- FTSE 100 up 56 points to 10,572
- UK GDP three-month growth at 0.8%
- Rotork, Gooch & Housego, and Ramsden’s agree to takeovers
- Experian and Ocado fall after updates
5.15pm: Shares gain
London stocks finished the day higher, up 56 points at 10,572, as tech stocks came under pressure on Wall Street.
IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said that stocks with little direct exposure to AI continue to have the edge.
“Right now, not being so dependent on chip stocks is a good thing. The rotation in markets has seen money desert chip and AI stocks, and flow to areas where these are either less prominent or non-existent,” Beauchamp said.
“Once more the FTSE 100 finds itself in favour, its combination of dividend payers and names relatively unexposed to AI providing a haven, while in the US the Dow and Russell 2000 continue to show greater resilience than the techy Nasdaq & S&P 500.”
4.13pm: What’s going on with Wall Street?
“For the second time in three days, solid earnings and guidance from a dominant chip firm preceded a pullback in the sector, possibly an ominous sign as tech results accelerate,” says Joe Mazzola, strategist at Charles Schwab.
TSMC reported a 77% annual earnings gain only to see its shares fall more than 4%, which hurt other semiconductors and the Nasdaq.
“The broader market also dipped and Treasury note yields rose as the US continued striking Iran and crude stayed near recent highs,” says Mazzola.
A “breadth check” on the market shows a broadened rally, with the percentage of S&P 500 stocks trading above their 50-day moving averages a “healthy” 62%.
“Improved breadth is often a sign of a less concentrated market. Recent small-cap strength and firmness in the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index (SPXEW) also indicate broadening.”
Below the surface of index moves, the market has seen “more churn”, he says, after many rode the positive momentum generated by the chips and other AI related names such as computer hardware, power, and construction firms.
“Today’s early action and the fact that chip stocks aren’t moving up this week despite strong results from sector giants suggests the recent rotation into areas like financials, industrials, and energy could persist.
“With earnings expectations so high in the tech sector, stocks there, including some of the year’s biggest winners, could face the greatest headwinds.
“Strong bank earnings reinforce the idea that corporate fundamentals remain resilient.”
There’s some US data out too, with June retail sales growth lighter than expected at 0.2% month over month, below the 0.3% consensus, though there were some better elements of the report.
As for the housing market, the NAHB housing market index fell to 34 in July from 36 in June, revised up from 35, which was a bit below the consensus forecast of 35.
Pending home sales dropped by 5.4% in June, well below the consensus estimate for a small 0.5% drop.
Netflix results are due later today, which Mazzola says “caps a week that’s generally exceeded expectations in terms of earnings, but shares of the streaming firm fell after its last four reports”.
3.55pm: FTSE turns green
The FTSE 100 has turned green in a late push into positive terrutory led by industrials, oil companies and some others.
After the Rotork deal this morning, fellow equipment manufacturers Diploma, Weir and Spirax are topping the leaderboard.
Other top risers include retailers Kingfisher, Burberry, M&S, plus consumer defensives like Vodafone, GSK, Diageo, Haleon, BAT.
Oil giants Shell and BP are also providing some heft, up 1% and 0.5%.
3.22pm: Oil spikes on Houthi threat
Oil prices have been dragged out of their morning slumber, with Brent having fallen below $84 before rearing up to above $86 a barrel in the past hour.
This followed threats from Iran’s allies in Yemen.
Houthi leaders warned that Saudi oil infrastructure and other vital facilities would be targeted by missile strikes if Riyadh joins the “comprehensive aggression”.
The Houthis earlier threatened the Bab al Mandeb strait.
Analysts say disruption of both could affect 22% of global oil supplies and nearly 30% of container shipping.
2.51pm: Mixed on Wall Street
It’s an uneven start on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones edging up 0.1%, while the Nasdaq dropped over 1% initially and has seen this cut to 0.9%. The S&P 500 has slipped 0.3%.
Healthcare stocks led the gains after upbeat earnings, with Abbott jumping 11.8% to top the S&P leaderboard and insurer UnitedHealth rising 8.8%, making it the Dow’s best performer.
Technology stocks remain under pressure, with SanDisk again the biggest faller on the Nasdaq 100, down 6.3%, followed by Seagate and Arm, both down over 6%, while AI chipmakers including Broadcom, Marvell Technology and Nvidia also traded lower.
2.09pm: Gold falls below $4,000
Gold is down 1.9% to $3,984.43, slipping below the closely watched $4,000 an ounce level as the US dollar regained ground despite this week’s softer-than-expected US inflation data.
Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Forex.com, said the yellow metal “looks poised for breakdown” below that key $4K level, arguing that one month’s inflation data was unlikely to persuade the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
He says persistently higher oil prices following renewed US-Iran tensions could also keep pressure on policymakers.
Razaqzada adds that “momentum has been completely lost in gold” after the metal’s recent sell-off, with the “path of least resistance” remaining to the downside.
“If we get a daily close beneath [$4K], then the next downside targets come in around $3,900, followed by $3,800.”
1.49pm: EU orders Google to open Android to AI rivals
Alphabet shares are little moved in premarket trading after the EU ordered Google to share search data and open parts of its Android operating system to rival AI companies.
The European Commission said the measures are intended to give competing AI services fairer access to Android features after finding Google’s Gemini assistant had advantages over rivals.
The commission said it had found that AI assistants developed by rival companies were unable to function on Android phones at the same level as Google’s own Gemini service.
“Thanks to these measures, we hope to see emerging alternatives to Google Search and Google’s AI services, such as Gemini, and that users in the EU can enjoy greater choice of services,” says Henna Virkkunen, the EC official overseeing technology.
Google criticised the move, with global affairs chief Kent Walker saying: “Europeans’ private searches would be exposed to unfamiliar companies, without adequate anonymization of the data and without user knowledge or consent. This would weaken citizens’ privacy, risk business trade secrets, and endanger national security.”
1.20pm:
Some interesting broker notes out today.
B&M European Value Retail is splitting City opinion, with its first-quarter trading update sending Deutsche Bank to upgrade the discount retailer on signs that profit margins are stabilising, while Panmure Liberum abandoned its long-standing bullish stance.
A couple from Citi, firstly the US bank has initiated coverage on Hikma Pharmaceuticals with a ‘buy’ rating, arguing the generic drugmaker’s current valuation offers a compelling entry point.
And the banking team has put out a note aiming to reassure clients that concerns over UK politics and Chinese regulation weighing on big lenders should now begin to ease, allowing attention to return to what it calls “impressive return trajectories”.
In its summer 2026 big-picture note on the sector, Citi said it remained constructive on UK bank fundamentals, citing net interest margin expansion and high-volume growth.
12.55pm: Uber to buy Delivery Hero (XETRA:DHER, OTCQX:DLVHF) for $14.8bn
Uber has agreed to buy German food delivery company Delivery Hero (XETRA:DHER, OTCQX:DLVHF) in a $14.8 billion (£11 billion) deal, creating one of the world’s biggest food delivery groups.
The US company has offered €41.50 a share for Delivery Hero (XETRA:DHER, OTCQX:DLVHF), in which is already own roughly 25%.
The combined business would bring together brands spanning 99 countries, handling $236 billion of orders in 2025. Delivery Hero (XETRA:DHER, OTCQX:DLVHF) has no UK presence.
To help address competition concerns, Uber will not acquire Delivery Hero (XETRA:DHER, OTCQX:DLVHF)’s businesses in 14 markets where it already has a strong presence.
Those operations, including Glovo in Spain and Portugal, foodora in parts of Scandinavia and Yemeksepeti in Turkey, will instead be sold to New York private equity firm SSW Partners for $1.6 billion.
12.23pm: London index pares losses, US futures mixed
The trend for London’s blue-chips over the morning has been a gentle trimming of the early losses, while in mainland Europe, the falls have deepened for Frankfurt and Paris benchmarks, down 0.7% and 0.8% now.
US futures have become more uneven, with Dow Jones futures turning positive, up 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures are down 0.2%.
Technology stocks look set to come under pressure, with Nasdaq 100 futures now falling 0.8% as the recent yo-yoing trend continues, which has resulted in the Nasdaq Composite index moving roughly sideways over the past month and the Nasdaq 100 dropping over 1.5%.
Chip stocks are responsible for most of the futures losses, says market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation.
This follows yet another set of “blow-out” quarterly results from a major chip maker, with TSMC showing a 77% jump in profits from a year ago and beating consensus estimates right across the board, as well as posting upbeat forward guidance for the next quarter, declaring that AI-related chip demand was “extremely robust”.
Yet TSMC futures are down 4.5% in US pre-market trading.
11.43am: UK’s envoy to US to stay on and work with Burnham’s govenment
More Downing Street stories of interest to the finance and business community.
Keir Starmer’s top business adviser, Varun Chandra, is reported to be staying on to work with incoming PM Andy Burnham.
Sky News reports that Burnham’s team is striving to keep some continuity in key policy areas, with Chandra having been acting as the government’s special envoy to the US on trade and investment.
“He has played a key role in negotiations with Washington over President Trump’s shifting tariffs regime over the last year, and is also said by private sector executives to have been heavily involved in key decisions on economic and business policy,” the story says.
11.09am: Gains for Dunelm and Shoe Zone
Other movers this morning include Dunelm, up 4% after the homewares retailer said full-year profit will be in line with expectations after sales growth of 2.9% in its final quarter.
New chief executive Clo Moriarty also promised to reveal plans for a bigger, better and bolder business in September.
Shore Capital analyst David Hughes says the year will see sales making a “small step up from the slower growth seen in the third quarter and positive momentum going into FY27”.
Profits are now expected to be in line with recent guidance at circa £210 million, of which Hughes says “this profit is certainly lower than expected at the start of the year, we expect it will be well received by a market which has been concerned with the 2H weighting of profits needed to reach guidance”.
“While our view on the outlook for discretionary spend remains cautious, we continue to see value in the long-term investment case”.
Another retailer, Shoe Zone, has soared more than 20% after sales during May and June came in ahead of market expectations.
The footwear chain now expects to see adjusted loss before tax of no more than £1 million for the year ending 3 October 2026, versus previous guidance from April that pointed to a loss of £1-2 million.
10.42am: Frasers falls as profit downgrades expected
Shares in Frasers are down 5.2% after the sporting goods retailer reported an underwhelming full-year performance and confirmed that trading remained ‘challenging’.
With its results, it failed to provide financial guidance, though the reason was its takeover offers for Hugo Boss and Accent Group were cited, as acquisition of one or both could lead to a variety of outcomes.
Analyst Andrew Wade at Jefferies calls it a “solid FY26”, but notes that the tough trading backdrop that has continued into early “is likely to weigh on consensus profit expectations”.
Meanwhile, Frasers is building for the long term and, in this context, we continue to view the shares as undervalued.
“We expect consensus to track lower, reflecting headwinds. Frasers’ brief outlook commentary is clear that the challenging backdrop – ‘tough trading conditions’, ‘subdued consumer confidence’ and ‘industry-wide excess stock’ – have continued into early FY27.
“With this in mind, we see scope for consensus PBT expectations to retrench closer towards a flat YoY outturn (FY26 £538m) versus current consensus of £598m (Factset, JEFe £617m).”
Notwithstanding the tricky backdrop, international acquisitions and partnerships are to the fore, including XXL, HoldSport, Hervis, The Webster, along with strategic property investments, and progress for the Frasers Plus credit proposition.
Given the scale of the potential takeover of Boss Wade seems to see the lack of guidance as fair.
9.50am: City focused on Burnham and his potential Chancellor
Market commentators are focused on UK politics this morning.
Saxo’s Neil Wilson, a Scotsman so no doubt elated at the football result, also notes that UK borrowing costs “moved lower and the pound moved up on reports Andy Burnham will not appoint Ed Miliband as chancellor”, while the pound is around a 13-month high against the euro.
He says the advantage of this approach in the short and medium term is “selling the ‘big spending vibes’ to the voting public whilst simultaneously selling the ‘small spending commitments’ to the market.
“The risk in this approach is repeating the mistakes of the Starmer regime – big promises that are undeliverable, leading to disappointment and a loss of power, credibility and confidence.”
There will be fiscal constraints whoever is in power, partly as Labour is still operating under the same election manifesto, while an looser fiscal policy “would be punished by markets” and Wilson says Burnham is likely to be keen to avoid his first 100 days headlines being driven by the markets.
“We may see some loosening at the edges but Burnham has been keen to dial down big spending promises that would require extra borrowing.”
This is likely to mean “more of the same..more disappointment but a Labour party that is feeling a bit better about beating Farage. The test will be if they start messing about with the fiscal rules to suit.”
9.17am: Markets down, win for England?
The FTSE 100 and wider European markets are all weaker this morning, with the London index down 0.5%, similar to losses for Germany’s DAX, and benchmarks for France, Italy and Spain.
US futures are also pointing to a softer open after last night’s gains, with Nasdaq futures down 0.6%, S&P 500 futures off 0.2% and Dow futures little changed.
After Thomas Tuchel’s boys were dumped out of the World Cup last night, market analyst Kathleen Brooks at XTB sees a “win for England” in some other finance-based developments.
The pound has edged 0.1% lower to $1.352 this morning after a “stunning rally on the back of reports that current home secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to become Chancellor next week”.
Reports suggested Andy Burnham had been persuaded not to appoint previous facvourite Ed Miliband to the role, which was “easing fears that the hard left of the Labour party will have control at the Treasury”.
GBP/USD is higher by nearly 1% this week, hitting $1.3550 yesterday, close to a two-month high.
“Politics play an integral part in UK asset prices, especially the pound and Gilt yields, due to our rising debt burden, huge borrowing and unstainable welfare bill, this is why the market is experiencing a relief rally on the back of Mahmood’s appointment.
“It tells us two things about Andy Burnham’s government: firstly, the market trusts Mahmood to take a sensible approach to economic policy, and to tackle the hard questions of welfare spending; secondly, Burnham is willing to have those to the right of the Labour party in his cabinet in key economic roles, which is why Gilts also rallied on Wednesday and yields are down slightly on Thursday.”
8.51am: UK engineers are ‘Jacks in the land of Giants’
Rotork’s agreement to a £4.1 billion takeover by Switzerland’s ABB adds to a string of recent takeovers of UK industrial names, including Spectris, Dowlais, Renold, DS Smith, TI Fluid Systems.
It comes after Peel Hunt issued a warning earlier this month that Britain is “selling the family silver”, with 154 takeover bids for UK companies worth more than £100 million since the start of 2023.
This morning, Peel Hunt analyst Harry Philips said the Rotork and Gooch & Housego deals shows the appeal of UK-listed industrial companies to overseas acquirers.
“We view the UK quoted industrials sector as ‘Jacks in the land of Giants’,” Philips says, “they are global niche companies with high market shares and high barriers to entry in process- and safety-critical applications.”
“They have come through the many headwinds since 2019 stronger and leaner, without this being recognised in valuation, hence the flurry of activity in the last two years.”
He adds: “Going into recovery, UK Industrial assets are attractive, given this global nature coupled with the discounted valuation multiples they trade on – we believe this substantial offer for Rotork proves our point.”
Panmure Liberum analyst Alex O’Hanlon says: “We have long been arguing that if the market doesn’t see value in Rotork’s business then others might.”
He believes that “Halma and Weir offer a good entry point for investors looking to redeploy their cash into other high-quality industrial compounders”.
8.29am: British Steel nationalised
The government has confirmed that it has taken British Steel into public ownership today “to protect the future of steel production in the UK”.
The Department for Business and Trade said it had been impossible to reach an agreement with former owner Jingye Group that would secure the company’s future while protecting taxpayers.
It was decided that making this move, under legislation passed last year, was in the “national interest” and “helps to safeguard supply chains, major infrastructure projects and national security”.
A new leadership team has been appointed to stabilise the business and develop what the government described as a “commercially sustainable, low-carbon future”.
British Steel was placed under government control in April 2025 after Jingye, the Chinese group that bought the company in 2020, proposed closing Scunthorpe’s two remaining blast furnaces, putting thousands of jobs at risk.
Business secretary Peter Kyle said an independent process would determine whether Jingye was entitled to any compensation, following the transfer into public ownership.
“British Steel now belongs to the British people, and our focus is on the future: stabilising the business, backing the communities that rely on it and building a sustainable, competitive and decarbonised steel sector for the years ahead,” he said.
8.15am: FTSE 100 opens lower with Experian biggest faller
The FTSE 100 has opened with another hangover lower, slipping 45 points to 10,470.77 as investors digested stronger-than-expected UK economic growth, last night’s England loss and a mix of company news.
Experian is the biggest faller, down over 6% on the back of its quarterly update.
RELX, Entain, Compass Group and Prudential were also among the biggest drags on the index.
There are no blue-chip ex-dividends today.
After the Rotork deal, the leaderboard is all industrial engineering stocks, with Weir Group, IMI, Spirax Group and Smiths Group (LSE:SMIN) among the biggest gainers, while Diploma and DCC are also risers.
8am: Takeover Thursday
Some more ‘family silver’ being sold off today.
FTSE 250-listed Rotork has agreed to a £4.1 billion takeover by Swiss engineering group ABB.
The industrial equipment maker’s board has recommended the 506p-a-share cash offer, which represents a 73% premium to yesterday’s closing share price and a 63% premium to the average price over the past three months.
And Gooch & Housego has agreed to a £345.6 million takeover by Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington-based private equity firm.
The AIM-quoted photonics specialist has recommended a cash offer of 1,230p per share, which when added to a 4.9p interim dividend, results in a total of 1,234.9p per share for shareholders, a 41.3% premium.
And there’s an update about pawnbroker Ramsdens Holdings, which has secured an improved takeover offer after shareholder feedback prompted US suitor FirstCash to hike its bid 13%.
FirstCash has increased the cash consideration to 675p a share from 600p. Including dividends of up to 9p a share, the total value of the offer rises to as much as 684p a share, valuing the company at £232 million, a 49% premium.
7.45am: UK not the laggard some make out
UK GDP “bucked expectations,” says Sanjay Raja, Deutsche Bank’s chief UK economist.
GDP surprised to the upside by expanding 0.1% on the month, with the three-month run rate sitting at a “very strong 0.8%”.
“And it’s likely that the UK will continue to sit at, or near the top, of the G7 league table when it comes to GDP growth in the second quarter of the year.
“In short, PM Starmer hands over the economy to his successor on much better footing.”
George Lagarias, chief economist at Forvis Mazars, agrees that the British economy “is once again proving its resilience and pushing back on forecasts for a Mid-year recession”.
He says month-on-month economic growth for May was “anaemic” but still beat expectations and for the second straight three-month period, all parts of the economy had a positive contribution, with services taking the lead.
“Having said that, today’s number doesn’t help Bank of England doves. With the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East, stronger than expected economic growth could tilt the scale towards a rate hike in the next few months.”
Looking ahead, Raja expects momentum to “dampen a bit” as the Iran energy squeeze “will eventually catch up with households and businesses, constraining spending and investment”.
“Lingering geopolitical uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz won’t help either. And it’s likely that the UK’s torrid GDP growth to start the year will course correct a bit.”
But he emphasises two truths heading into the summer: “First, despite a heartbreaking World Cup loss yesterday, the UK will very likely see a temporary bump in GDP over July (given extended trading hours).
“And second, the UK is not the G7 laggard that many regard it to be. The latter will be important for the new Prime Minister, as it will likely offset some of the potential downgrade to the economic outlook coming as part of the OBR’s fiscal update in autumn.”
7.36am: Frasers and Ocado numbers
A couple of early company stories.
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has declined to give financial guidance for the year ahead, saying its takeover offers for Hugo Boss and Accent Group could lead to a variety of outcomes depending on acceptances.
Full-year results revealed the Sports Direct and Flannels owner’s adjusted profit before tax fell 4% in the year to April, weighed down by £259.5 million of impairments to tangible and intangible assets and higher net bank interest costs.
And Ocado Group has reiterated its target to become cash flow positive in the second half of this year, despite it worsening in the first half.
The FTSE 250 provider of supermarket warehouse automation systems reported a mixed set of first-half results, including renewed interest from retailers, but underlying cash outflow worsening, flat underlying revenue and a fall in underlying earnings.
7.24am: Pace of UK growth slowing
Commenting on the GDP figures for the three months to May, ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown says: “The economy recorded robust growth in the three months to May, though the pace eased slightly as the latest two months showed a weaker picture.
“Services drove growth across the three months with computer programming and advertising again leading the way, while the often-volatile pharmaceutical industry also performed well.
“This was only partially offset by another weak period for power generation, while architectural and engineering firms also contracted.
“While all three main sectors grew over the three months, the slight growth in GDP in May was driven by services alone, with production and construction both falling back.”
FTSE 100 Live pre-open
The FTSE 100 is set to open around 45 points lower on Thursday, with traders returning to their desks after England’s World Cup dream ended in heartbreak in last night’s semi-final but with fresh GDP data to distract them this morning.
Oil prices are broadly unchanged, with Brent crude down 0.4% at $84.59, despite reports of fresh US strikes on Iranian targets overnight.
The Office for National Statistics has reported that the UK gathered pace slowly in May, with gross domestic product rising 0.7% over the latest three months compared with the previous three-month period, ahead of expectations for 0.5%.
Annual growth accelerated to 1.3%, the fastest rate for 13 months, as monthly GDP edged up 0.1% after a 0.1% fall in April.
Growth was driven by a 0.3% rise in the services sector, partly offset by declines in production and construction.
Overnight, Wall Street took confidence from another softer-than-expected US inflation reading, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged in the coming months.
The Dow Jones gained 0.3%, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq added 0.6%, with Apple climbing to a record high after reports it had secured approval to launch its generative AI features in China.
Asian markets are mixed this morning, with some weakness among chip stocks. Korea’s Kospi is down 6.3% and Japan’s Nikkei 3.2% lower, while the Hang Seng is up 1.5% in Hong Kong.
