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London open: Airlines, miners push markets into the red
UK equity markets retreated slightly on Friday morning as the recent festive rally ran out of steam, with airline stocks and miners providing a drag early on.
The FTSE 100 was trading 0.1% lower at 8,253 after the first hour of trade, following a 1.1% jump to 8,260.09 on Thursday – its highest close since 16 December – having gained in five of the past six sessions.
On the docket for Friday are a number of important economic indicators worldwide, with few blue-chip corporate announcements expected. In focus will be unemployment statistics in Germany, lending and consumer credit figures in the UK and the ISM manufacturing index in the US.
Airlines flying lower
Budget airline Wizz Air fell after underwhelming with a 1.9% year-on-year increase in passenger numbers for December, with capacity declining as it continued to ground aircraft due to problems with Pratt & Whitney engines.
Sector peers easyJet and IAG were also out of favour, with a near-2% surge in oil prices the previous session unlikely helping matters. Brent crude was down 0.2% at $75.78 a barrel in morning trade, after hitting a two-month high on Thursday.
“Brent Crude is hovering around $76 a barrel, having gained around 5% in a week,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. “A bigger-than-expected drawdown of oil stocks in the US and hopes for a fresh stimulus boost for the energy hungry Chinese economy are behind the push higher in crude prices.”
Unsurprisingly, energy giants BP and Shell were among the best performers on the FTSE 100, while Harbour Energy gained on the FTSE 250.
Meanwhile, mining stocks were pulling back after a decent performance the previous day, with Antofagasta, Ferrexpo and Anglo American among the heaviest fallers.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Wise Plc | +1.97% | +21.00 | 1,087.00 |
| 2 |  |
Bp Plc | +0.89% | +3.60 | 406.75 |
| 3 |  |
Imperial Brands Plc | +0.89% | +23.00 | 2,609.00 |
| 4 |  |
Shell Plc | +0.87% | +22.00 | 2,549.00 |
| 5 |  |
Vodafone Group Plc | +0.81% | +0.56 | 69.44 |
| 6 |  |
Banco Santander S.a. | +0.55% | +2.00 | 364.00 |
| 7 |  |
British American Tobacco Plc | +0.47% | +14.00 | 2,966.00 |
| 8 |  |
Sainsbury (j) Plc | +0.44% | +1.20 | 277.00 |
| 9 |  |
Unilever Plc | +0.39% | +18.00 | 4,608.00 |
| 10 |  |
Marks And Spencer Group Plc | +0.39% | +1.50 | 390.80 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Flutter Entertainment Plc | -1.87% | -390.00 | 20,510.00 |
| 2 |  |
Bhp Group Limited | -1.69% | -33.50 | 1,954.50 |
| 3 |  |
Carnival Plc | -1.42% | -26.00 | 1,809.50 |
| 4 |  |
Ferguson Enterprises Inc. | -1.41% | -200.00 | 13,960.00 |
| 5 |  |
Smith & Nephew Plc | -1.39% | -13.80 | 979.40 |
| 6 |  |
Barratt Redrow Plc | -1.38% | -6.00 | 428.60 |
| 7 |  |
International Consolidated Airlines Group S.a. | -1.35% | -4.10 | 298.50 |
| 8 |  |
Melrose Industries Plc | -1.30% | -7.20 | 548.20 |
| 9 |  |
Antofagasta Plc | -1.21% | -19.50 | 1,594.50 |
| 10 |  |
Crh Plc | -1.19% | -90.00 | 7,472.00 |
US close: Nasdaq hits five-week low as losing streak continues
The end-of-year decline on US stock markets continued into 2025, with all three Wall Street benchmarks registering yet more losses and the Nasdaq hitting a five-week low.
Markets pushed higher shortly after the opening bell, but gains were erased by midday. With little in the way of corporate news, the focus was on a mixed batch of economic data, while bond yields stayed close to seven-month highs and oil prices surged.
The Dow fell for the fourth straight session, slipping 0.4%, while the losing streak on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq entered its fifth day, with both indices losing 0.2%. For the Nasdaq in particular, the tech-heavy benchmark is now trading at its lowest mark (19,280.79) since 29 November.
In economic news, initial jobless claims fell to 211,000 in the week ended 28 December, down from a revised 220,000 (initial estimate: 219,000) the week before. This was the fourth straight decline in weekly claims, below the consensus forecast of 222,000 and the lowest weekly reading since the week ended 27 April 2024.
“The claims data are consistent with a labor market that is strong enough to allow the Federal Reserve to proceed with rate cuts at a more measured pace in 2025. The level of initial claims is consistent with a relatively low pace of layoffs, and while the level of continued claims suggests unemployed workers face some challenges finding new work, the recent decline in continued claims is encouraging,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead US economist at Oxford Economics.
The US manufacturing purchasing managers’ index slipped to 49.4 last month, down from 49.7 in November but up from the flash reading of 48.3 published two weeks ago. While this was a better than economists’ predictions for no change form the initial estimate, this was still the sixth straight month below the key 50-point level which separates growth from contraction.
Meanwhile, US construction spending was flat in November at $2,153bn, slowing from a revised 0.5% gain in October, missing the consensus estimate of +0.3%.
Bond yields were more or less flat: the 10-year US Treasury yield fell 1.1 basis point to 4.565%. Yields have been rangebound since mid-December after strong gains in recent months and currently trade at levels not seen since May 2024.
“The question for the next few weeks seems to be whether the recent pickup in bond yields is due to concerns of future inflationary pressures, fanned by Trump’s tariff threats, or for the more benign expectation of stronger economic growth ahead,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.
Adding to those concerns of inflationary pressures were oil prices on Thursday, with WTI crude jumping nearly 2% to $73.12 a barrel – its highest level since mid-October – on the back of optimism surrounding the economic recovery in China and the recent big drawdown of US crude inventories.
Market movers
Tesla was out of favour, dropping 6% on the news that the electric carmaker’s annual deliveries declined for the first time in more than a decade in 2024. The company achieved a quarterly record of 495,570 global deliveries in the fourth quarter, but that was still lower than the 515,000 needed for annual deliveries to surpass 2023’s levels.
Heavyweights Apple and Microsoft were also registering losses by the close. However, Magnificent Seven peer Nvidia were firmly higher on the back of positive comments from Loop Capital, which pointed to more upside for the stock.
Down 3% was Boeing as the company continues to make headlines for the Jeju Air disaster, after a 737-800 aircraft crashed in South Korea on Sunday killing 179 people.
Friday newspaper round-up: Retail footfall, tax, Tesla, Nick Clegg, easyJet
High streets and other shopping destinations have had a “drab December”, ending another year of falling visitor numbers and raising fears of disappointing sales in the most important month for retailers. Attendance at UK shopping centres, retail parks and high streets was down 2.2% in December compared with the same period in 2023, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and analysts at Sensormatic. The decrease was led by a 3.3% decline at shopping centres. – Guardian
Shops and restaurants face record staff tax bills this year as Rachel Reeves’s Budget raid hammers businesses. The cost of employing a full-time worker on minimum wage will rise by £2,367 this year to more than £24,800 per person, with more than £5,000 of that going to the Treasury, according to new analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). The surge will be driven by the Chancellor’s decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions from April and sign off on an inflation-busting increase in minimum wage. – Telegraph
Worldwide sales of Tesla vehicles fell for the first time in a decade last year as the American electric car manufacturer battled fast-growing Chinese rivals for dominance amid slowing global demand. The Texas-based carmaker, led by the billionaire Elon Musk, delivered 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, down 1.1 per cent on 2023’s 1.81 million and short of Wall Street expectations. – The Times
Nick Clegg, Britain’s former deputy prime minister and Meta’s current president of global affairs, is leaving the company after six years. Clegg joined the Facebook parent company in 2018 as the social media platform’s vice‑president for global affairs and communications. At the time the company faced intense scrutiny over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and its role in the 2016 US presidential election. – Guardian
EasyJet is reducing the amount of paint it applies to each of its aircraft in a bid to reduce fuel consumption and cut carbon emissions. The carrier said it has become the first airline anywhere in the world to trial a system that requires thinner layers of paint to be applied in order to achieve the same finish. Rather than receiving two full coats, planes will now get a thin “grip” layer followed by a full second coat. That will be sufficient to shave what the airline called a “modest” 27kg off the weight of each aircraft. – Telegraph
