FTSE 100’s best day since last July
And finally, a newsflash! The UK’s stock market has just posted its best day in six months.
The FTSE 100 index, which tracks the biggest companies listed in London, has closed 118 points higher tonight at 10,122 points, a gain of 1.18% and a new closing high.
That’s the biggest daily percentage increase since 10 July, and also the largest points gain since last April when markets were rallying after Donald Trump paused his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs.
Precious metals producer Fresnillo (+5.2%) was the top riser, following today’s gains in the gold price, followed by Next (+4.9%) which cheered the City by lifting its profit forecasts this morning. Miners and pharmaceuticals firms were also among the risers.
Today’s gains come after the FTSE 100 broke through the 10,000 point mark for the first time last Friday.
Gerald Toledano, group head of equities at FTSE Russell, says:
“The FTSE 100 passing 10,000 points is a landmark moment for the UK market. It demonstrates the enduring dynamism of British companies and the important role London continues to play as a global financial centre.”
Around three-quarters of the revenue of FTSE 100 companies comes from overseas, as many of its members are multinationals, so it’s a better gauge of the world economy than the UK.
Earlier today, Japan’s Nikkei closed at a record high and the US Dow Jones industrial average hit a new intraday peak, highlighting that the US intervention into Venezuela has not spooked investors.
Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, explains:
Long term macro shifting trends in microcosm – deglobalisation, multipolarity, geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty, trade disruption…it’s all there in the Venezuela situation and we can expect more to come. Removing Maduro is just the latest phase in Trump’s reordering the global balance of power via a mix of trade, economic, diplomatic and military means.
So, evolution not revolution but let’s not diminish what a big deal this is and what it points to. It marks a major shift in the way the global power game is played, and we cannot ignore what risks this could pose to investors even if markets kinda yawned and shrugged off the geopolitics for the moment.
That’s all for tonight…. GW
Key events
AJ Bell on the FTSE’s record close
“Confidence is easy to knock, hard to rebuild, and a powerful force when it comes to market performance. Currently London’s blue-chip index is surfing a wave of investor optimism, with the FTSE 100 closing at another fresh record high,” says Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, adding:
“Classy and classic sectors like finance, pharma, big oil and high street retail stalwarts are back in fashion, with investors looking for consistent, income driving stocks as a companion to the jam tomorrow tech titans which have dominated US markets over the past couple of years.
Last year might have provided no end of worrying headlines but markets took most of those geopolitical tensions in their stride, and current questions about what the White House may or may not be considering are broadly being overlooked, for now.”
FTSE 100’s best day since last July
And finally, a newsflash! The UK’s stock market has just posted its best day in six months.
The FTSE 100 index, which tracks the biggest companies listed in London, has closed 118 points higher tonight at 10,122 points, a gain of 1.18% and a new closing high.
That’s the biggest daily percentage increase since 10 July, and also the largest points gain since last April when markets were rallying after Donald Trump paused his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs.
Precious metals producer Fresnillo (+5.2%) was the top riser, following today’s gains in the gold price, followed by Next (+4.9%) which cheered the City by lifting its profit forecasts this morning. Miners and pharmaceuticals firms were also among the risers.
Today’s gains come after the FTSE 100 broke through the 10,000 point mark for the first time last Friday.
Gerald Toledano, group head of equities at FTSE Russell, says:
“The FTSE 100 passing 10,000 points is a landmark moment for the UK market. It demonstrates the enduring dynamism of British companies and the important role London continues to play as a global financial centre.”
Around three-quarters of the revenue of FTSE 100 companies comes from overseas, as many of its members are multinationals, so it’s a better gauge of the world economy than the UK.
Earlier today, Japan’s Nikkei closed at a record high and the US Dow Jones industrial average hit a new intraday peak, highlighting that the US intervention into Venezuela has not spooked investors.
Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, explains:
Long term macro shifting trends in microcosm – deglobalisation, multipolarity, geopolitical risk, economic policy uncertainty, trade disruption…it’s all there in the Venezuela situation and we can expect more to come. Removing Maduro is just the latest phase in Trump’s reordering the global balance of power via a mix of trade, economic, diplomatic and military means.
So, evolution not revolution but let’s not diminish what a big deal this is and what it points to. It marks a major shift in the way the global power game is played, and we cannot ignore what risks this could pose to investors even if markets kinda yawned and shrugged off the geopolitics for the moment.
That’s all for tonight…. GW
The US Dow Jones industrial average has just touched a new record high, up 0.4% today at 49,217 points.
Amazon are the top riser, up 2.4%.
O Santa, where art thou?
I’m sure all Guardian readers received a well-deserved visit from Santa last month.
But Wall Street missed out, as Joe Mazzola, head trading & derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab, explains today:
“Wall Street flatlined early Tuesday following Monday’s “risk-on” rally inspired by weekend events in Venezuela. Market participants face a day that’s sparse in terms of data and earnings, potentially leaving geopolitics front and center.
On a lighter note, despite yesterday’s gains, the “Santa Claus rally” failed to materialize for the third year in a row, with Monday the last day of the traditional seven-session window. The S&P 500 index fell 0.1% over those seven days.”
The UK market, though, did enjoy an end-of-year boost, followed by smashing through the 10,000 point mark at the start of 2026.
Pharmaceuticals firms are also pushing the London stock market to new peaks.
AstraZeneca (+5.3%) and GSK (+4.4%) are now among the top risers on the FTSE 100 index, which is up 1.5% in late-afternoon trading….
Amgen buys Oxford’s Dark Blue Therapeutics in blood cancer treatment push
Julia Kollewe
The Californian biotech Amgen has bought an Oxford University spinout specialising in cancer treatments, Dark Blue Therapeutics, for up to $840m (£620m).
Its lead drug treats acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer. Dark Blue’s chief executive Alastair Mackinnon told the Guardian that it’s a “dreadful disease, it’s like bad lung cancer”. He added:
“There’s a sort of kaleidoscope of treatments, the backbone of which is really quite difficult to take cytotoxic chemotherapy, quite old fashioned chemotherapy. And then there are some targeted molecules that address very small patient populations. So it’s quite a mosaic clinical picture at the moment.”
He thinks Dark Blue’s treatment “could address a lot of AML patients. And we’ve got very strong biology. This is going to translate in the clinic”. It is in preclinical studies and clinical trials with volunteers could take around four years, before the drug is submitted for regulatory approval, assuming trials go well.
Jay Bradner, executive vice president of research and Development at Amgen, said: “Acute myeloid leukemia remains one of the most difficult cancers to treat, and we see an urgent need for new mechanisms capable of changing the trajectory of this disease.”
Dark Blue was set up in 2022 from an incubator at Oxford University and its main shareholders are Oxford Science Enterprises, the US drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb and Germany’s Evotec. The biotech’s management and researchers, a team of 15, will stay on and remain in Oxford.
Tariffs blamed as US service sector growth slows
Eek. Activity in the US service sector slowed last month, and tariffs are being blamed!
That’s according to the latest survey of purchasing managers at American firms, from S&P Global.
It found that growth in activity at US services firms slower last month, due to a slowdown in new work.
Worryingly, firms also reported that input costs and selling prices increased sharply in December.
The PMI report says:
Panelists commented on a degree of uncertainty in market demand, with client budgets and spending reportedly squeezed. Tariffs remained a source of instability, especially in relation to foreign demand.
Latest data showed new export business declined in December for a second time in the past three months. Although modest, the rate of contraction was the steepest since last May.
This pulled the US service sector down to 52.5 in December, showing the lowest rate of growth in eight months, down from 54.1 in November.
Stocks are inching higher on Wall Street in early trading, adding to yesterday’s gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 40 points, or 0.08%, to 49,016 points, towards yesterday’s record high, while the benchmark S&P 500 index is 0.2% higher.
Trump thanks ‘MISTER TARIFF’ for record stock markets
Donald Trump has claimed that the surge in US stock markets is due to his trade war.
In an all-caps post on Truth Social, the US president also expressed hope that the Supreme Court does not declare his tariffs illegal, saying:
The USA markets just hit another ALL TIME HIGH – ALL OF THEM!!! THANK YOU YOU MISTER TARIFF!!! PRAY THAT THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT ALLOWS OUR COUNTRY TO CONTINUE ITS UNPRECEDENTED MARCH TOWARD UNPARALLELED GREATNESS! BOTH OUR NATIONAL AND FINANCIAL SECURITY HAVE NEVER BEEN STRONGER!
Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average hit a record high, while the broader S&P 500 share index hit its highest level on Boxing Day.
During 2025, the S&P 500 rose 16.4% (slower than London’s FTSE 100), but Trump is on shaky ground claiming that “Mister Tariff” gets the credit.
Markets actually tanked last April after the US president announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, only to rebound once he postponed them.
Last year’s rally was driven by enthusiasm over artificial intelligence, and hopes that US interest rates will be cut this year Trump has appointed a new, dovish, chair of the Federal Reserve.
Oil price rising
Oil has risen to its highest level since Boxing Day.
Brent crude is up 0.8% today at $62.23 a barrel, as its brief drop yesterday morning continues to unwind.
Yesterday, shares in US energy companies jumped on hopes that they could profit from Venezuela’s oil reserves.
Analysts have warned, though, that billions of dollars of investment would be needed, and also that Venezuela’s dense and sticky oil – although ideal for some US refineries – might only be profitable if oil prices were higher.
So although Venezuela does have large oil reserves, some industry experts mutter “Volume is vanity. Viscosity is sanity.”
In the insurance world, AIG has announced that chief executive Peter Zaffino will step down by the middle of this year and shift to the executive chair’s seat.
AIG has also appointed Eric Andersen, a former Aon executive, as president and CEO-elect from 16 February.
The moves follow unexpected disruption to AIG’s leadership plans late last year. The company had lined up the former chief executive of Lloyd’s of London, John Neal, to be its next president, only to withdraw the offer after learning that Lloyd’s had launched an investigation into an alleged inappropriate workplace relationship.
The FTSE 100 is romping higher.
The blue-chip share index is now up 106 points so far today, or just over 1%, at 10,114 points, a new intraday high.
Next remain the top riser, now up 4.2%, after raising their profit forecasts this morning after a decent Christmas.
Pest control firm Rentokil are also up over 4%, after Morgan Stanley raised their recommmendation.