- FTSE 100 down 49 points at 10,559
- Trump says more talks likely with Iran this week
- Oil prices remain volatile as Hormuz strait blockade continues
- Rank are Ceres are top risers on FTSE 350
5.15pm: FTSE lower
The FTSE 100 finished Wednesday’s session lower, down 49 points at 10,559, as investors awaited potential peace talks progress in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, US stocks were mixed in the early afternoon, with the Nasdaq up 1.1% and the S&P 500 up 0.4%, while the Dow Jones fell 0.5%.
4.10pm: FTSE slipping
The Footsie is slipping slightly lower, with a roughly equal split of risers and fallers at this point, though many of the index's biggest names are in the red.
At the top of the index, there are declines in AstraZeneca, HSBC and Shell, with pressure across defensives and cyclicals alike. GSK and Compass are down more than 1%, while miners such as Rio Tinto and Glencore are also weaker.
Against that, gains are led by Entain, up 4%, with other US bookmakers on the front foot too, such as Flutter and Draftkings.
Barratt Redrow is also up 3.2% after its solid trading update this morning.
Analyst Chris Beauchamp at IG says investors are staying cautious amid continued uncertainty around the Middle East.
"The tone remained tentative as markets balanced hopes for renewed US-Iran talks against ongoing efforts by Washington to tighten pressure on Tehran’s maritime trade."
Oil is holding at around $95 a barrel, leaving UK energy heavyweights becalmed.
On the FTSE 250, Rank Group is the top risers, soaring 17% after the casino and bingo operator upgraded its full-year profit outlook.
Ceres is up 15% after launching a new solid oxide platform aimed at fast-growing demand from data centres and other energy-intensive users.
3.22pm: UK crypto regulations begin next year
The UK financial watchdog will bring cryptoassets into full regulation from October 2027, marking a significant shift for the sector.
Parliament has now confirmed which activities will fall within scope, including stablecoin issuance, trading platforms, dealing, custody and staking. The Financial Conduct Authority said it will publish the full rulebook this summer, alongside new guidance to help firms prepare.
Crypto companies will be able to apply for authorisation from September 2026, giving them a runway ahead of the regime going live.
Until then, the market remains largely unregulated beyond financial promotions and anti-money laundering rules.
The FCA, which launched a consultation on its new framework today, said it is designed to support an “open, sustainable and competitive” market, while improving consumer protection.
For firms, the regulator's message is clear: activities that have so far operated in a regulatory grey area will soon face rules similar to traditional financial services, particularly around safeguarding assets and operating trading venues.
For investors, the regulator reiterated that crypto remains high risk, and warned people should only invest what they can afford to lose.
2.52pm: Wall Street has mixed start
US stocks are mixed in early trade, with Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%, while the S&P 500 is just above flat and the Dow Jones has slipped 0.1%.
Gains were led by tech, with names such as Oracle, Broadcom and Datadog Inc higher.
The Dow lagged as industrials and defensives including Caterpillar and Walmart.
2.24pm: Allbirds pivots
An unusual business pivot from US company Allbirds, which has announced it is moving from eco-friendly trainers to artificial intelligence infrastructure.
After securing a new $50 million convertible financing facility the company said it will “pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure” and become a “fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider”.
Yes, that is the same Allbirds which IPOd in New York in 2021 as a $2.15 billion manufacturer of sports shoes from sustainable materials, then sprinted to a $4.1 billion peak, but has since unravelled, with costly expansion into clothing and physical stores weighing on performance.
1.13pm: Evidence from LSE Group on AI usage
One of the interesting broker notes inspiring investors this morning is from UBS, which has been poring over new disclosures from LSEG's AI-accessible Model Context Protocol server, which analysts reckon represent the first tangible evidence it can benefit from artificial intelligence adoption rather than be disrupted by it.
LSEG's shares have de-rated sharply since mid-2025 as investor concern mounted over AI's potential to erode its data and analytics business model, suffering two separate AI Waves of selling pressure triggered by partnership announcements between AI companies and LSEG's competitors.
UBS characterises LSEG as a "show-me" story but said disclosures made at the company's full-year 2025 results materially changed the picture, with the financial services group revealing that the number of institutions accessing its MCP server, a data repository enabling third-party AI agents and models to query its licensed datasets in real time, increased from nine at the end of December 2025 to 67 by 20 February 2026. (Read more here)
LSE Group shares are up 0.8% so far today.
12.04pm: FTSE 100 and 250 both flattish
The FTSE continues to hug close to the flat-line as the Wednesday session moves into the afternoon..
Top risers are Entain, ConvaTec and Antofagasta, all up over 2%, with next in line including Barratt Redrow and Standard Life after their news earlier.
Other risers include Anglo American, Smith & Nephew and AstraZeneca.
At the other end, Imperial Brands, Burberry, Airtel Africa and Rolls-Royce are leading the fallers, dropping between 2.2% and 1.5%.
The FTSE 250 has dropped into the red now, however, with its early surge petering out.
Top of the risers is Ceres Power, which has leapt 14.5% after unveiling a new 10.8kW solid oxide stack, named Endura, which it believes could meet growing demand for on-site data centre power and cut green hydrogen production costs.
Rank and Saga are up 11.4% and 8.4% after their news earlier.
11.23am: Reeves heads to Washington
Chancellor Rachel Reeves heads to the IMF summit in Washington off the back of a gloomy IMF forecast yesterday.
What's more, Donald Trump has warned that he could rip up the trade agreement with the UK.
The provides a "greater degree of uncertainty for the country at this already troubling time", says market analyst Josh Mahony at Scope Markets.
But it has been a "somewhat uninspiring" morning across Europe, he says, with equities in London, Frankfurt and other financial centres "largely treading water".
Markets are waiting for more detail on US-Iran talks, with Trump telling Fox News that "you’re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead", following up similar comments made to other media.
10.47am: AA driving school fined
The Competition and Markets Authority has fined the owner of the AA and BSM driving schools £4.2 million and ordered it to refund more than 80,000 learner drivers after finding illegal "drip pricing" practices.
The UK antitrust watchdog said customers booking lessons with the driving schools between last April and December were not shown the full price upfront, with a mandatory £3 fee added later in the checkout process.
The AA must repay more than £760,000 to affected customers, with the average refund around £9. Payments will be made automatically.
The CMA said this was the first time it had used its new enforcement powers to secure refunds directly for consumers.
Chief executive Sarah Cardell said: "If a fee is mandatory, the law is clear: it must be included in the price from the very start."
The AA admitted breaching consumer law and agreed to settle early, receiving a 40% reduction in its fine.
The CMA said drip pricing remains widespread, with previous research showing consumers may spend up to £3.5 billion extra each year due to hidden fees online.
9.51am: ONS pushes back jobs data reform delivery date
The Office for National Statistics said the quality of UK economic data is improving, but key reforms to jobs market data will take longer than planned.
The statistics body said the transition to its new 'transformed labour force survey' has been pushed back from November 2026 to some time in 2027, as more data is needed to assess recent changes.
Labour Force Survey response rates have recovered close to pre-pandemic levels, improving confidence in the UK’s key employment data, the ONS said, with 65 of the 93 of the milestones planned for the year having been delivered and the number of major errors fell to one in the latest quarter from four previously.
"The remaining third have proved more complicated and difficult to achieve than anticipated," says director-general James Benford, "reflecting a mix of system integration challenges, the time taken to mobilise required resource, the complexity of sequencing transformation at pace, and competing demands including preparation for Census 2031."
He says a key development was the introduction of supermarket scanner data into inflation figures, covering around half of UK grocery spending, which is expected to make price data more representative and less volatile.
9.14am: FTSE drops, mid-caps led by Rank and Saga
After making initial headway, the FTSE 100 has dropped into the red in the back part of the first hour of trading, while the FTSE 250 has headed higher.
The oil price has not really changed in the past hour, which is something to bear in mind.
Tobacco group Imperial Brands is leading the fallers for a second day, down 3% as investors and analysts continue to run the rule over its results.
Luxury retailer Burberry Group, off 2.5% after disappointing updates from European rivals Kering and Hermès, and insurer Prudential, down 2.1%, are next. Both are often a proxy of investor reactions to events in China.
But the weakness was fairly broad across sectors, with banks and insurers under pressure, with NatWest, HSBC and Barclays all in the red, alongside Aviva and Legal & General, perhaps as rival Standard Life strengthens with the purchase of Aegon.
Defence and aerospace are also weighing, with Rolls-Royce and Babcock both down over 1%.
Meanwhile, among the mid-caps, gains are led by Rank Group and Saga.
Rank shares racked up gains over over 10% after the Grosvenor Casino and Mecca bingo operator upgraded its full-year profit outlook.
Interim chief executive Richard Harris said: "The results demonstrate the resilience of the business, the strength of the customer proposition and the growth initiatives we have in place."
Saga shares jumped 8.8% after final results showed a return to profit and stronger cash generation after what was described as a "transformational year" driven by its travel and insurance businesses.
The provider of products for over-50s reported underlying profit before tax up 19% to £44.2 million, while swinging to a reported profit before tax of £2.1 million compared with a £160.2 million loss a year earlier.
8.38am: Trump says more talks with Iran this week
Markets are feeding off optimism around potential US-Iran talks, after President Donald Trump said Washington could send a delegation back to Pakistan in the next two days.
"Something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the New York Post.
He later told ABC, "I think you’re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead."
"It could end either way, but I think a deal is preferable because then they can rebuild …They really do have a different regime now. No matter what, we took out the radicals," Trump said.
The US President's most recent post promised that he would be appearing on Fox Business before US markets open.
Maritime data from Kpler revealed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz "remains well below typical levels", with just six vessels crossing the strait on Monday.
8.15am: FTSE 100 opens higher, Barratt top of the risers
The FTSE 100 has crept up 24 points to 10,633 in Wednesday's opening trades.
Housebuilder Barratt Redrow is top of the early risers, up 2.4% after its quarterly results.
Standard Life, after bagging Aegon UK for £2 billiin in cash and shares, is up 1.4%.
Other gainers include miners Antofagasta and Anglo American, helped by copper prices edging higher.
8am: Barratt Redrow on track
Barratt Redrow said it remains on track to meet full-year expectations after a solid third quarter, supported by slightly stronger cash and sales than reported in its interim results.
The FTSE 100 housebuilder reported a net private reservation rate of 0.64 per outlet per week, up from 0.62 a year earlier and 0.55 in the first half.
Forward sales increased 11.2% to 11,395 homes, with a value of £3.54 billion, leaving the group 94% forward sold for the current financial year.
Chief executive David Thomas expects "limited impact" from the war in the Middle East in the near term, but said uncertainty around interest rates and build costs could affect the outlook beyond the current year.
7.41am: Standard Life bags Aegon UK
Standard Life has won the race to acquire Dutch insurance giant Aegon's UK arm, agreeng a £2 billion cash and shares deal that will help it close some of the gap with larger rivals Aviva and Legal & General.
Fresh from rebranding from Phoenix Group last month, the insurer said the deal will add around £160 billion of assets under administration and 3.8 million customers, taking the combined total to about £480 billion and 16 million customers.
A combination of debt, cash and new shares will be used to fund the deal, with The Hague-headquartered Aegon taking a 15.3% stake in the enlarged group.
7.17am: FTSE 100 set for another tug-of-war
The FTSE 100 has been tipped for another flattish start on Wednesday on the back of hopes around a second round of truce talks between the US and Iran.
Yesterday, the UK's blue-chip index added 26 points to close at just over 10,609, and on the futures market this morning the expectation is that the early gains will be in the single figures.
This is likely to again reflect a tug-of-war between some companies making strong gains due to the fall in energy prices, offset by falls for oil giants and other defensive heavyweights.
Wall Street was boosted by the prospect of talks last night, with the Nasdaq jumping 2%, while the S&P 500 rose 1.2% and the Dow Jones 0.7% where energy companies also acted as a brake.
Brent crude dropped to under $93 a barrel overnight and is currently just shy of $95.
"The prospect of peace is keeping risk appetite well supported," says market analyst Kyla Rodda at Capital.com, with the drop in oil prices "driven by news that fresh peace talks between the US and Iran are likely to go ahead as the countdown clock on the ceasefire continues to tick".
"Superficially, the markets appear to be holding onto hopes rather than anchoring themselves in reality.
"Reports suggest the US’s blockade-of-the-blockade is holding up well and that means global oil markets remain heavily disrupted and the global economy hanging on the precipice. Nevertheless, hope springs eternal – so much so that the S&P 500 is a whisker away from record highs."