- FSTE 100 climbs 59 points to 9,756
- Next and GSK beat expectations and raise outlook
- Glencore backs guidance as copper output rebounds
4.52pm: Another record
The FTSE 100 closed at another record high. The index added 59 points at 9,756, lifted by mining stocks, pharma and retail.
“A revival in commodity prices has helped the FTSE 100 a new record high, helped by strong results from GSK and Next,” IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
“Overall, index continues to benefit from concerns about a bubble in US assets, with the FTSE 100’s lower valuation providing a destination for funds without the concerns that too much good news is being factored in.”
4.12pm: London index on course for another record
It's going to be a solid enough day for the Footsie, with a gain of around 0.6% as we near the closing bell.
An eight successive gain puts the index on course for another record closing high, with another intraday peak scratched up at 9,787.63, to boot.
Top three on the medal roster are Next, GSK and Glencore, the three big results reports from this morning, with shares up 8.2%, 6.3% and 6.2% respectively.
They are followed by miners Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto.
Market analyst Fiona Cincotta at City Index says the FTSE has "risen for an eighth straight session, hitting a record, boosted by an upbeat market mood, gains in miners, and robust corporate releases".
"The market mood remains positive amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later today and on optimism surrounding President Trump and President Xi Jinping’s expected meeting at the APEC summit this week to discuss potential trade progress."
Miners have risen on optimism about easing US-China trade tensions and tightening global supply, especially in copper.
"A weaker pound is also supporting the UK index, providing a more favourable exchange rate for the multinationals that make up 80% of the index. GBP/USD trades at its lowest level since August."
On a technical analysis basis, she says the FTSE 100 is trading "within a rising channel", with the index "testing the upper band of the rising channel".
She says the RSI (relative strength index) is "overbought, so a period of consolidation or a pullback could be on the cards before further gains towards 9800 as the next logical target.
"Immediate support is at 9575, the October 8 high. It would take a move below 9350 to create a lower low.”
3.38pm: BoE forecasts
The Bank of England will cut interest rates at next week's meeting, Goldman Sachs has predicted.
Economists at the US bank changed their tune, swimming against the wider City tide which sees the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street keeping rates on hold, with only 7.3 basis points of cuts priced in on swap rate markets.
Goldman previously ruled out a November cut after the September monetary policy committee meeting but based on data since then, has U-turned again.
This is based on services inflation below the MPC’s forecasts, cooling private sector pay growth and softer GDP data.
Matt Swannell, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, disagrees, saying macro numbers over the last few weeks are "unlikely to move the needle".
The MPC is divided, though, and he reckons two members are likely to favour a cut, but hold will be the majority of a 7-2 split.
"Both dovish and hawkish voices on the MPC will have plenty to back their views at this meeting," he says.
"With disagreement on the committee, limited confidence in the near-term forecasts and uncertainty over the contents of the upcoming Budget, it appears likely that the MPC won’t commit to either a December cut nor hold, instead waiting to see how the economy develops."
UBS economist Anna Titareva also sees the MPC keeping rates unchanged, with "two or three dissenters" likely.
This will break the pattern of quarterly rate cuts, she notes, with the BoE to staying on hold for the second consecutive meeting.
She expects the next cut in February, but thinks recent data has increased the chances of a cut in December, though markets currently only price a cumulative 16.5bps of cuts by the end of this year.
What could prompt the BoE to cut in December?
"In our view, ahead of the December meeting, the MPC will be looking for additional evidence of disinflation, a moderation in wage growth, and assurance that the Autumn Budget has a minimal effect on inflation.
"Nonetheless, even under these conditions, the MPC may opt to hold off on cutting rates until February, when updated projections will be available, and in order to avoid raising expectations of back-to-back rate cuts."
In this context, she says she will be "closely watching" Governor Bailey's comments during the press conference next week.
3.22pm: Bank of Canada cut
The US dollar is down 0.4% against the Canadian dollar after the Bank of Canada pre-empted its neighbour and trimmed rates by a quarter point to 2.25%, as widely expected.
US policymakers are pretty much nailed on to make a similar move in a few hours.
The key development was that the BoC policymakers signalled that they now believe the policy rate is "at about the right level to keep inflation close to 2% while helping the economy through this period of structural adjustment".
That as good as rules out another cut at next month's meeting, says Stephen Brown at Capital Economics, though he still thinks the Ottowa central bank will be forced to cut interest rates by another 50bp at some point next year.
The USD/CAD is down 0.37% to 1.398, the lowest this month. GBP/CAD is down 0.7% to 1.838, the lowest since early August.
2.59pm: Adidas down after upgrade, Mercedes jumps after profit slump
Germany's DAX index is down 0.4% this afternoon, though headlines about dire chip shortages from the carmaking industry are not the cause.
A 8% tumble from Adidas is weighing the index down, after today's Q3 results that follow last week's pre-release that included a better-than-expected upgrade to earnings guidance.
However, there are "lingering concerns on top-line momentum", says analyst James Grzinic at Jefferies.
Elsewhere, Mercedes-Benz is up 5% after reporting results (profits slumped but margins were better than expected, excluding a €422 million charge on UK motor finance) and BMW is 1% higher, despite a warning from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) that car manufacturers in the bloc are "days away" from pausing production because of a shortages of chips.
This follows China's ban on exports from Nexperia following the factory’s takeover by the Dutch government two weeks ago.
The EU is reported to have arranged urgent talks with China officials in Brussels for later this week.
ACEA chief Sigrid de Vries said: "Assembly line stoppages might only be days away. We urge all involved to redouble their efforts to find a diplomatic way out of this critical situation."
The industry is "currently working through reserve stocks but supplies are rapidly dwindling", with some companies "already expecting imminent assembly line stoppages".
1.55pm: Nvidia reaches $5trn valuation as Wall St opens higher
Wall Street's main stock indices have started higher, while gains for London's benchmark are being nibbled away by some selling activitiy.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq is leading the way, as has often been the case, up 0.6% in initial trades to further intraday highs.
A 4.2% gain for Nvidia took its valuation over $5 trillion, following a five-day rise of over 16% on the back of a succession of deals and hopes over a restart of Chinese exports.
The Dow Jones rose 0.55% and the S&P 500 0.3%, also to new intraday records.
Going the other way again, the small- and mid-cap Russell 2000 dropped 0.5%.
Caterpillar is the top riser on the Dow, as the bulldozer maker beats estimates thanks to higher sales from its energy segment.
12.38pm: UBS earnings
UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS) shares rose 3% after the Swiss bank reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results.
The Swiss bank posted a net profit of $2.5 billion for the three months to September, up 74% on the same period last year and well ahead of analyst forecasts of $1.1 billion. Revenue rose 3% to $12.8 billion.
Results were helped by $668 million previously set aside for potential legal and regulatory issues that UBS no longer expects to pay.
The investment banking arm performed particularly well, with revenue up 23% year on year to $3.2 billion. Wealth management income rose 5.5% to $6.5 billion as clients remained active despite market volatility.
12.05pm: FTSE rides hot streak higher
The FTSE 100 is continuing its hot streak, up 0.8% today, led by Next's upbeat report and commodity-price gains from miners.
Next's shares are up 7.6%, with precious metals and base metals miners following not far behind as gold, silver, copper and iron ore prices climb.
Optimism around US-China trade talks is helping pull demand for industrial metals higher, with zinc and aluminium also both pushing past 12-month highs.
Copper has now climbed 18% over the past six months, says mining analyst John Meyer at SP Angel, "pushing past record highs on tight supply and improving demand dynamics".
He adds: "China-US trade talks are encouraging metal demand sentiment, whilst a general risk on sentiment is boosting appetite.
"The dollar remains weak, with the index down 5% over the past year as the market adjusts to Trump 2.0."
Anglo warned on copper guidance yesterday, as noted earlier, which Meyer says "adds to further concerns over copper supply going forward, following the suspension of Grasberg operations and downgrades from Kamoa Kakula and El Teniente".
11.40am: Proceed with caution
US-based market analyst Kenny Polcari at Slatestone Wealth, has some words of caution after yet more record highs were seen in Wall Street overnight, with futures pointing to more gains today.
The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all climbed, thanks to the Mag 7 index added another 430 points, with the losers including the Russell 2000, transports stocks and the Equal Weight S&P, which lost 70 points.
"That is key," says Polcari. "Consider what the market is telling us when the S&P ends the day up 0.25%, yet the Equal Weight S&P loses 1%.
"Just to be clear – when we see such a divergence in the S&P versus the Equal Weight S&P it suggests extreme concentration in market gains – driven almost entirely by a handful of mega-cap stocks, while the vast majority of the index loses value.
"The bottom line is this: gains were not broad based – they were concentrated in ‘a few AI/Tech titans’ while the rest of the market was weak and that just might be a bit of a warning flag to proceed with caution."
11.19am: Reeves 'determined to defy gloomy forecasts'
Rachel Reeves has written a newspaper column to try and set out her broader thoughts as we have to wait until the end of next month for her Budget.
The "foundations of Britain's economy remain strong", she says in the Guardian, but indicates there will be some more tough choices that have to be made.
Reports have suggested the Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to downgrade its productivity growth forecast by about 0.3 percentage points, creating a 'black hole' of around £20 billion, with some reports warning it could be as big as £30 billion or more.
But Reeves says the OBR's conclusions will be delivered at the budget and she is "not going to pre-empt them".
The task facing the country and the Treasury is not to "let past mistakes determine our future" and she is "determined that we don’t simply accept the forecasts but we defy them, as we already have this year", meaning "taking the necessary choices" at the budget.
She writes that low productivity was a product of "deep scars" on the economy left by austerity policies under previous Conservative governments, as well as Brexit and the pandemic.
"If productivity is our challenge, then investment is our solution," she adds, with investment in the NHS to cut hospital waiting lists, in national infrastructure, jobs and the economy, "so we can kickstart growth".
Gilt yields have fallen in the run-up to the Budget, it should be noted, to the lowest point this year, with the 10yr UK government bond down to 4.397% this morning.
10.13am: BoE data
The Bank of England’s lending data for September shows not many signs of pre-Budget worries, as mortgage approvals and consumer credit increased.
Mortgage approvals rose to 65,944, ahead of expectations of 64,000 and slightly above a revised-up 64,680 from August.
Mortgage lending increased to £5.49 billion, also topping forecasts of £4.05 billion.
Net consumer credit eased to £1.49 billion from £1.69 billion, as expected.
Consumers and businesses "appear confident", says Elliott Jordan-Doak at Pantheon Macroeconomics, noting that households' total liquid assets increased by £6.6 billion, up from £5.1 billion.
He says the data revealed "few signs of pre-Budget worries creeping into activity", with the slip in monthly consumer credit flows matching the six-month average to August and above the average in 2024.
"So we see the slight drop as part of the usual noise in the data, rather than as a sign of rising consumer caution."
9.52am: FTSE in the lead
The FTSE 100's gains are not being seen across Europe, with the DAC and CAC benchmarks just below flat in Frankfurt and Paris, though there are gains in Madrid and Milan led by the banking sector.
AJ Bell market commentator Russ Mould says the Footsie is building on its own all-time highs as miners do a lot of the heavy lifting and positive corporate updates also contribute.
"A key test of investors’ optimism looks set to come later with the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and earnings reports from Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft," he says.
Victoria Scholar at Interactive Investor says investors are "in wait-and-see mode ahead of tonight’s rate decision from the Fed", where a 25 basis points rate cut is priced into markets, with another in December and the possibility of a third in January also expected.
8.40am: Next impresses analysts
Next has delivered "another sales beat and guidance raise", says analyst Adam Cochrane at Deutsche Bank.
He says the retailer's previous cautious view on the UK outlook at its interim results "was understandable but has not materialised (yet) and spending on marketing within the international business has delivered better returns than expected"..
Full-year guidance given in September has been upgraded, including PBT guidance now seen coming in at between £1.105 billion and £1,135 billion.
John Strevenson at Peel Hunt says guidance was conservative, but the scale of the beat is "notable".
While the first-half performance had one-off benefits from the weather and disruption at rival M&S, "there is strong underlying momentum", he says.
He says the strong performance in-store "suggests consumers remain resilient".
8.15am: FTSE dashes off to new record high
The FTSE 100 has started at a healthy trot, rising 37 points to a new high of 9,734.
Leading the pack is Next, up 7% after hiking its profit guidance and promising a healthy special dividend payment, with GSK up 3.85% after its own earnings beat.
Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) is next, up 5.7%, after maintaining its full-year 2025 production guidance, tightening ranges after a strong third quarter.
It is leading a group of miners, with Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta all boosted by the new highs in copper prices.
Precious metals miners Fresnillo and Endeavour are there too, up 3.5% and 2% as gold rises 1.4% back above $4,000 an ounce and silver climbs 2.25%.
8am: Next upgrades too
Next PLC (LSE:NXT) has also upgraded its full-year profit guidance after reporting stronger third-quarter sales than expected, helped by the UK seeing less of a slowdown than had been expected.
The FTSE 100 clothing retailer also said that it intends to return surplus cash to shareholders via a special dividend at the end of January, currently calculated at around 310p per share, on top of an 87p interim dividend.
For the 13 weeks to 25 October, full-price sales increased 10.5% compared to last year, which it said was ahead of the 4.5% growth that it had previously forecast.
Sales in the UK increased 5.4%, outperforming guidance of 1.9%, as the company said "we think we underestimated the positive effect of improved stock levels this year".
7.42am: Copper bottomed gains likely
The FTSE 100 is likely to be carried higher by the mining sector this morning, though results from GSK and Next might also add some oil to the fire.
Copper prices are continuing to rise, with Bloomberg flagging that London prices have reached a fresh all-time high, trading above $11,140 per metric ton due to supply disruptions.
As well as the major disruption of Freeport-McMoRan giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia, Anglo American also flagged lower 2026 copper output at its results yesterday.
7.29am: GSK hikes outlook as earnings beat expectations
GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) third-quarter revenues and earnings have come in higher than expected, with full-year guidance nudged higher too.
Group revenues for the drugmaker rose 7% to £8.55 billion, topping the average City forecast of £8.28 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at 55p, well ahead of the consensus estimate of 47p. A dividend of 16p per share is also a penny higher than the Square Mile predicted.
For the full-year, management now expect turnover growth of 6-7%, up from the previous expectation that it would be towards the top end of 3-5% range; with core operating profit growth now seen at 9-11%, from the top of 6-8%; and core EPS growth of 10-12% up from the top end of 6-8%.
7.18am: FTSE tipped for positive start
The FTSE 100 has been tipped for another moderately positive start on Wednesday, ahead of a big US-focused day for the market with the Federal Reserve decision and earnings from Microsoft, Meta and Alphabet.
A gain of 18 points is the call on the futures market for London's blue-chip index, which finished almost 43 points higher at a new record closing high of 9,696.74 the day before, while also hitting an intraday high of just over 9,727.
US stocks also breached new record levels overnight, led by another round of dealmaking by Nvidia, which rose 5% to its own all-time high after forming partnerships with Nokia, Palantir, Uber and the US Department of Energy.
The chip colossus agreed to invest $1 billion in Nokia to help with an AI-driven transformation, with the Finnish telecoms outfit using its chips to accelerate 6G mobile software development, while the collaboration with Palantir is focsed on government and industrial AI applications and customizable AI agents. and the DoE deal covers the building of seven AI supercomputers.
US stocks ended higher on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq taking the lead as Nvidia fueled a rally in tech shares ahead of a packed week of earnings and the Federal Reserve’s policy decision.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.8%, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 rose 0.3% and 0.2%.
The rally "could still get a bit of sugar coating if the Fed sounds sufficiently dovish later today," says market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskatya at Swissquote Bank.
"In the absence of fresh data, policymakers are effectively acting half-blind, but the market widely expects a 25-basis-point rate cut and possibly an end to quantitative tightening (QT), as much of the pandemic-era liquidity has now evaporated.
"Some even expect the Fed to announce an immediate end to QT today — which would certainly lift market sentiment: the more liquidity, the more fuel for assets. And with roughly $7.5 trillion parked in US money market funds, lower rates could push investors toward riskier corners of the market."