Welcome to the Five at Five, your end-of-day spin through the stories that actually moved the market on a Monday that never quite made up its mind.
1. Alphabet gets a Buffett bump
Alphabet jumped 3.3% as Warren Buffett finally dipped a cautious toe into big tech with a US$4.3 billion stake. The move runs against his usual instincts but briefly soothed nerves around an overstretched AI sector. Berkshire’s 17.85 million-share position suggests the Google parent now fits Buffett’s “durable economics” mantra.
2. Rightmove says house prices headed in wrong direction
The housing market has gone into Budget hibernation, with sellers trimming prices by an unusually steep 1.8% as nerves build ahead of Rachel Reeves’s 26 November statement. A third of listings have already been cut, averaging 7%, as buyers freeze and speculation over stamp duty tweaks chills the upper end.
3. IXICO scores major Huntington’s trial win
IXICO PLC (LSE:IXI, OTC:PHYOF) rose 5% to 11.28p after clinching a £3.5 million phase III imaging contract for a global Huntington’s Disease study. The deal strengthens its role in late-stage neuroscience trials. Cavendish reiterated a 24p target, calling the award clear evidence of IXICO’s growing global CRO footprint.
4. FTSE 100 treads water
London’s blue-chip index drifted either side of flat as Wall Street failed to inspire following Friday’s triple-digit slump. Traders spent the day fretting that the Federal Reserve could hesitate over a rate cut as delayed US data trickles back online.
5. IP Group cheers Artios’s $115 million raise
Artios Pharma secured an oversubscribed Series D round to ramp up its DDR-focused cancer programmes. The funds will expand phase II testing of alnodesertib in pancreatic and colorectal cancers, while also backing a new phase II trial for ART6043 in BRCA-mutant breast cancer. IP Group welcomed the milestone.