- FTSE 100 up 27 points to 9,721
- Chaos on Wall Street
- Whitbread sinks on double downgrade
4.42pm: Stocks tick higher
The FTSE 100 finished Friday’s session higher, adding 27 points at 9,721, driven by Fed rate cut hopes.
“US stocks are extending this week’s rally in a low-volume, shortened post-Thanksgiving trading session,” IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph said.
“In Europe, sentiment also remained positive - despite German retail sales unexpectedly declining - with indices finishing the week in the green."
Meanwhile, silver hit a record high of $55 per ounce.
“Silver extends its rally, approaching a record $55 per ounce high amid mounting supply concerns and growing expectations of further Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cuts,” Rudolph said.
“Whereas the gold price hit a two-week high and is on track for a fourth consecutive monthly gain, the price oil oil is heading for a fourth consecutive monthly loss, the longest streak in more than two years, pressured by oversupply concerns."
3.00 pm: AI and tech stocks still in demand
Robinhood UK’s most-bought stocks in November show retail investors sticking with two big themes despite a choppy month: crypto miners and artificial intelligence. Bitcoin’s slump made for grim reading across the mining cohort, yet MARA (formerly Marathon Digital), IREN and Cipher Mining still attracted strong buy orders. All three have been trying to diversify away from pure crypto, pushing into AI-ready data centres. Cipher’s $830 million deal with Fluidstack, backed by Google, was the standout.
AI names remained firmly in the mix. NVIDIA shrugged off bubble talk with another set of punchy numbers and higher guidance, while Dutch operator Nebius endured valuation jitters but held investor interest after announcing a $3 billion, five-year deal with Meta. AMD also made the list, helped by its role in France’s first exascale supercomputer and a tie-up with OpenAI to supply up to 6GW of compute using its Instinct GPUs.
1.25pm: Chaotic start on Wall Street
It’s a slow and slightly chaotic start to Black Friday trading as a major CME outage ripples across global markets. The exchange is gradually restoring operations after a long disruption that halted futures and options trading worldwide, affecting everything from equity index contracts to US Treasurys and crude oil.
CME said two FX platforms reopened around 7am ET, but there’s still no indication of when other markets will resume, leaving traders flying partly blind on a day that was already expected to be quiet.
Before the freeze, the mood was modestly positive: Dow and S&P 500 futures were each up about 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 contracts rose 0.2%. With the NYSE and Nasdaq set to close early at 1pm ET and the bond market shutting at 2pm, volumes were always likely to be thin.
The only notable US data point on Friday is the Chicago Business Barometer at 9:45 am EST.
Market sentiment is also contending with fresh political headlines. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would “permanently pause migration” from all “third world countries,” adding another element of uncertainty to an already jittery backdrop.
Beyond the outage and holiday lull, investors are digesting a turbulent but surprisingly strong earnings season. “It’s boring when the US is not here,” says Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya, noting that without the usual flow of news and positioning, markets are left to mull a “harsh month” of impressive corporate results overshadowed by heavy tech-sector drama.
11.20am: Footsie retraces some gains
The London market has given back some of the morning's gains as it heads towards lunchtime, now just 6 points firmer at 9,699.66.
Still, the FTSE 100 looks set to end the week in "decent fashion", according to AJ Bell's Dan Coatsworth.
“UK housebuilders remain in decent fettle after the Budget – which didn’t contain any nasty surprises in terms of property taxes, bar the so-called ‘mansion tax’," Coatsworth commented.
“The exception to the sector’s positivity is Berkeley, which has greater exposure to the premium end of the market, where the new supplementary council tax charges are more relevant."
US futures point to gains of 0.1% to 0.2% for the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq when trading gets underway following yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday. However, futures trading has been disrupted due to an outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), also affecting commodity futures and derivatives, FX and Treasuries.
10am: More morning movers
European Metals Holdings Ltd (AIM:EMH, ASX:EMH, OTCQX:EMHLF) jumped over 60% after its 49%-owned Cinovec lithium project won Czech government backing for up to €360 million. The grant, supporting large-scale battery material production, boosts EU energy security goals. Already an EU Strategic Project, Cinovec now benefits from fast-tracked permitting and strong financial support. Read more
Atlas Metals Plc (LSE:AMG) rose more than 15% after an updated report boosted excitement around its planned UPSA takeover. The study highlights huge silica-alumina resources at Yammacoona Sand Quarry in Australia, now valued at A$3.31 billion. CEO Chris Chadwick says progress is strong, with new drilling planned to further upgrade the resource. Read more
Tern PLC (AIM:TERN) crashed 19% to 0.36p after the investment firm admitted it's run out of cash to meet commitments to venture fund SVV2. The company's pledged £5m over ten years but can only stretch to the £1.3m already invested. A botched October fundraising brought in just £151k instead of the hoped-for £642k, leaving Tern officially a "defaulting investor" – risking forfeiture of its stake or compulsory transfer. Read more
Serabi Gold (AIM:SRB, TSX:SBI) edged up after a strong nine-month update: gold production jumped 19% to 32,634 ounces, including a record third quarter. EBITDA nearly doubled to $48.2 million, with net profit at $34.9 million. Coringa mine outperformed, and exploration drilling hit 28,000 m, keeping the company on track for full-year targets. Read more
essensys PLC (AIM:ESYS) nudged up 3% after a trading update and news its founder floated a possible 20p-a-share takeover. Q1 revenue hit £4.1 million, driven by the essensys Platform, though sales cycles are slower than hoped. The company restructured for savings and remains debt-free while exploring a new financing option. Read more
8.45am: Broker ratings drive stocks
More on those big movers this morning, which added to the Footsie's "sprightly start." According to interactive investor's Richard Hunter, broker upgrades are the order of the day.
"The likes of Weir Group, IMI and easyJet were at the top of the leaderboard as a result, although a downgrade to Burberry exacerbated the recently tepid economic data coming out of China," Hunter said.
"Meanwhile, the negative momentum continued for Whitbread, where a double downgrade resulted in a 7.5% decline in the share price, leading to a dip of 14% over the last month, despite its recent guidance that the German business is likely to contribute a profit for the first time over the course of this year."
8.30am: Good cheer for pub group
Shares of FTSE 250 constituent Mitchells & Butlers PLC (LSE:MAB) popped nearly 9% after the pub group served up a tasty trading update.
Like-for-like sales rose 3.8% in the opening eight weeks of the new financial year, building on a solid full-year performance with 4.3% growth and operating profit up 5.8% to £330m.
The owner of Vintage Inns and Miller & Carter reckons its "market-leading estate" puts it in good shape to handle rising cost pressures ahead. Net debt's down to £843m from £989m, and CEO Phil Urban sounds quietly confident about pinching more market share from rivals.
8.15am: Footsie off to a positive start
The FTSE 100 edged higher in muted early trade, with US markets shut yesterday for Thanksgiving and only open for a half-day session today.
London's blue-chip index added 10 points to 9,704.14, after barely budging yesterday with a 2-point gain.
Among the early risers, easyJet PLC (LSE:EZJ) has taken off with a 2.4% gain, while engineer IMI PLC (LSE:IMI) is 2.1% higher, and Howden Joinery Group (LSE:HWDN) is up 1.3%
On the downside, Premier Inn owner Whitbread PLC (LSE:WTB) has dropped 6.1%. Burberry Group PLC (LSE:BRBY) is 4.4% lower.
7.30am: Housing market set to find its rhythm again
House prices in southern England are finally slipping after eighteen months of climbing, thanks to tax jitters and a flood of new listings. Up north, though, it’s a different story, with prices still nudging up nicely.
According to Zoopla's House Price Index for November, buyer demand is down 12%, and sales agreed are off by 4%, suggesting many people have hit the pause button.
But with the Budget ditching big tax fears for most homeowners, the market looks set to find its rhythm again heading into 2026.
7.15am: FTSE 100 likely to open up
The FTSE 100 is expected to open higher with little direction as the dust settles after Wednesday's Budget statement and US markets re-open for half a day after the Thanksgiving holiday yesterday.
London's blue-chip benchmark is seen rising by 19 points at the open. It finished Thursday's session 2 points higher at 9,693 as UK assets continued to hold up well in the wake of the Budget, supported by a 3% gain for housebuilder Persimmon as well as some of the big banks.
Asian markets are mostly higher this morning. Japan's Nikkei is up 0.2%, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng is down 0.2%. In Shanghai, the SSE Composite has gained 0.3% while Mumbai's BSE Sensex is 0.1% firmer. The ASX 200 in Sydney is flat.
It's early yet, but US futures are pointing to a positive start of 0.1%-0.2% when post-holiday trading gets underway this afternoon.