.
While UK, German and French futures are pointing to a lower open, Brooks says the FTSE 100 "could receive a boost from the oil sector after Trump ramped up further pressure on sanctions on Russian oil, which is exacerbating concerns about oil supply.
"Added to this, President Trump called on Europe to abandon its green energy plans, and for the UK to restart drilling in the North Sea, which may also boost domestic oil names like BP and Shell on Wednesday."
7.29am: JD results in line
Interims from JD Sports Fashion PLC (LSE:JD., OTC:JDSPY) look like everything is pretty much as it was in the trading update last month.
Sales were up 2.7% on an organic basis, with LFLs down 2.5%.
Adjusted PBT fell 14% to £351 million, in line with analyst forecasts.
Guidance for the full year is unchanged.
7.16am: FTSE 100 to start in red, defence might get boost
The FTSE 100 is expected to start lower on Wednesday, though could be supported by defence sector moves after President Trump last night supported a Ukrainian fightback against Russia.
Futures for the London benchmark pointed to a 14-point decline, extending the small loss of over three points yesterday to close at 9,223.32. German and French stocks gauges were also in the red ahead of the start of the session.
Wall Street finished lower overnight too, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which retreated 0.95%, followed by the S&P 500's decline of 0.55% and 0.2% for the Dow Jones.
Asian markets are mixed this morning, with Japan, Hong Kong and Shanghai benchmarks up 0.2%, 1.3% and 0.9%, while those of India, Singapore and Korea are in the red.
Oil prices are up slightly and gold is taking a breather, after Donald Trump said last night that he believes Ukraine can regain all the land it has lost to Russia since the 2022 invasion with "time, patience and the financial support of Europe and in particular Nato".