- FTSE down 9 points at 9,692
- Mixed open for Wall Street
- Drax upgraded
- Sainsbury's hit by Qatar stake sale
- Smiths to offload Detection arm for £2bn
5.07pm: Another losing day in London
The FTSE finished its third session in a row on the back foot, down 9 points at 9,692.
“The UK's FTSE 100 edged slightly lower on Wednesday as declines in financial stocks overshadowed gains in the mining and energy sectors,” Tickmill Group’s Patrick Munnelly said.
Meanwhile, the Euro hit a 7-week high against the US dollar, driven by an upward revision to November’s Eurozone composite PMI and widening policy divergence between the ECB and the Federal Reserve.
“EUR/USD rallied to above the $1.1650 mark, as markets reacted to an improved November Eurozone composite PMI and growing divergence in monetary policy expectations between the ECB and the Fed,” IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph said.
“The US central bank is expected to cut rates in December with a near 89% probability, whereas the ECB isn't likely to do so for much of next year."
3.08pm: FTSE 100 only very slightly lower ...
London's blue-chip benchmark continued to show a negative, albeit meek, state on Wednesday with the index of top-UK shares down a sliver with around an hour until the sessions close.
At 9,700, the FTSE 100 was down just a couple points.
Meanwhile, over the pond, US stocks opened mixed on Wednesday as investors wrestled with fresh signs of cooling demand for AI and a surprise drop in private-sector employment.
The Dow inched up 24 points, or 0.1%, to 47,499, while the S&P 500 slipped 9 points, or 0.1%, to 6,820. The Nasdaq struggled more, down 92 points, or 0.4%, to 23,322, weighed by weakness in big tech. The Russell 2000 bucked the trend, climbing 10 points, or 0.4%, to 2,475.
Tech stocks were under pressure after a report from The Information said Microsoft is lowering its AI software sales quotas, fueling investor doubts about the strength of AI demand. Microsoft shares fell more than 2%, and semiconductor leaders Nvidia, Broadcom, and TSMC all dropped roughly 1% in early trading.
Adding to the market jitters, America's ADP private payrolls report for November showed a surprise loss of 32,000 jobs, versus expectations for a modest gain, driven largely by small businesses. The data is stirring speculation ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve decision and has traders keeping a close eye on privately sourced services activity for signs of inflation, ahead of Friday’s official PCE release.
12.30: ChatGPT turns three. But is the shine wearing off?
Three years after ChatGPT’s explosive debut pushed OpenAI’s valuation to $500 billion, the shine is wearing off.
Deutsche Bank Research says Sam Altman has called a private “code red” as the group confronts slowing subscription growth, credible rivals such as Google’s Gemini 3 and a colossal $1.4 trillion investment bill for models, data and compute.
dbDataInsights shows subscription spending flattening across Europe, with several months dipping negative. The issue is not falling usage but a weakening willingness to pay as alternatives multiply.
The note sketches a turning point. OpenAI must now turn scale into cash and defend its lead under real competitive pressure.
10:13am: Drax gets a broker boost
Drax Group jumped 5.5% to 768p after Citi upgraded the stock to buy and raised its 12-month target to 850p. The shift comes despite what the bank describes as its “inherent scepticism” over biomass as a clean and durable technology.
The catalyst is simpler: cashflow maths. The government’s extension of Drax’s contract for difference to 2031 pushes out the cashflow cliff and extends the useful life of its core assets, giving the group more time to weigh strategic options.
Citi notes that legacy generation sites, already redeveloped and sold for artificial intelligence and data-centre use, show how “old-world” assets long written down by the market can carry real optionality. Inertia contracts offer further upside.
The bank has started to reflect this through probability-weighted valuation scenarios, arguing that a blue-sky case could add about 270p a share. Downside risks look contained, with pellet weakness well flagged and commodity exposure limited.
9.20am: Sainsbury's Qatar blow
The FTSE 100 pared some of its early (and modest) losses to sit almost at parity with supermarkets being the main drag in London.
Sainsbury’s and Tesco slid to the bottom of the index after Qatar Investment Authority moved to offload £300 million of the former's shares. Marks, which is also a big food retailer, was also caught in the crossfire.
Is Qatar's move a signal that the UK's retail revival has run its course? Only time will tell.
Elsewhere, HSBC added another twist to the session. Its decision to appoint Brendan Nelson as chair surprised investors and nudged the bank’s shares slightly lower. Elsewhere, miners provided a rare bright spot, with Antofagasta and Fresnillo among the FTSE 100’s top gainers.
Crypto traders, meanwhile, are dusting themselves off. After bitcoin endured its worst day since March, the token has bounced back to around $93,000. Ether and Solana are also in recovery mode as traders wade back in, treating the sharp drop as a buying opportunity.
8.20am: Blue-chips dip. Smiths to bank £2bn
Yes, it was another quiet open for the blue-chip index, which had been predicted to head into the green, albeit marginally.
However, there appeared to be a last-minute change of tack with the blue-chip index nudged 15 points lower at the open.
The day's big corporate news came from Smiths Group, which has agreed to sell its security screening division to CVC Capital Partners for £2 billion.
The shares opened 3.5% higher. The fallers' list was led by Sainsbury, which opened 4% lower.
Pre-market: Slow start predicted
The FTSE 100 is predicted to open six points in the green at 9708, offering all the enthusiasm of a half-charged phone, even as global markets attempt a modest reset.
Asia picked up the pieces overnight after a brief tantrum in global bonds and crypto. Bitcoin clawed back the $90,000 level, Wall Street futures nudged higher, and equity traders collectively decided that Monday’s chaos probably did not count.
MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index was flat, Japan’s Nikkei added 1.14% and, for the moment, calm has returned.
The trigger for the earlier rout was the prospect of a Bank of Japan rate hike, which managed to spook both bond markets and anyone who had forgotten that carry trades can unwind faster than they build.
Japanese government bonds remain under pressure, with the five-year yield hitting a high not seen since 2008.
Yet with no fresh catalysts, attention has swung back to the Federal Reserve, where investors are banking on a rate cut next week and an even more dovish regime if Kevin Hassett replaces Jerome Powell.
A softer dollar and a wobbling Australian economy added to the mix, while oil and gold drifted mildly higher. For now, markets appear calm. The Footsie’s six-point shrug says everything else.