- FTSE 100 down 18 points at 9,702
- Wall Street retreats
- Infrastructure deal falls apart
4.58pm: FTSE closes lower
As global stocks came under pressure, the FTSE 100 fell 18 points to 9,702.
Chris Beauchamp, IG chief market analyst, noted the index held its ground on Monday thanks to the mining sector.
“A resurgent metals complex has helped bolster the likes of Anglo American and Glencore, while fresh gains for gold and silver have provided the fuel for renewed upside in Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining,” Beauchamp said.
“The index’s strong holding action comes as European stocks come under fresh pressure, while it continues to beat the S&P 500 on year-to-date returns.”
3.53pm: Precious metals gain
Both gold and silver traded higher as equities and cryptocurrencies sold off sharply on Monday.
"The precious metal has started December well, but risks are bubbling as Japanese yields surge on hawkish remarks from BoJ's Ueda and cryptocurrencies resume sell-off,” according to City Index market analyst Fawad Razaqzada. “Gold still sits around 3% shy of the October peak at $4381, while silver tore into fresh record highs overnight after last week’s eye-watering 12.8% rally.”
He sees a binary debate for the gold forecast, with the metal either continuing to benefit from a softer US dollar or rising Japanese bond yields throwing a spanner in the works.
“Traders will want to stay nimble as both outcomes are very much in play, although the bulls appear to have the upper hand for now,” Razaqzada concluded.
3.02pm: Wall Street in the red
US stocks opened Monday on a softer note, extending the late-November rally’s pause after a busy holiday week. The Dow Jones fell 105 points, or 0.2%, to 47,611, while the S&P 500 dropped 24 points, or 0.4%, to 6,825. The Nasdaq slid 135 points, or 0.6%, to 23,231, and the Russell 2000 dipped 28 points, or 1.1%, to 2,473.
“December is finally here,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst at Swissquote. “Last month ended on a positive note, with a solid reversal of early-November losses on one single bet: that the Fed would cut interest rates in December.” She noted that U.S. traders returned from Thanksgiving to a market briefly disrupted by a tech issue on Friday, but trading resumed quickly, leaving the S&P 500 just shy of an all-time high.
Despite last week’s gains across European stocks, gold, Bitcoin, and U.S. Treasuries, concerns linger that the Fed may be rushing into a rate cut without solid economic data. “Valuations have run ahead of themselves,” Ozkardeskaya said, pointing to record-high Q ratios that suggest stock prices are lofty relative to companies’ underlying asset values.
1.45pm: US stocks set for lacklustre start
The FTSE 100 is drifting into the US open, down 11 points, as global markets kick off December in a more hesitant mood. Wall Street futures are pointing lower, with tech dragging sentiment after last month’s powerful rally. Nasdaq 100 futures are down around 1% and the S&P 500 off 0.7%, while the Dow is holding up slightly better after notching a fifth straight gain on Friday.
The Magnificent Seven aren’t offering much support. Nvidia, Meta and Tesla all slipped more than 1% in premarket trading, trimming November’s strong gains. Crypto is adding to the risk-off tone: Bitcoin briefly dropped below $85,000 before steadying, extending a slide that now jars with the buoyant mood across equities. Silver continues to break records, up another 2% and outshining gold.
IG’s Chris Beauchamp said the pattern of crypto weakness is becoming hard to ignore, pointing to thin liquidity and a widening disconnect between digital assets and other risk markets.
Politics is creeping back into the picture too. Kevin Hassett has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve — a move being watched closely given his past engagement with the crypto sector.
Coupang fell 8% on a major data leak, while New Fortress Energy jumped 22% after regulatory approval in Puerto Rico. Investors will also be watching S&P Global and ISM manufacturing data, with earnings from Credo, MongoDB and New Fortress to follow.
12.54: Deutsche upgrade for discoverIE
discoverIE Group PLC (LSE:DSCV) shares gained 3% to 611p after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock from hold to buy and raised its price target from 735p to 850p.
Analyst James Beard said the company’s 20% fall this year made it an outlier in the UK electricals sector, noting that earnings forecasts had risen over the past 12 months even as the share price slipped.
He said the decline reflected slower organic revenue growth and a perception that the business is more exposed to economic cycles than before, with a quieter spell for acquisitions also limiting momentum.
But he argued that the market had overlooked the group’s earnings resilience.
He highlighted its long-term record of growing faster than the economy, steadily improving margins and delivering about a 15% pre-tax return on capital employed despite expanding the business through acquisitions.
11.10am: TRIG shares down
Shares in The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited fell 4.5% to 70.9p after HICL Infrastructure Company walked away from a planned tie-up that would have created the UK’s largest listed infrastructure investor. HICL shares rose 4.4% to 117.77p.
The two companies had announced a proposed combination last month, but TRIG said today that HICL had decided not to proceed. TRIG’s board said it regretted that investors would not be able to vote on the deal, which it believed could have delivered significant benefits.
Richard Morse, TRIG’s chair, said: “Our focus now returns to delivering TRIG's attractive standalone strategy. TRIG is a well-established platform with high-quality assets, a competitive pipeline of opportunities, and deep renewables and energy storage expertise.”
He added that demand for low-carbon power and the wider shift to electrification left the company well placed to deliver “sustainable value and growth” for investors.
TRIG reiterated that the decision not to move forward with the tie-up did not alter its existing growth plan set out earlier this year. The board said it would continue talks with shareholders ahead of its 2026 annual meeting.
9.20am: Fresnillo tops the leaderboard
Silver is still brushing up against its all-time high, trading at $57.29 an ounce, and the surge has shoved Fresnillo to the top of the FTSE 100, with the miner’s shares up 4% to 2,741p.
Analysts say the squeeze is tied to rising needs from electric vehicles, AI hardware and solar technology, all of which rely on silver’s high conductivity. With uses expanding and inventories thinning, many expect the metal’s climb to continue.
Indeed, it is so acute that, according to analysts, some buyers resorted to flying in silver to meet demand. They argue the market has a different dynamic this time, one that could keep prices elevated for longer.
The metal’s rally stands out even in a year when gold has smashed through $4,000 an ounce. India has played a large part in silver’s rise, with demand spiking after the monsoon and the Diwali festival.
The country is the world’s biggest consumer, yet imports roughly 80% of its supply, just as London vaults have been rapidly emptying.
Elsewhere, Endeavour, which rose 1.7% as bullion continued to rebound from last month’s pullback.
8.30am: Quiet start for equities; Bitcoin below $87k
The FTSE 100 opened in subdued fashion, nudging 9 points into the red to 9,711.62.
The main excitement and action were on the crypto exchanges.
Bitcoin was back on the floor: down 4.7% at $86,190.58, hovering around levels last seen in April after crypto markets rediscovered gravity on Monday.
The slump followed a sharp early-Asia tumble that briefly dragged the token below $86,000. Ether joined the misery with a drop of more than 5% to $2,831.18, while Solana shed 5%, because apparently nobody wanted to be left out.
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All of these levels represented a recovery from lows posted during a shaky open in Asia for crypto traders.
The wider market has been wobbly since early October, when $19 billion in leveraged positions evaporated just days after Bitcoin’s record high of $126,251.
November didn’t help: Bitcoin lost around 17% before clawing back above $90,000 last week.
Now battle-scarred traders are bracing for another leg down. $80,000 is seen as the next important floor for BTC.
Investors were also digesting comments from Strategy Inc. CEO Phong Le, who said the company could sell Bitcoin if its enterprise-value-to-holdings ratio turned negative: “a last resort,” but enough to spook the market.
Fresh pressure came from a USDT stability downgrade by S&P Global Ratings, plus a warning from China’s central bank about the risks of virtual currencies.
Pre-open: Blue-chip set for the red; Bitcoin off 5%
FTSE 100 futures are pointing to a 16-point drop at the open to around 9,705, setting the tone for a Monday that already looks cranky. Even crypto joined in: Bitcoin slumped 4.7% to $86,215, a sharp reminder that digital assets can sour a mood faster than a broken charging cable.
Asia didn’t offer much comfort. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.9% after weaker-than-expected corporate investment figures, while Japan’s factory PMI managed only 48.7 in November.
China’s factory activity shrank for an eighth month, though Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8% despite Meituan slipping after reporting a quarterly net loss.
The Shanghai Composite gained 0.4%, South Korea’s Kospi barely moved, Australia dipped 0.3%, Taiwan lost 0.5% and India’s Sensex edged up 0.3%.
Across the region, November PMIs were weak, though export numbers have improved in recent months, according to Capital Economics’ Shivaan Tandon.
US futures weren’t feeling cheerful either, with the S&P 500 down nearly 0.7% and the Dow off 0.4% early Monday. Oil was one of the few bright spots, up more than $1 a barrel in early trading.