- FTSE 100 up 25 points to 10,497
- Wall Street makes subdued start
- Vodafone jumps as French billionaire buys stake
- Bidding war breaks out for easyJet
- Wizz Air cut by broker
5.05pm: Stocks rise
London stocks finished the day higher as Middle East tensions eased, with the FTSE 100 up 25 points at 10,497.
“The oil price is on track for its first weekly gain in a month, rising by around 5% amid renewed US-Iran strikes which disrupt tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns over global energy supplies,” IG chief technical analyst Axel Rudolph said.
“While negotiations between Washington and Tehran on a longer-term agreement remain ongoing, the International Energy Agency warns that a prolonged conflict could hinder efforts to rebuild global oil inventories, although record crude production from the UAE has helped to partially offset supply disruptions."
3.12pm: London edges higher as Wall Street awaits SK Hynix debut
The FTSE 100 rose 30 points in afternoon trading, holding firm as US stocks diverged at the open.
Across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones gained 0.2%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hovered around the flat line following a winning session on Thursday.
Attention centred on SK Hynix's Nasdaq debut, viewed as a test for the AI trade.
The South Korean memory chip maker and Nvidia supplier raised $26.5 billion in its share offering, the largest ever US listing by a foreign company, with chip stocks slipping ahead of the event.
Oil prices edged higher as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed again, after the US and Iran launched their heaviest attacks since the ceasefire was signed.
West Texas Intermediate hovered near $72 a barrel, with Brent above $76.
Delta Air Lines fell fractionally after fuel costs weighed on second-quarter results, though it beat earnings estimates and reinstated full-year guidance.
2.05pm: Where next for Bitcoin?
Bitcoin traders are betting on a modest grind higher rather than a meaningful recovery this month, according to prediction market Polymarket.
Punters on the platform assign an 83% probability that bitcoin touches $65,000 at some point in July, with the cryptocurrency currently trading around $63,900, up roughly 2% on the day.
Beyond that, conviction thins out quickly.
The odds of bitcoin reaching $67,500 sit at 51%, essentially a coin flip, while a move to $70,000 is priced at just 27%.
A push to $75,000 is given only a 5% chance, and $80,000 or above is seen as a 1% shot.
The downside is taken more seriously than the headline numbers suggest.
Traders see a 46% chance of bitcoin slipping back to $60,000 this month, a 27% probability of $57,500, and a 14% chance of a drop to $55,000.
1.05pm: Wall Street eyes SK Hynix
The FTSE 100 was flat and listless on Friday morning, the index unwilling to commit itself either way before New York opens.
There is little to push it.
S&P 500 futures were similarly unchanged, and while the broader Stoxx 600 nudged 0.2% higher, London has spent the session going through the motions.
Semiconductors offered the one clear directional story, and it was not a helpful one.
Chip stocks slipped in US premarket trading ahead of the Nasdaq debut of SK Hynix, whose American depositary receipts have been priced at $149.
Micron Technology, Marvell Technology and Lam Research all fell around 1%, with Intel down 2%, on concern the listing draws money away from incumbent memory names.
11.25am: Budget airline downgraded
Wizz Air Holdings faces a slower earnings recovery than the almost "hockey stick" that investors expect, leading RBC Capital Markets to downgrade the budget airline.
Moving to an 'underperform' rating from 'sector perform', the investment bank kept its £9 share price target, implying about 20% downside from the last close, arguing that the market is pricing in a much stronger rebound in profits than its forecasts support.
Analyst Ruairi Cullinane cut his earnings forecasts for the 2027 and 2028 financial years despite lower fuel prices, saying pressure on ticket yields and higher non-fuel costs were likely to outweigh the benefit of cheaper oil.
He also warned that rapid capacity growth in Central and Eastern Europe could weigh on fares beyond the summer peak.
9.41am: Heatwave keeping shoppers at home
UK retail footfall fell 3.4% in June, worse than May's 2.6% decline, as soaring temperatures hit high streets particularly hard.
Data from the British Retail Consortium showed that high street visits slumped 6.2%, while retail parks were almost flat (-0.3%) and shopping centres held up a little better (-2.5%), suggesting air conditioning was a draw.
The regional split saw retailers in London and the South East, where the heat was most intense, suffering the weakest trading, while Scotland bucked the trend with footfall up 1.7%, helped by cooler weather and Glasgow city centre's gradual reopening after the Union Corner fire.
The BRC says the weather was only part of the problem, while footfall data gatherer Sensormatic added that shoppers are making fewer, more deliberate trips, even as confidence edges up.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: "Footfall dropped in June as the record heatwave kept many shoppers indoors. High streets saw the sharpest declines, while air-conditioned shopping centres and retail parks proved more resilient."
She adds a call for the new Andy Burnham-led government to take "action on business rates and energy costs [to] help unlock investment to revive our local communities".
9.09am: 'More juice can be squeezed' from easyJet bidding war
EasyJet shares have jumped 13.5% after Apollo cut the queue and has bested Castlelake with a superior offer.
Like Castlelake, Apollo is offering shareholders a way of retaining their holdings in the private company.
"A bidding war is on," says market analyst Neil Wilson at Saxo. "Castlelake could come back and we should not rule out a rival such as IAG or Air France-KLM (OTC:AFLYY) coming in - I would favour a consolidation story (Europe's airlines remain way too fragmented) over a private equity story."
He calls it the "latest twist in this story", after easyJet rebuffed four offers from Castlelake before saying it would agree to the fifth and improved proposal.
Apollo has until 7 August to submit a formal bid, but Wilson says "I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more juice to be squeezed.
"For me this is a prime asset going for a song – if management think they can deliver £1bn in annual profit why take an offer for only five and a half times earnings?
"Either they don’t back themselves or think someone else can help do a better job? Prime take-off and landing slots, growth in higher margin holidays and an order book of shiny new Airbus aircraft make it very appealing...this should go for more, albeit the Iran war has underlined problems for the industry and the stock has never really recovered from the pandemic - shares haven’t traded above £7 since 2021 - and are yet to do so today despite the offer at £7.15p, last up 13% at £6.65p."
*APOLLO REACHES PACT TO BUY EASYJET FOR £7.15 PER SHARE [image or embed] — BrokenBanker (@brokenbanker.bsky.social) July 10, 2026 at 7:24 AM
8.38am: Oil retreats
London and other European blue-chips are generally positive this morning.
"Markets are ending the week in a more cautious mood than they began it, as investors digest the implications of renewed tensions between the US and Iran," says market analyst Dainela Hathorn at Capital.com.
"While the initial spike in oil prices and sell-off in equities reflected an immediate repricing of geopolitical risk, attention is now turning to whether this latest setback represents a temporary interruption to negotiations or the beginning of a more prolonged period of instability.
"The consensus view remains that neither side appears willing to escalate into a broader conflict, but the events of this week have reminded markets that the path to a lasting agreement is unlikely to be straightforward."
Brent crude futures have dropped back below $76 a barrel this hour, while other commodity prices are mixed: gold down slightly, silver flat, copper up marginally.
Looking ahead, a new market driver emerges, as second-quarter earnings season begins in earnest.
"Investors will be looking for confirmation that AI-related investment continues to translate into robust earnings growth and resilient margins, particularly among the large technology companies that have driven much of this year's rally," says Hathorn.
"With valuations still elevated, earnings guidance could prove just as important as the headline results themselves."
Ultimately, she says, the week has "demonstrated that markets may have become too confident in pricing a smooth geopolitical outcome", which suggests investors "may need to become comfortable with a higher degree of volatility".
8.16am: FTSE opens higher as Vodafone surges
The FTSE 100 opened up 30 points at 10,503.
Vodafone is top of the early leaderboard, surging 10% higher after French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel agreed to buy a 16.2% stake for £4.4 billion.
BT is next, up 1.8% on sector read-across. Property deveopers, aiorlines amd utilities are on the front foot too.
Among the index heavyweights, miners are a supportive factor, with Rio Tinto and Anglo American up aronud 1.5%, with banks modestly positive.
St James's Place is the biggest faller, can't see why yet.
AstraZeneca is down another 1.6%.
7.55am: Hays sees high-end profit despite weak market
Hays says expects profit for the 2026 financial year to come in at the top end of market forecasts after cost cuts offset another quarter of weak recruitment activity.
The recruiter said like-for-like net fees fell 5% in the three months to 30 June.
Temporary and contracting fees fell 3%, while permanent fees dropped 7% as hiring softened through the quarter. Germany, its largest market, remained stable, with average hours worked in line with expectations.
7.43am: Apollo and gatecrashing
Looking back, Apollo might have a bit of a reputation as a gatecrasher.
In 2021, Apollo crashed an $8.7 billion bidding war for supermarket chain Morrison's, intervening after a deal had already been agreed to a deal with a Fortress-led consortium.
However, while Apollo gatecrashed the process, it quickly withdrew its solo bid and entered talks to join the Fortress consortium, which eventually lost out in an auction process.
And it has been a victim of gatecrashing as a deal it agreed with RPC saw rival Berry swoop in and carry away the packaging giant in 2019.
7.36am: easyJet agrees deal with gatecrasher Apollo
More on that easyJet news, where private equity firm Apollo has gatecrashed the advanced takeover talks between the airline and rival US firm Castlelake with a £5.7 billion offer.
The New York private equity giant is proposing £7.15 per share, above the £6.90 that easyJet agreed in principle with Minneapolis-based Castlelake last weekend.
The easyJet board said it would be minded to recommend Apollo's proposal to shareholders and is no longer minded to recommend the Castlelake deal.
An alternative offer is mooted as part of the Apollo deal, where eligible shareholders roll their holdings into the private vehicle through which Apollo's funds would own the airline, though terms of this stub equity option are still being negotiated.
FTSE 100 Live pre-open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open higher on the last day of a hectic trading week, and before earnings season kicks off next week.
Futures for London's blue-chip index are pointing to a gain of 32 points, after yesterday saw a mid-morning decline of over 90 points trimmed to just under 17 by the close at 10,472.45.
European and US stocks finished higher, with Wall Street seeing investors pile back into semiconductor stocks while easing oil prices helped improve risk appetite.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 1.3%, the S&P 500 added 0.8% and the Dow Jones inched up 0.3%.
Asian markets are mostly higher this morning, with Japan's Nikkei and Korea's Kospi leading the way, up 1.35% and 3.4% respectively, while the Shanghai Composite is slightly in the red.
As for oil prices, Brent crude rose to a two-week high close to $77 a barrel in the early hours but has eased back to $76.20.
In company news, easyJet has announced it has agreed in principle to accept a rival 715p-a-share cash offer from Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO), having been in talks with rival private equity firm Castlelake in recent weeks.
Castlelake submitted a fifth proposal last weekend at 690p cash, alongside a partial unlisted share alternative, which the budget airline's board said it "would be minded to recommend".
