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FTSE 100 falls 21 points to 10,508 Apple price hike weighs on tech stocks Softbank sinks 14% in Tokyo 5.05pm: In the red The FTSE 100 ended the week with a fizzle, down 21 points at 10,508. As the US session began, dip buyers swooped in and pushed the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq into positive territory.
“Dip buyers have come storming in this afternoon to steady the ship after the wave of selling of the last 18 hours. The recovery is a testament to the staying power of this rally, but holding on to gains has proved problematic throughout the week,” IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp said.
“Fortunately the sessions before US Independence Day tend to give bulls the upper hand, potentially shifting the tone next week.”
4.02pm: Losses cut on both sides of the pond The FTSE 100 has cut losses, in line with a more positive mood across the pond.
Losses for the London index have been trimmed from more than 100 points to just over 40, with half and hour more trading still to come.
In New York, the Nasdaq has seen an early deficit of over 1% pared to below 0.2%. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla and Meta are in green now.
Oil prices are down over 3%, with Brent down to $72 a barrel.
The energy sector is "the main drag" on the Footsie, says market analyst Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill, with BP falling nearly 2% and Shell more than 1%.
Brent and WTI crude moving back toward levels last seen in late February is undercutting the energy sector’s earnings momentum and removing one of the FTSE’s key supports, Munnelly says.
Mining and materials are also under pressure, he says, from the stronger dollar, driven by global uncertainty around technology shares and inflation concerns.
"The technology sell-off was the broader global backdrop. Even though the FTSE 100 has limited direct tech exposure, it is not immune to a global de-risking episode.
"When investors reassess long-duration growth, AI positioning and inflation risk, the spillover usually hits cyclicals, miners, industrials and emerging-market-sensitive financials. That pressure kept London on the back foot."
3.34pm: Starmer to publish defence investment plan London's defence stocks have failed to salute reports that Keir Starmer is pushing through an increase in military spending as one of his last acts as Prime Minister, with investors apparently hoping for more.
The FT has put out a story that Starmer is poised to commit at least £1 billion more for defence ahead of a long-delayed defence investment plan (DIP) due next week.
QinetiQ was among the biggest fallers, down 2.5%, while Melrose Industries slipped 2.3% and Rolls-Royce lost 1.6%. Babcock and BAE Systems traded slightly lower.
The story says that some figures in the defence sector had been hoping for as much as £2.5 billion of extra funding.
2.47pm: Nasdaq falls for fifth day US stocks have opened lower, as expected, with the Nasdaq shedding almost 1% from a further selloff in semiconductor stocks.
Chipmakers including Monolithic Power Systems, Micron, Lam Research and Applied Materials were among the biggest decliners, extending a week-long retreat in the sector.
The S&P 500 is down 0.6%, while the Dow Jones slipped 0.4%, with losses led by Caterpillar and Goldman Sachs
Salesforce, IBM and Microsoft are the top risers on the Dow.
2.30pm: Samsung investment plan to be unveiled We have spent two years watching the AI build-out through an American lens. Nvidia, Microsoft, OpenAI, the hyperscalers and their hundred-billion-dollar capex pledges.
On Monday, South Korea will remind everyone that the foundations of this boom are poured somewhere else.
Samsung is set to unveil a decade-long plan worth around $648 billion, according to reports in Seoul.
The new plan anchors the country's next growth cycle and may include 300 trillion won for chip factories.
2.05pm: AI glasses 'becoming a credible category' We don't have media personalities and social media influencers on here very often, but analyst Isabel Fairlie at Charles Stanley has highlighted Meta’s new collaboration with Kylie Jenner.
The Starfire Kylie Edition AI glasses, costing new £359 a pop, shows how "AI glasses are shifting from high-end tech to a fashion-led lifestyle category, with adoption likely to hinge as much on wearability and social acceptance as functionality", Fairlie says.
"For investors, this is another sign that the category is moving from niche gadget to credible consumer product, although it is still early days."
The likely near-term outcome is "not the end of the smartphone," she adds, though after the "false start" more than a decade ago with Google Glass, the category now seems to have some credible consumer momentum as Meta, Google, Apple, Samsung, Snap and others are all competing in the category.
"The current wave looks different because Meta is putting AI functionality into familiar eyewear, teaming up with EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban and Oakley and the owner of Vision Express."
The opportunity goes beyond photos and calls, she adds, with potential uses in translation, navigation, logistics and hearing assistance.
"The theme is worth watching for investors. Success will depend on businesses delivering products consumers are willing to wear, trust and afford. But the risks are still considerable with such emerging technologies."
1.29pm: Climate is a $714bn risk, but should be a lot more Environmental disclosure platform CDP says companies expect extreme weather to cost them a collective $714 billion in future financial impacts as supply chains, operations and investment plans become increasingly exposed to climate disruption.
The interesting bit seems not that eye-watering number - it's that only 35% of companies currently recognise extreme weather as a material financial risk, even though almost half of the identified risks are imminent and 62% of cities, states and regions say they are already experiencing the effects.
In other words, a sizeable chunk of corporate Britain and corporate America may still be treating climate risk as a future problem while floods, heatwaves and droughts are busy moving it into this year's budgeting cycle.
As CDP's climate director Amir Sokolowski puts it: "As the impact of El Niño bites, we are seeing that extreme weather is also a financial risk."
He says companies, organisations and governments are "increasingly experiencing the impact of climate risk through a range of dependencies, from water to forests".
While many businesses are addressing this, he says, with recent disclosure trends suggesting they are paying greater attention to environmental risks and resilience as physical climate impacts become more visible, "there is more still to be done.”
12.42pm: US futures in red again US stocks are set for another difficult session, with the Nasdaq on course for a fifth straight day of losses as investors continue to rotate out of technology shares.
Nasdaq futures are down 1.2% ahead of the opening bell, while S&P 500 futures 0.5% in the red and those for the Dow Jones are just 0.1%.
"With the major US indices at or near all-time highs, the risks for investors who have benefitted handsomely from going ‘all in’ on the AI trade, are getting bigger," says market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation.
"And everyone is convinced that they can get out of the market at the top all at once. There’s going to be plenty of disappointment and angst when they find out they can’t. "
11.52am: Little fiscal room for manoeuvre for Burnham A memo has arrived for the presumed incoming PM Andy Burnham, and it can be summarised as follows: welcome to government, there is no money.
In an open letter to Burnham, Resolution Foundation chief executive Ruth Curtice, previously director of fiscal policy at the Treasury, offers congratulations swiftly followed by a bucket of cold fiscal water.
She warns that higher gilt yields and the war in Iran have probably already wiped out the government's fiscal headroom, leaving the next prime minister with little room for manoeuvre.
"Any extra borrowing comes with big costs," she writes. "There are no wheezes out of this dark fiscal hole, only tough decisions."
This is essentially the anti-mini budget manifesto. The message is that if Burnham wants to ease the cost-of-living squeeze and pursue more ambitious growth reforms, he will have to do so while sticking to the existing fiscal rules and continuing the "painful path of consolidation" started by his predecessor.
Markets will probably approve of the diagnosis, if not the medicine. Sterling and gilts have spent the week reminding Westminster that the UK's borrowing costs are already among the highest in the G7. The lesson of the past few years is that investors are perfectly happy to finance deficits right up until the moment they aren't.
The subtext is perhaps the most important line in British politics right now: there are plenty of ideas in Westminster, but very few free lunches.
11.19am: Next Chancellor watch Prediction markets have dramatically shifted their view on who could succeed Rachel Reeves as Chancellor if/when Andy Burham takes over as Prime Minister from Keir Starmer.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband has overtaken former health secretary Wes Streeting as the favourite over the past week.
On Polymarket, Miliband is now seen having a 49% chance of becoming the next Chancellor in 2026, up sharply from around 30% at the start of the week.
Streeting, who had been the clear frontrunner and traded at around 70% earlier this week, has fallen back to 11%.
Yvette Cooper is now the second favourite at 16.3%, while Shabana Mahmood is priced at 8%.
On the bond markets, which has been keeping an eye on UK politics closely in recent years, yields for longer-dated government debt have perked up in recent hours, after falling to three-month lows earlier.
10.41am: Heathrow cuts passenger numbers and profit forecast Shares in British Airways owner IAG have dipped 0.7% after Heathrow Airport warned profits will fall this year as it cut its passenger outlook due to the war in the Middle East.
The UK's largest airport said now expects passenger numbers of between 80.1 million and 84.5 million this year, with a base case of 83.6 million, representing a 1.1% decline from 2025 and a cut of up to 5.8% from the 85 million passengers it previously said it expected in 2026.
Costs were also rising, it said, with adjusted EBITDA now expected to decline by £147 million or almost 7.4% from 2025 levels and by £60 million compared with its previous forecast issued in December.
Passenger numbers rose 0.7% in the first five months of 2026.
The new passenger forecast "reflects the risk that continued volatility in the Middle East could dampen broader traffic volumes, with impacts extending beyond the region to global travel demand over the remainder of the year".
10.12am: Stocks on the slide The slide for the Footsie and the wider market has deepened.
London's blue-chip index has dropped 0.7% and the mid-cap FTSE 250 is down 0.6%, while Germany's DAX is down 1% and France's CAC 0.5%.
For the FTSE 100, miners and commodity-linked stocks are leading the declines, with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Glencore and Fresnillo all retreating by more than 2%.
Banks are also weighing on the index, with Standard Chartered, HSBC and Lion Finance Group solidly in the red.
Almost all but three of the 20 largest names are in the red, with the exceptions being BAT, Unilver and National Grid.
AJ Bell market analyst Danni Hewson says: "Property firms and housebuilders were in demand along with more defensive names... Energy stocks continued to tumble thanks to oil prices remaining rooted below $74 per barrel.
"Although a vessel being struck by Iran off the coast of Oman offered a reminder to take nothing for granted despite the increase in shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz."
9.05am: Tough market for food and drink exporters Britain's food and drink exporters endured a difficult start to 2026, with export volumes falling 8.9% in the first quarter to their lowest level for a decade outside the pandemic, according to the Food and Drink Federation.
The industry body said the value of exports fell 4.8% year-on-year to £5.7 billion, while imports rose 2.6% to £16.3 billion, widening the trade gap and suggesting UK manufacturers are losing ground to overseas competitors.
Trade with the US was particularly weak following the introduction of tariffs, with UK food and drink exports to the country dropping 28% to £529.6 million. The UK's export surplus with the US shrank by 69.3%, from £359 million to £110 million, while imports from America increased by 11.5%.
The FDF also warned that exports to the EU continue to suffer from post-Brexit trade frictions, with volumes down 6.9% year-on-year. Exports to countries covered by recent trade agreements also declined, with shipments to CPTPP members falling 11.3% and exports to India down 16.6% by volume.
8.15am: Weak start for the Footsie The FTSE 100 looks set to end the week on the back foot as investors' attention shifted from global geopolitical tensions to the global memory crisis after Apple raised the prices of its MacBooks and iPads in an effort to offset the impact of skyrocketing memory and storage prices.
Shortly after the open, London's blue-chip index was down 27 points at 10,503.28.
Miners Endeavour Mining PLC (LSE:EDV), Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) and Antofagasta PLC (LSE:ANTO) are among the top 5 losers on the Footsie this morning, as precious metals come under renewed selling pressure, while copper sentiment has also softened.
Airtel Africa PLC (LSE:AAF) and tech investor Polar Capital Technology Trust PLC (LSE:PCT) are also trading lower.
Leading the gainers, Barratt Redrow PLC (LSE:BTRW) rose 1.5%. The housebuilder has confirmed that Dean Banks will officially take over as CEO on September 21, succeeding David Thomas.
British American Tobacco PLC (LSE:BATS) and Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) both added 1.1%.
"Global equities are under renewed pressure, with the MSCI All Country World Index sliding to a two-week low as technology weakness again dominates market sentiment," commented Tickmill Group's Patrick Munnelly. "The selloff has been sharpest in Asia, where the MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped more than 3%, led by another violent unwind in semiconductor and AI-linked names."
7.30am: OpenAI delay weighs on Asian markets A New York Times report suggesting OpenAI may delay its IPO until 2027, as CEO Sam Altman pursues a $1 trillion valuation, is weighing on Asian markets this morning.
Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid described the mood as a "mini ice-age" in the region, with technology stocks again leading the declines. The KOSPI was down 8% and the Nikkei was off 4.5% at the time of writing, while SoftBank fell around 14% following the report.
Reid noted that the "Magnificent Seven" US tech stocks fell more than 2.5% on Thursday, with the broader tech mega-cap index moving deeper into correction territory after Apple shares dropped 6% on news that it would raise prices across its Mac and iPad ranges. The increases were a response to surging demand for memory and storage components, but they also fed into wider concerns that AI data centre expansion is generating inflationary pressure across the technology sector.
FTSE 100 Live pre-open Blue-chip shares in London are set to open lower on Friday after Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, XETRA:APC) led a tech sell-off that's spread through to Asian markets overnight.
The FTSE 100 is called around 64 points lower at the open, according to the futures market, reversing yesterday's 68-point gain to 10,529.
US stocks finished Thursday mixed, with a slump in Apple shares dragging on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which closed down 0.5%. The S&P 500 was little changed, while the Dow added 0.1%.
Apple raised prices across several MacBook and iPad models on Thursday, its first formal move to pass soaring memory and storage costs on to consumers as AI-driven demand for chips intensifies. The stock suffered its worst one-day drop since April 2025.
"Apple tanked more than 6% as investors feared that the higher prices would reduce demand and may not offset the squeeze on profit margins," said Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya. "Other device makers like Dell, HP and Lenovo lost between 4% and 5%, while Samsung is down by more than 8% today, on worries that the massive rise in chip prices will eventually hit a wall."
That selling has carried through to Asia, with Seoul's Kospi down 8%, Tokyo's Nikkei off more than 3%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng on the edge of a bear market after falling close to 20% from January's peak.
"The flight to bonds could continue amid this week's weakening sentiment, also supported by the sustainable decline in oil prices," Ozkardeskaya added. "The technology complex will probably remain under pressure, grappling with its own demons."
