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| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Entain | 648.0 | 10.5% |
| DCC | 5,010.0 | 8.0% |
| GSK | 2,080.0 | 6.9% |
| Beazley | 1,240.0 | 6.9% |
| BT Group | 205.0 | 5.7% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Antofagasta | 3,627.0 | -6.2% |
| Rightmove | 450.5 | -4.0% |
| Anglo American | 3,560.0 | -3.8% |
| Barclays | 483.3 | -3.7% |
| Fresnillo | 3,776.0 | -3.2% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 Year |
| FTSE 100 INDEX | 10,402 | 0.9% | 21.4% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 49,501 | 0.5% | 11.1% |
| DAX INDEX | 24,603 | -0.7% | 14.4% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 54,293 | -0.8% | 39.8% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 8,928 | 0.8% | 6.1% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 64.31 | 1.74% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 68.57 | 1.84% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 4,951 | 0.1% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 590 | -3.1% |
Click graph to enlarge
The UK 100 is called to open -19 at 10,405. The UK 100 looks set to open marginally lower this morning, This comes after the UK 100 yesterday closed at a fresh record, up ~0.8%, supported by healthcare and defensives. GSK surged nearly 7%, hitting a 26-year high after upbeat Q4 earnings and confident guidance on its next growth phase. Insurers and selected cyclicals also outperformed, while miners found support from earlier strength in metals. Focus today will be on the Bank of England. The BoE is widely expected to hold rates at 3.75%, with focus on the vote split, guidance and tone. Policymakers are expected to balance easing inflation against a weakening labour market, keeping optionality open on the timing of the next cut.
The S&P fell on Wednesday as the sell-off in technology stocks intensified, with losses in Advanced Micro Devices hindering the trade. The broad market index slid 0.51% and closed at 6,882.72, while the Dow Jones added 260.31 points, or 0.53%, and settled at 49,501.30. The Nasdaq dropped 1.51% to end at 22,904.58. Adding to the risk-off sentiment, bitcoin fell more than 3% after earlier breaking below the $73,000 level. Shares of AMD weighed on the broader market, pulling back 17% after its first-quarter forecast underwhelmed some analysts. Defending the results, CEO Lisa Su told CNBC Wednesday that the company has seen an increase in demand in recent months, saying, “AI is accelerating at a pace that I would not have imagined.” Still, other names in the chips space such as Broadcom and Micron Technology suffered losses as well. The former was down 3.8%, while the latter fell 9.5%. Some software stocks also continued to face pressure, including Oracle and CrowdStrike, which extended their decline from the prior trading day. Oracle shed 5%, while CrowdStrike lost more than 1%. While the group has been a source of weakness recently, certain names like Microsoft found stability Wednesday. That stock was up nearly 1%.
Asian markets pulled back from recent highs as the US tech rout spilled over. Japan and South Korea led declines, with chipmakers and software names under pressure after sharp gains earlier in the week. Hong Kong and China also weakened as AI disruption fears lingered. US equity futures were largely flat in early Asian trading.
BT, Britain’s biggest broadband operator which also owns the EE mobile network, posted a 4% fall in quarterly revenue, in line with forecasts, and said it was on track to meet its targets for the year.
Compass Group, the world’s largest caterer, reported a bigger rise in first-quarter organic revenue than expected on Thursday, helped by robust growth in its sports & leisure and business & industry segments. The company’s organic revenue grew 7.3% in the three months to December 31, compared with market expectations of 7.1% growth, according to a company-compiled consensus.
Shell this morning reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit amid lower crude prices. Shell posted adjusted earnings of $3.26 billion for the quarter, missing analyst expectations of $3.53 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus. A separate, company-provided analyst forecast had put Shell’s expected fourth-quarter profit at $3.51 billion. The London-headquartered firm reported profit of $3.66 billion over the same period last year and $5.4 billion in the July-September period. For the full-year 2025, Shell posted weaker-than-expected adjusted earnings of $18.5 billion, compared to annual profit of $23.72 billion a year earlier. “2025 was a year of accelerated momentum, with strong operational and financial performance across Shell,” Shell CEO Wael Sawan said in a statement. The company announced a 4% increase in its dividend to $0.372 per share and a $3.5 billion share buyback program, a move that marks the 17th consecutive quarter of $3 billion or more in buybacks. Net debt came in at $45.7 billion at the end of last year, with gearing at 20.7%. This reflects an increase from net debt of $41.2 billion and gearing of 18.8% at the end of the third quarter. The results come as lower oil prices force European energy majors to confront some tough choices. A challenging market environment, along with expectations for a particularly weak earnings season, had been expected to put the industry’s shareholder payouts at risk.
Vodafone today said it is on track to deliver a full-year profit and cash flow performance at the upper end of its guidance range. The mobile phone group reported “good” service revenue momentum in the third quarter across both Europe and Africa, including top-line growth in its biggest market of Germany. Vodafone also said it was “making very good progress” with the integration of the Three business in the UK. Service revenues rose by 7.3% in the third quarter to 8.5 billion euros as the consolidation of Three UK and Telekom Romania assets were offset by foreign exchange movements. On an organic basis, service revenue increased 5.4% with strong contributions from Turkey and Africa. This compared with 5.8% in the second quarter. Germany posted growth of 0.7% and UK declined 0.5%, reflecting the impact of a previously flagged one-off project business gain in the previous year.
UK
BT Group (BT.A) – Q3 Trading Update
Compass Group (CPG) – Q1 Trading Update
JTC (JTC) – Q3 Trading Update
Vodafone Group (VOD) – Q3 Trading Update
Shell (SHEL) – Full Year Results
Anglo American – Q4 2025 Production Report
US
Barrick Mining Corp (NYSE:B) PMO
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) PMO
Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) PMO
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) AMC
Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) AMC
Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) AMC
UK
Victrex (VCT) – Q1 Trading Update
US
Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:PM) PMO
German Factory Orders
EU Retail Sales
BoE Interest Rate Decision
BoE Minutes
BoE Monetary Policy Report
BoE Monetary Policy Summary
BoE MPC Vote
BoE’s Governor Bailey speech
ECB Main Refinancing Operations Rate
ECB Monetary Policy Statement
ECB Rate On Deposit Facility
ECB Press Conference
Fed’s Bostic speech
UK 100 companies going ex-dividend on 5th February 2026:
None
UK 250 companies going ex-dividend on 5th February 2026:
Avon Technologies
Paragon Banking Group
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