- FTSE 100 rises 59 points at 9,897
- UK retail sales mixed in November
- Government borrowing exceeds expectations
4.56pm: Another winning session
London stocks finished the week strong, with the FTSE 100 adding 59 points at 9,897 points.
Across the Atlantic, the Nasdaq led Wall Street higher following the Fed’s rate cut and lower-than-expected CPI print.
“Stock markets around the globe saw another day of strong gains on the back of Thursday's post-soft US inflation rally,” IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph said.
3.52pm: Carnival sails to top of leaderboard
In the past hour, the Footsie has topped 9,890, just 50 points from its record high, before running out of puff it seems.
There has been a new high in Europe though, with the Stoxx 600 (which includes many from the FTSE 100 and 250) has notched a new intraday high, up 0.35% to 587.4 points.
Top of the Euro Stoxx leaderboard is London- and NY-listed Carnival PLC (LSE:CCL), up 15.4% after it put out quarterly results just in the afternoon, as is its wont.
The cruise company reported record full-year adjusted net income of $3.1 billion, up over 60% as revenue hit an all-time high of $26.6 billion.
Directors have reinstated the dividend, with $0.15 per share declared, and have proposed unifying the dual-listed structure into single NYSE-listed entity.
Looking forward, 2026 adjusted net income is forecast to rise 12% to $3.5 billion.Boards Carnival PLC2,289.00p306.0015.43%
2.55pm: FTSE boosted as New York opens higher
The FTSE 100 has got a second wind, after the open of trading in New York.
Tech stocks are winning across the pond, with the Nasdaq rising 0.95%, the S&P 500 up 0.7% and the Dow up 0.4%.
Top risers on the Nasdaq 100 are led by Micron Technology for a second day, up another 6.3%.
Following are Pinduoduo, Lam Research, AMD, Strategy and Nvidia.
Back in London, top of the leaderboard are defence and aerospace, with Rolls-Royce, up 2.4%, then Melrose, with Babcock back in the list.
12.24pm: TikTok deal
The FTSE 100 is hugging fairly close to the flatline on Friday, as many investors and traders have at least mentally switched off if not quite gone on holiday yet.
US futures are mixed.
There's some news on TikTok though, with shares in Oracle up over 4% after it bagged a hefty stake and operational role in the social media platform's future in the US.
A deal has been struck to form a joint venture, with US and Gulf investors taking a combined 45% stake to resolve longstanding national security concerns and avoid a US ban.
TikTok’s Beijing-based parent ByteDance will retain a minority 19.9% stake, while operational control of the platform’s US data protection, algorithm oversight and content moderation will be transferred to the newly formed venture.
Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi technology investor MGX each take 15%, in an agreement expected to value the US business at $14 billion.
11.48am: UK company insolvencies data
Data from the Insolvency Service shows 1,866 companies went bankrupt in England and Wales in November, down 8% from October and down 7% year-on-year.
Monthly company insolvency numbers so far in 2025 have been slightly higher than in 2024, but lower than in the 30-year highs seen in 2023.
November saw 250 compulsory liquidations, 1,461 creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), 136 administrations, 18 company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) and one receivership.
Compulsory liquidations were down sharply compared to October and were also below last year, with CVLs also lower than both October and the 2024 average, while both administrations and CVAs increased compared to October.
"The fall in insolvency figures is a relief for policy makers but anecdotal evidence is that HMRC were taking a soft line against companies that owed tax in the last few months," said Robert Moore at Company Rescue.
"The budget uncertainty persuaded companies not to take risks and keep costs under control that may have also contributed to the fall."
Over the past 12 months, close to one in almost 200 companies on the Companies House register entered insolvency (one in 189 to be precise, or 52.9 per 10,000 companies), which is pretty much the same as the previous 12-month period (53.0 oper 10,000).
While the insolvency rate has increased since the lows seen in 2020 and 2021, it remains much lower than the peak of 113.1 per 10,000 companies seen during the 2008-09 recession, which the Service said was because the number of companies on the effective register has more than doubled over this period.
11.19am: Housebuilding and precious metals drag
Housebuilding shares are acting as a drag on the FTSE, says Danni Hewson at AJ Bell as investors responded to "the reality that we could be approaching the end of the current rate-cutting cycle" from the Bank of England.
"This saw housebuilders lose momentum as hopes for a significant drop in mortgage costs in the coming months begin to fade away. An unexpected drop in retail sales only added to the gloom around the consumer backdrop in the UK."
Overall, across Europe, investors "appear to be on their holidays already", says market analyst Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets, with indices throughout the region treading water at the open.
US futures are uneven, with the Dow Jones heading for a flat start, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are expected to open up 0.2% and 0.3%.
"US markets are on the front foot following yesterday’s inflation report," says Mahony, with a surprise collapse in both headline and core CPI lifting sentiment, but "some significant questions over the quality of the data".
"As we close out a week that has seen a huge amount of data and central bank announcements, there is an expectation that we start to see volumes and volatility ease off from here."
Hewson's take is that the CPI reading "suggests the Federal Reserve might have more scope for rate cuts next year.
"A resulting fall in precious metal prices, often seen as a hedge against inflation, saw two of the UK stocks which have shone the most in 2025 – Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining – on the back foot."
10.23am: Movers
Some movers.
Shares in WH Smith PLC (LSE:SMWH), seller of bottles of Coke and packets of crisps for double what you pay in the supermarket, fell 6.5% after it posted results that cover a period that encompassed its transition to a pure-play travel retailer following the sale of its High Street business and funkypigeon.com, but also followed a profit warning after North American income was found to have been over-inflated.
The FTSE 250 group, which is being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority over the issue that led to CEO Carl Cowling stepping down, said a remediation plan launched after receiving findings of a review by Deloitte last month is "progressing at pace".
PBT came in at £108 million, which was at the top of the guided range, "which is a good start", says analyst Jonathan Pritchard at Peel Hunt.
He said the margin outlook of 7-8% for the new year "is satisfactory enough in our view".
Elsewhere, Strix Group PLC (AIM:KETL) shares bubbled 16% higher after agreeing to sell its Billi water dispenser business for £110 million in cash, subject to shareholder approval.
The transaction represents a near threefold return on the £38 million paid in 2022 for Billi, which produces premium instant boiling, chilled, and sparkling water systems.
Mirriad Advertising PLC (AIM:MIRI, OTCQX:MMDDF) plunged almost 30% after the virtual product placement company said second-half revenue had not picked up.
This means the whole of 2025 saw around £0.4 million of turnover, down 73% compared to the £1.5 million reported for 2024, although recognising some additional income is expected before the year-end.
Revel Collective PLC (AIM:TRC), formerly Revoltuon Bars, fell 53% after revealing that a potential sale of the business is not currently expected to deliver any return to shareholders.
9.08am: FTSE meandering and dawdling
The FTSE is searching for direction again.
Housebuilders are down, with Persimmon, Barratt Redrow and Berkeley Group leading London's blue-chip fallers, down around 2%.
Gold miner Endeavour, booze maker Diageo and hotelier Whitbread are next in line.
On the leaderboard are DCC and Rolls-Royce, up 1.8% and 1%, followed by a group of financials in Admiral, Prudential, and Standard Chartered.
After the Bank of England cut interest rates and the European Central Bank continued to hold, backed by a growth upgrade for the eurozone for both 2025 and 2026, Japan’s central bank delivered a rate hike.
The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.75%, the highest in 30 years.
"It’s been a very busy season for central banks," says market analyst Neil Wilson at Saxo, noting that the BoJ said more rate increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, citing a rising likelihood its economic outlook being realised.
"Japanese government bond yields rose sharply on the decision, with the 10-year JGB benchmark pulling several basis points higher and clearing 2.02%, the highest level since 1999."
Overall his summary is that European stock markets are having "an off-for-Christmas feel this morning with little going on, following a positive 1% gain for the Stoxx 600 yesterday".
There are no massive moves in commodities, with Brent crude below $60; gold above $4,320 after running into resistance at $4,375 yesterday, near its record high; Bitcoin is at $88k; and sterling can't seem to make a move past $1.34.
Brent crude is down nearly 20% year to date.
Derren Nathan at HL says: "The losses might have been greater still if US sanctions against Venezuela and the prospect of tighter measures on Russian exports weren’t in play. For now, it’s good old supply and demand that’s driving prices, with increasing production and jitters around the Chinese growth outlook weighing on traders’ minds."
8:20am: Opened into positive territory
Whilst not among the most emphatic starts to a trading session this year, London's blue-chip benchmark began one of the last proper trading days of 2025 in positive territory.
Up 13 points, or 0.14%, the index was marked at 9.851 shortly after Friday's close.
7.32am: Govt borrowing
The UK current budget deficit was £5.6 billion in November, taking the deficit across the fiscal year to date to £93 billion.
This means the government will have to deliver a large reduction in borrowing over the next few months in order to meet the OBR's borrowing forecasts for the current fiscal year of £52.4 billion.
Rachel Reeves' primary fiscal rule is that by 2029-2030, the government will only borrow to invest.
Overall borrowing of £11.7 billion in November was lower than last year, but for the year-to-date, the government has borrowed £132.3 billion, which is around £10 billion more than a year ago. The OBR's borrowing forecast for 2025-2026 is £138.3 billion.
7.28am: Retail sales mixed
UK retail sales rose 0.6% in the three months to November 2025 compared with the previous three months, supported by strong performance from clothing, tech, and furniture retailers.
The Office for National Statistics noted that Black Friday fell within the reporting period, lifting some categories.
However, seasonally adjusted monthly figures disappointed. Retail volumes dipped 0.1% in November compared to October, missing forecasts for a 0.3% rise. The slight fall suggests that the Black Friday effect was weaker than in previous years.
Annual growth in overall retail sales remained flat at 0.6% year-on-year, below the 1.6% expected.
Core retail sales, which exclude fuel and volatile items, rose 1.2% year-on-year but also fell short of forecasts as they slipped 0.2% on the month.
The data was also likely to have been affected by some pre-Budget uncertainty.
Also there was GfK consumer confidence data earlier, which slightly surprised to the upside in December – rising from a still-low -19 to -17, slightly better than the -18 expected by Bloomberg consensus.
7.15am: FTSE 100 to end week on back foot
The FTSE 100 is expected to end the week on the back foot, opening lower on Friday after a strong finish the previous day.
London's blue-chip index has been called 23 points lower on the futures market, following a day when a Bank of England interest rate cut coaxed a gain of 63.45 points to close at 9,837.77.
Wall Street saw modest gains overnight, as investors cheered signs that US inflation might be easing. The Nasdaq led the charge with a 1.4% gain, while the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and the Dow Jones inched up 0.1%.
Asian markets are glowing green this morning, fronted by Japan's Nikkei, up 1%, and Hang Seng in Hong Kong, up 0.95%.