- FTSE 100 up 28 points to 10,360
- Oil prices soften on Israel-Lebanon ceasefire
- CMC Markets nears five-year high on results
5.30pm: FTSE gains
London stock had a winning day, with the FTSE 100 finishing the session up 28 points at 10,360.
It was a different story across the Atlantic, where Broadcom’s earnings pushed the Nasdaq into the red for a second day.
“A two-day fall for tech is a rare occurrence these days, but does mark a change from the relentless gains of recent weeks,” IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
“May’s brief dip was bought with both hands by investors who had missed out on the April surge, and this one might easily go the same way since there still seems plenty of appetite to pile on board the tech rally.”
4.05pm: China-focused names lead falls
Prudential and Standard Chartered are still the big fallers on the FTSE, down 7.75% and 3.1%, with HSBC's losses trimmed to 2%.
Restrictions on capital flows by Beijing are being cited as the cause, as officials look to have more oversight of capital outflows, which reportedly reached a record $807 billion in 2025.
According to the South China Morning Post, mainland China residents are facing greater restrictions on opening offshore accounts at mainland branches of Hong Kong banks.
The report said the Shanghai branch of Hong Kong’s Bank of East Asia had suspended opening accounts that allow people on the mainland to invest overseas.
Risers are led by RELX and LSEG, both up over 5%, and both names that were hit by AI worries earlier this year.
JD Sports is up 4.6% after a report from Sky News that it might sell off a "non-core" brand.
3.33pm: Bond and sterling danger to watch
Markets are "significantly" under-pricing risk to the pound sterling, with two weeks to go until the Makerfield by-election and ahead of Andy Burnham’s appearance on BBC Question Time tonight.
This is the opinion of Matthew Ryan, strategist at Ebury.
"The May local elections have accelerated an already precarious political situation for Keir Starmer’s government.
"While a formal challenge has not yet materialised, we see this as more a matter of arithmetic, rather than a genuine lack of appetite among leadership hopefuls."
Burnham will see a Makerfield by-election victory on 18 June as more-or-less clear his path into Downing Street, says Ryan.
“We view the upcoming by-election as a fairly significant underpriced risk for sterling, a complacency that perhaps largely reflects the delayed timetable for a possible leadership change, rather than a genuine receding risk in a change in the status quo.
"Burnham’s clear preference for an expansionary fiscal stance, higher taxation and larger gilt issuance present a downside risk to markets.
"The problem is that the UK can ill afford such an experiment given the wafer-thin fiscal headroom, upward trajectory in the debt-to-GDP ratio and anemic growth at a time of rising inflationary pressures and an ageing population.
"Burnham’s dismissive attitude towards the bond markets, while since softened, is one that the bond vigilantes will not forget, and will punish accordingly."
2.56pm: Toddlers' picnic on Wall Street
As expected, Wall Street has opened like a toddlers' picnic, with everyone heading off in different directions.
The Dow Jones has run up a 1.5% gain, while the Nasdaq has cartwheeled 0.7% lower, with the S&P 500 dawdling roughly nowhere.
Broadcom has started with a 15% fall, followed by 7%-plus falls for Micron, ARM and CrowdStrike.
All but four of the Dow are in green, led by gains for UnitedHealth, Merck and American Express.
2.20pm: US jobs market softening
There's been some US macro data this afternoon, co-inciding with an easing in US Treasury yields dropping.
New claims for unemployment benefit jumped 225,000 last week, an increase of 13,000, indicating that more US companies cut jobs.
Jobless claims were the highest since February, signalling a softening of the labour market.
Job cut numbers are also rising, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, with 97,006 cuts last month, up 16% from Apri and 3% more than May last year.
It was the highest for any May since 2020, apparently.
The report said use of AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs.
"On top of the headline AI story, we’re seeing a sharp rise in cuts tied to acquisitions and mergers and a jump in bankruptcy-related losses, which tells me companies are restructuring aggressively as they reposition for an AI-driven economy," the report said.
1.31pm: Most shorted stocks
Wizz Air and Ibstock remain the two most heavily shorted stocks in the UK market, according to the latest S&P Global Market Intelligence securities lending data, which indicates a massive 22.7% and 22.3% of shares on loan respectively.
Awkward for the bears as both have risen around 6% over the past week.
In fact, seven of the ten most shorted UK stocks posted gains over the period. Capita plc is up 5.6%, Metlen Energy & Metals gained 6.5%, while Vistry Group added 4.8%.
There are a few success stories for the pessimists. Domino's Pizza Group fell 1.7%, Travis Perkins plc dropped 1.3%, and Greggs plc slipped 0.6%.
The broader takeaway is that short sellers are concentrated in UK consumer, construction and cyclical names.
S&P says 1.8% of FTSE 100 market capitalisation and 1.9% of FTSE 250 market capitalisation are currently on loan.
12.57pm: Nasdaq set to drop, Dow Jones to rise
Very mixed picture for US futures, with those for the Nasdaq down 1.2% and S&P 500 down 0.3%.
Dow Jones futures are up 0.8%, however.
Broadcom's near-15% drop and a 9% fall for CrowdStrike in pre-market trading are behind the drops for the Nasdaq and S&P. Away from tech, PVH Corp, owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger fashion brands, slumped 20% after its results.
It follows falls for all three of the US major indices last night, with the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq down 1.2%, 0.7% and 0.9%, pulling back from all-time highs. The small cap Russell 2000 also lost ground, dropping 1.3%.
Tech was the worst S&P sector, falling 1.5%.
Market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation says the tit-for-tat military action between the US and Iran recently appeared to have "gone up a notch in terms of severity" before news of Israel and Lebanon's ceasefire agreement.
While removing a major barrier to US/Iranian peace negotiations, it has "done little to improve the mood today", says Morrison, apart from on the oil price.
If the Nasdaq and S&P fall today, it's "too early to say if this is simply a mild bout of profit-taking, or a harbinger of a more protracted and deeper retreat", says Morrison.
"But investors will be mindful of the extraordinary gains made in semiconductors over the past two months, and the upcoming SpaceX IPO which is sure to suck some money out of outperforming stocks."
12.03pm: Chinese-exposed companies lead FTSE drop
Just before midday, the FTSE dropped to its lowest in almost three weeks, but has come off that low in recent minutes.
Prudential, down 7.7%, Standard Chartered, down 6.7%, and HSBC, down 5.4%, are the biggest fallers. All three generally moved in line with shifts in data from or sentiment about China.
The Hang Seng fell 1.5% today and the Shanghai Composite 0.6%.
Some reports are putting this down to the US Trade Representative officially proposing additional tariffs from next month, with China explicitly targeted, while the EU unveiled new Industrial Accelerator and Cybersecurity Acts designed to restrict Chinese companies' market access.
Beijing has warned of immediate retaliation.
"Market sentiment is coming under pressure following yesterday’s pullback in US equities and the precarious nature of negotiations between the US and Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz," says market analyst Neil Wilson at Saxo.
Israel and Lebanon renewing their ceasefire, "edges things in the right direction away from further escalation, though of course we have been here before and so on".
UK bond yields last night were at two-week highs, before starting to slip back this morning but actually remaining elevated, likewise Brent crude, which fell to around $95.50 but is now back just below $97 a barrel.
"The FTSE 100 remains broadly stuck in the 10,300-400 range for now and there is not a lot to really say about it for the time being," says Wilson.
"I still think June could see some further flow-driven pullbacks in US stocks and broader risk assets - look to potential volatility catalysts coming from not just the Middle East but a sooner-than-expected Fed tightening impulse and IPO crunch, which could trigger selling across stocks.
"While the market does not see the Fed hiking until much later this year it could come much sooner."
He points to "increasingly robust" signs from the labour market coupled with rising inflation, providing the case and a handful of policymakers saying they believe the easing bias should be dropped from the FOMC statement.
Wilson says the Fed may ditch its easing bias this month and move to hike in July, which may result in some further pullbacks in US stocks as the yield curve flattens out.
"Meanwhile, the upcoming mega IPO deluge represents a major liquidity exit event, and I see this net negative for stocks."
11.25am: Forever chemicals, a skincare deal, and helium offtake
Some small cap movers.
Metir, the water and environmental monitoring company, has made its first commercial sale of a PFAS detection unit in the US, with shares jumping 33%. PFAS are also known as 'forever chemicals'.
The buyer is Veralto, a Nasdaq-listed water quality business with a market capitalisation of $20 billion, which has taken the unit on a lease-to-purchase basis and is expected to deploy it within its water quality operations, with a view to broader market deployment across its global client base.
Shares in Incanthera jumped 21% on plans to acquire Swiss premium skincare brand Énielle in an all-share deal, with Stuart Robertson appointed as chief executive, with previous boss Simon Ward moving to a scientific role.
The acquisition gives Incanthera a second skincare platform, with Énielle based on lectin-derived formulations and backed by multiple clinical studies.
Helium One Global rose around 11% after the announcement that its 50%-owned Galactica Project has secured its first formal helium offtake commitment, giving the Colorado development a commercial bridge from early production to longer-term sales arrangements.
10.48am: UK car sales
May delivered the strongest UK new car market in six years, with registrations rising 7.1% to 160,662 vehicles as private buyers returned in force, tempted by competitive deals and a growing range of models.
The electric vehicle story remains a tale of two markets, the data from industry body SMMT shows.
Battery electric vehicle registrations jumped 34.2% and reached 27.3% market share in May, the highest level of 2026 so far.
That is close to the 2025 zero emissions vehicle (ZMV) mandate of 28% but short of the 33% share required under this year's mandate.
The SMMT argues manufacturers are still having to rely heavily on discounting to drive EV uptake and warned that government ambitions for EVs to account for 95% of new car sales by 2030 will require much stronger fiscal support.
10.21am: Broadcom provides evidence of overheated AI theme
Last night, Broadcom, the sixth largest company on the S&P 500, reported earnings where revenue hit a new record on the back of an AI chip surge, but its outlook seemed to disappoint, with the shares down 13% in afterhours trading.
The chip maker is on course for one of the biggest one-day sell-offs in terms of market value on record, he notes.
This provides evidence "in spades" of the AI theme being overheated, says AJ Bell market analyst Dan Coatsworth.
After a 220% surge over the past 12 months and 700%-plus since the start of 2023, Broadcom was of course trading at all-time highs at the start of a week that has also seen Anthropic file for an IPO and Alphabet unveil a record $85 billion fundraise.
"Broadcom is being punished for revenue guidance which beat consensus expectations but came in short of the high end of analysts’ estimates, showing just how high the bar has been raised for the business," says Coatsworth.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan did not lift the $100 billion AI chip revenue forecast for 2027 he gave in March, which Coatsworth says "represented a failure to keep pace with runaway expectations".
He concludes: "Broadcom may have emerged as a key player in the booming AI infrastructure market, with a particular expertise in the custom chips increasingly being used by the likes of Alphabet and Meta. However, just like its rival Nvidia, Broadcom is finding that meeting and even slightly beating forecasts is not enough when the market is holding it to such a high standard."
9.57am: Construction output worsens
UK construction output last month fell at the fastest pace for six years, according to the S&P Global/CIPS construction PMI, which dropped to 38.2 in May from 39.7 in April well below the 40.5 expected.
The survey was collected between May 12 and 28.
"UK construction companies reported a steep downturn in business activity during May, with the speed of contraction accelerating to its fastest for six years," says Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global.
Housebuilding was "especially subdued", he says, with a "considerable softening" of commercial activity too.
"Anecdotal evidence suggested that economic uncertainty and rising inflation in the wake of the Middle East conflict had triggered the steepest drop in new work since the beginning of the pandemic. Elevated borrowing costs were also reported to have impacted market conditions.
"Fuel surcharges and rapid increases in prices for energy-intensive raw materials continued to be felt across the construction supply chain.
"Overall purchasing costs rose to the greatest extent since June 2022, while international shipping delays meant that suppliers' delivery times lengthened for the third month running."
Optimism was unsurprisingly dim, with industry confidence levels low but not as bad as it was ahead of last autumn's Budget.
9.21am: FTSE oscillating
The FTSE 100 has been in vacillating form this morning, swinging to a 25-point gain and now to a deficit of 10 points at 10,322.
Oil and mining are weights, but there are a sprinkling of gains among other heavyweights.
Banks are diverging, with Asia focused HSBC and Stan Chart both down over 2%, while Lloyds and NatWest are up 1%, with Barclays flat.
The FTSE 250 is just above flat, led by CMC and Hg Capital Trust, where manager Hg unveiled plans to more than double its stake in the investment trust over time, arguing the current share price materially undervalues the portfolio and its AI-driven growth prospects.
Last night the results of the latest quarterly FTSE review were published, with three promotions to the top flight, with Aberdeen Group, Computacenter and Investec heading into the FTSE 100, while Berkeley Group, Mondi and Rightmove are heading the other way.
The changes take effect from 22 June.
Aberdeen returns to the blue-chip index after three years in the FTSE wilderness, while Investec left the index at the end of 2011.
Computacenter's first promotion to the top division reflects investor affection for a company that quietly makes money.
The FTSE 250 will see a broader reshuffle, with Bloomsbury, GlobalData, Rosebank Industries and Seraphim Space among the arrivals, while Chrysalis Investments, Impax Environmental Markets and JPMorgan India Growth & Income are among those dropping out.
8.55am: CMC surges to 5yr high but analysts flag risks on outlook
On the FTSE 250, CMC Markets has surged 18% to its highest since the summer of 2021.
Analyst Julian Roberts at Jefferies said net operating income (NOI) was ahead of the City consensus at £393 million, up 15% YoY and 3% above expectations.
"However, costs were also well ahead, at £289 million, versus circa £250 million original guidance, bringing PBT down to £101 million versus £110 million consensus."
He says the outlook from Peter Cruddas was "characteristically bullish", with NOI expected to be £460-£480 million, and a list of major developments to come, so while consensus "may increase [...] the market may be wary of the cost implications of this rapid development".
Panmure Liberum's Barun Singh says it was a "solid full-year", but PBT was below his estimate, "with the shortfall largely explained by the higher variable remuneration and continued investment in a number of major strategic programmes".
He also flagged that on the bullish outlook, "several of the initiatives underpinning that step-up remain in build phase".
8.22am: SpaceX confirms IPO for next Friday
A filing from SpaceX has confirmed that Elon Musk’s rocket company is targeting an IPO valuation of roughly $1.77 trillion, as reports earlier in the week indicated.
The company said in an SEC filing that it plans to sell 555.6 million shares at $135 apiece, raising just over $75 billion.
This would make SpaceX the seventh-largest company in the world by market cap, ahead of Tesla and Meta, with the IPO pipping Saudi Aramco’s 2019 debut at a valuation of $1.7 trillion.
Musk, who holds about a 42% stake, will be close to becoming the world’s first trillionaire if the shares begin trading as expected on the Nasdaq exchange a week from tomorrow, 12 June.
8.14am: FTSE 100 searching for direction
The FTSE 100 seems to be searching for direction in initial trades, down a few, then up a bit, and now down 1 point at 10,331.
Sainsbury's, Vodafone and LondonMetric are leading the fallers, as their shares go ex-dividend.
Polar Capital Tech Trust is down 2.1% after falls on Wall Street last night.
Miners and oilers are a big drag on the index, with Rio Tinto falling 1.5% and Shell 1.25%.
At the other end, the ever-volatile JD Sports is top of the risers, followed by Lion Finance, up 2.1%.
8am: Sorrell's S4 on track
Sir Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital has put out an AGM statement, saying trading in the opening months of 2026 has been in line with expectations despite increasingly challenging market conditions, as the digital advertising and marketing group revealed plans to introduce a new 50% payout dividend policy.
Executive chairman Sorrell said clients remained cautious amid geopolitical uncertainty, tariff negotiations and continued pressure on marketing spending, particularly among technology companies, which account for almost half of group revenue.
The company expects like-for-like net revenue for 2026 to be within the current analyst consensus range of £632-663 million, representing a low single-digit decline from the previous year.
7.44am: CMC profits jump 20%
CMC Markets has reported a strong improvement in profit for the second half of the year and forecast further growth ahead as its institutional and business-to-business partnerships continued to expand.
In its first update since November, the trading platform operator posted preliminary results showing profit before tax of £101.3 million for the year to 31 March 2026, up 20% from a year earlier. This follows a 1% fall in first-half PBT.
The board proposed a final dividend of 8.3p per share, taking the full-year payout to 13.8p, up 21%.
Chief executive Peter (Lord) Cruddas called it "another year of exceptional delivery for CMC, against a second half defined by extreme volatility."
He has discovered a new love of volatility, saying it "is often viewed as a tailwind for traditional D2C, or retail providers" but "CMC today operates a very different and diverse business model", with performance significantly driven more by B2B and wholesale.
Cruddas says the next 12 months are "expected to be a defining period for the group", with Westpac and ASB Bank expected to come online, continued rollout of the CMC 'super app', expansion of our neobank partnership (widely thought to be with Revolut) and momentum across investing and retail platforms.
7.28am: Today's ex-divs
The FTSE 100 faces a drag of 3.49 points from today's ex-dividend adjustments, led by Vodafone and Sainsbury's.
Also trading ex-div are Marks and Spencer, LondonMetric Property and Sage Group.
7.16am: FTSE heading lower at open, despite Gulf developments
The FTSE 100 could well spend another day in red on Thursday, after sharp falls on Wall Street overnight, though oil prices have backed down a tad on reports that Israel and Lebanon have agreed a ceasefire.
London's blue-chip benchmark is tipped to fall around 40 points at the open, extending losses from the 41 points given up the day before when the index closed at 10,332.30.
US stocks snapped their winning streak, with the Dow Jones falling 621 points or 1.2%, the Nasdaq shedding 0.9% and the S&P 500 ending 0.7% lower, all retreating from the new highs hit this week.
Asian markets are down this morning, with Japan's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both off around 1.5%, while China's Shanghai Composite has slipped 0.5% and India's Sensex was broadly flat.
Brent crude is down 1.1% at $96.75 a barrel.
Yesterday saw "a shift in sentiment" for stocks, says market analyst Kathleen Brooks at XTB. "However, the sell-off could be short-lived, as the oil price falls.
"Brent has dropped 0.6% this morning, after reports that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a ceasefire, which gives hope that a resolution to the Iran conflict can be found.
"This has also been boosted by developments overnight in the US, the House of Representatives is seeking to block Trump from continuing the war in Iran. This still needs Senate approval, but the President also said that a resolution could be found this weekend.
"We have heard this before, the question now is whether the market will take Trump’s words at face value?"
In London company news, it's mid- and small-cap results time, with updates from CMC Markets, Mitie, S4 Capital, Premier Miton, GCP Infrastructure and a few others.
