- FTSE 100 down 18.7 points to 9,427.73
- Tesco lifts profit outlook
- Reports suggest supermarket may get rates exemption in Budget
4.46pm: Highs and lows
The FTSE ended down 0.2% at 9,427.73 after hitting a new intraday high in early trading of 9,475.07.
3.26pm: Gold hits two highs
The spot gold price hit another high today, of $3,896.7 per ounce and also reached another high of a different sort.
If adjusted for inflation, the gold price have now exceeded the levels reached more than four decades ago, marking "a symbolic milestone", says Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index.
"Many analysts are now suggesting that the rally could carry through to year-end with prices topping $4,000 per ounce.
"The trajectory of gold in the final quarter of 2025 will depend on a familiar but potent mix: the actions of central banks, the fortunes of the US dollar, and the direction of interest rates.
"Together, these forces have created the ideal setting for bullion to shine, even as equities themselves continue to scale fresh peaks."
2.49pm: Wall Street opens higher
US stocks have started on the front foot, with Dow Jones and Nasdaq climbing 0.2%, with S&P 500 rising 0.1%.
Leading the way is the domestically focused small and mid-cap Russell 2000, up 0.4%.
Tesla shares are down 1% despite reporting record deliveries for the past third.
Back in London, the FTSE is still the only European market that's flat.
1.05pm: More US jobs data
Hiring plans by US firms slumped to the lowest level since the financial crisis, the Challenger, Gray & Christmas survey shows.
So far this year, employers announced plans to create almost 205,000 jobs, down 58% from this point last year.
This mostly reflects lower seasonal hiring, the report said, indicating hesitancy to take on more staff against the current economic backdrop.
US companies also announced 946,426 job cuts, the highest nine-month figure since pandemic-hit 2020.
"We’re dealing with a stagnating labor market, cost increases, and a transformative new technology," said Andy Challenger, senior vice president.
"With rate cuts on the way, we may see some stabilizing in the job market in the fourth quarter, but other factors could keep employers planning layoffs or holding off hiring."
He said it was "very likely" that job cut plans are going to surpass a million for the first time since 2020.
12.44pm: Europe lagging in AI
Lots of stuff on AI and its use today.
Europe "will see less of a boost to growth" from the AI boom in the near term, reckons Matthew Swannell macro forecasting expert at Oxford Economics.
"Much of the investment has been concentrated in a few large US based organisations. But structural headwinds to investment in Europe, such as weaker network effects, lower rates of venture capital investment, and relatively high energy prices, will persist."
Swannell beleives the adoption of new innovations will still be vital in driving European productivity growth over the coming decades.
If business and individuals are willing to adopt AI - as the ONS data below and the recent OpenAI update indicates - he says "plenty of scope for it to benefit productivity, even if European AI investment lags the US".
12.02pm: London stocks lagging
The FTSE 100 is flitting either side of the flatline, having bagged a new intraday high at the start of trading.
London's blue-chip index just slightly above flat, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 is up 0.1%.
Both are lagging well behind their mainland European peers, with the German DAX up 327 points or 1.4% and the French CAC jumping 100 points or 1.25%.
The Euro Stoxx is also up over 1% at the time of writing at a record high.
These indices are building on smaller gains made earlier in the week, with the DAX within sight of its own all-time highs.
Spain's IBEX is up 0.3% at 18-year highs of 15,590 and closing in on its own record high above 16,000 from December 2007, jsut before the great financial crisis.
"Investors appear to be throwing caution to the winds as they look across the Atlantic to Wall Street," says market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation.
"While it’s fair to say that many European corporations trade at attractive multiples when compared to their US counterparts, it’s also the case that neither Europe nor the UK, foster talent and innovation as well as their American cousins."
11.35am: 3i benefits from upgrade action
3i Group PLC (LSE:III) shares are now top of the FTSE leaderboard after their upgrade to a 'buy' rating from UBS.
The Swiss bank feels it is time to buy, given improving growth trends at Action, the Dutch discount retailer that is the largest asset in the private equity group’s portfolio.
UBS said the market’s concerns over slowing growth at Action (over 70% of 3i's portfolio value) now appear to have passed.
Analysts also pointed to 3i’s exits of two investments from its 2020-21 vintage at more than 2.5x money-on-invested-capital as evidence of broader portfolio strength and a recovering private equity cycle.
10.26pm: AI usage among UK businesses grows, with jobs being cut as a result
The Office for National Statistics has released its latest 'real-time' economic activity and social change stats, which it calls its Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS).
Cash is a worry, with around one in six (17%) of businesses reporting they had no cash reserves in late September 2025.
"Although broadly stable with late June 2025, it is the largest proportion recorded since this question was introduced in late June 2020."
Meanwhile, more than a quarter (26%) of businesses reported that they currently have no debt obligations, down three percentage points from late June and down 23 percentage points since December 2023 to the lowest proportion since the question started being asked in 2021.
On climate, a quarter of businesses said they are concerned about the impact climate change may have on their business, a proportion that has steadily declined since early February 2023 when 41% of businesses said this.
Another topical one is that nearly a quarter (23%) of businesses reported that they are currently using some form of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, up three percentage points from June 2025 and up from 9% in September 2023.
Tellingly for the jobs market, 4% of businesses that currently AI technology in some way report that their overall workforce headcount had decreased as a result of using those technologies, and 7% of businesses planning to use AI by the end of the year also say they expect headcount to decrease as a result.
OpenAI recently published a deep dive into ChatGPT usage, showing that a user numbers each week are around 700 million, which translates to roughly 10% of the world population.
Most users apply it to boost productivity, with 73% using it for work, leaving 27% categorised as work-related messages.
9.35am: Supermarkets boost from Reeves report
Supermarket shares are being helped by a report this morning suggesting the government is considering exempting supermarkets from an increase in business rates.
The FT reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is "poised to bow to intense pressure from supermarkets" by removing retailers from the top band of business rates.
Food inflation is also likely to be a key influence, with implicationss for the Bank of England.
On Tesco, the UK#'s largest greocer delivered a strong first half and guidance upgrade which "caps a remarkable period of market share momentum, inflationary help, and weather-driven consumer spending uplift", says Jefferies analyst Frederick Wild.
Total sales of £33.05 billion and LFL sales of 4.3% were below the consensus forecasts of £35.9 billion and 4.6% respectively, though underlying profit (EBIT) of £1.67 billion beat the consensus forecast of £1.59 billion, he notes, with adjusted earnings per share of 15.4p above the average analyst forecast of 14.4p.
The new EBIT guidance range of £2.9-3.1 billion is up from £2.7-3.0 billion and straddles the consensus forecast of £3.0 billion.
9.11am: FTSE drops into the red
The FTSE has dropped into the red, down 12 points currently, with all but two of the top 10 largest names in the red.
As well as SSE, Experian and BAT, mentioned below, fallers include RELX, National Grid, Imperial Brands and BT.
8.53am: Financial services activity steadies after sharp fall
UK financial services activity steadied last month after the sharpest fall since the pandemic, according to the CBI financial services survey published overnight.
Business volumes declined with a weighted balance of -36%, down from -24% in June. Despite the deterioration in activity, sentiment was broadly flat, rising to +3 after a sharp fall of -52% in the previous quarter.
Firms expect conditions to improve next quarter, with volumes growth forecast at +37%. Profitability fell at a slower rate in Q3, at -13% compared with -24% in June, but is expected to rise sharply in Q4 (+26%). Headcount dropped by -24% but firms see the pace of reduction slowing to -7%.
Louise Hellem, CBI chief economist, said: “Financial services firms saw the sharpest fall in business volumes since the pandemic during Q3, alongside a fast decline in spreads. However, sentiment steadied in the quarter to September, and firms expect a strong rebound in volumes growth in Q4.”
The survey also showed firms plan to increase IT investment over the next 12 months, with uncertainty about demand cited as the biggest factor limiting investment. The share of firms highlighting this rose to 69%, the highest since 2012.
8.34am: SSE, Experian and BAT at the bottom
Down near the bottom of the FTSE is SSE PLC (LSE:SSE), as it put out a first-half trading update, revealing expected earnings per share of 33-37p, down from 49.8p a year ago.
It said this was "in line with usual seasonal averages" and its full-year expectations are unchanged, along with its 2026/27 adjusted EPS target of 175-200p.
"Strong renewables operational availability over the summer months was offset by unfavourable weather conditions - notably across April and May - with first half output expected to be around 2% lower than the same period last year."
Very bottom of the index is Experian PLC (LSE:EXPN), down 5%. It put an RNS out yesterday applying for 50,000 shares to be admitted for trading, reserved under a block listing for the employee share plan.
Other fallers include British American Tobacco PLC (LSE:BATS), down 2.2% as its shares go ex-dividend. Other ex-divs today include Weir Group, Smith & Nephew and the F&C Investment Trust.
8.15am: FTSE 100 hits another new high
The FTSE 100 has got off to a solid if unspectacular start, though it has notched a new intraday high.
It is up 18 points at 9,464.57, after bagging a new high of 9,475 in initial trades.
Miners, Tesco and other retailers, and financial stocks are all helping drive things higher.
3i Group is the top riser, up 3.2% after an upgrade from UBS, followed by ICG, Pershing Square and M&S.
7.56am: National Grid humming along as expected
An update that is short and to the point from National Grid PLC (LSE:NG.), with trading for the first half of its financial year was in line with expectations, with profits as usual expected to be weighted to the second half of the year.
In the UK, electricity transmission and distribution operating profits are expected to be broadly evenly split across the year.
In the US, both the New York and New England businesses are set to deliver a slightly higher contribution in the first half compared with the prior year.
7.44am: Tesco hikes guidance
Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) has raised its full-year profit forecast after reporting 5.1% sales growth and a fall in statutory profits for the first half of its financial year.
Like-for-like sales grew 4.3% across the group in the period, with the second quarter slightly slower than the first, but UK's largest supermarket chain increased its market share by 77 basis points year-on-year to 28.4%.
Chief executive Ken Murphy said: “Our market share gains in the UK are a particular highlight and reflect the decisive action we took at the start of the year to further invest in value, quality and service."
While "competitive intensity remains high", he said there had been a better-than-expected customer response to those 'decisive actions', with good weather helping offset the cost of investments.
As a result, full-year adjusted operating profit is expected to be between £2.9-3.1 billion, up from a previous range of £2.7-3.0 billion.
7.22am: OpenAI's reaches $500bn valuation
More on that OpenAI funding round, which was a secondary share sale, in other words, enabling staff to sell some of their shares if they wanted.
While the company had prepared for over $10 billion of shares to be sold, the final total was $6.6 billion.
However, a record $500 billion valuation was reached, according to a person familiar with the deal, first reported by Bloomberg, a massive jump from $300 billion earlier this year.
The source argued that lower participation in the share sale was being seen internally as a vote of confidence in the company’s long-term prospects, rather than a lack of demand from investors.
This transaction makes OpenAI the world’s most valuable privately held company, surpassing Elon Musk's SpaceX, which was most recerntly valued at $456 billion.
7.16am: FTSE 100 developing head for heights
The FTSE 100 is developing a taste for heights, with the index expected to extend gains into to new record territory on Thursday.
On the futures market, London's blue-chip benchmark has been called 33 points higher, after it surged by 96 points or just over 1% the previous day to close at 9,446.43.
Pharmaceutical stocks were a key driver on the day, leading to AstraZeneca taking back its crown as the largest company on the index, on the back of hopes for a deal with the US government on Donald Trump's 'most favoured nation' pricing rules.
Overnight, Wall Street main stocks indices overcame a stumbling start again to generally end slightly higher, with the Dow Jones inching up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Nasdaq 0.4% to reach their own new record highs.
Weak jobs data amid the government shutdown led to traders taking a more optimistic view on Federal Reserve interest rate moves ahead, with US 2-year Treasury yields falling sharply and the 10-year yield slipping to 4.10%.
"Risk appetite, though, showed no sign of being hit by the shutdown drama. On the contrary," says Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst | Swissquote Bank.
"Big Tech led again, with AI still the dominant narrative. Reports of new deals in the AI cloud space kept enthusiasm alive, while Google and Apple unveiled new smart home devices. The Magnificent Seven climbed 0.57%. Some argue that the “Mag 7” is outdated, given it excludes this year’s AI darlings like Oracle, but the principle holds: Big Tech continues to shoulder the rally despite lofty valuations, while prospects of lower rates only add fuel."
Meanwhile, in recent minutes, it has been confirmed that OpenAI has wrapped up a share sale at a $500 billion valuation, making it the largest privately owned company in the world, overtaking Elon Musk's SpaceX.