ondon’s FTSE 100 lost some ground ahead of this week’s potentially pivotal interest rate decision from the Bank of England, with higher oil prices helping energy majors rise. The main UK stock index slipped by 33 points to 7677.73, after striding over 230 points higher last week.
The fate of the index, which started the week near four-month highs, could well depend on events at Threadneedle Street on Thursday, when the Bank of England takes back the rates spotlight. City experts are ready for another quarter-point increase, to 5.5%, along with similar signals that peak rates have arrived.
There have already been 14 consecutive Bank of England hikes since December 2021 in a long fight against inflation, which was intensified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent wholesale energy prices soaring.
And rising oil prices were back in focus today, with the price of Brent crude trading toward $95 a barrel, a level it last held in November.
The move on commodities markets was no doubt being eyed carefully at the BoE into its set-piece rate call. It also helped the FTSE 100’s heavily weighted oil majors make gains. BP rose 2p to 525p. Shell was 1.5p higher at 2581p.
Commodities trade and miner Glencore was up 3p to 460p. With interest rates back in focus, there was a renewed air of caution over some stocks that were at the forefront of last week’s gains.
Housebuilders eased back, with Persimmon down 24p at 1055p. Online estate agency Rightmove was over 7p weaker at 554p. Developer Berkeley fell 51p to 4473p.
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How BT Business CEO Bas Burger’s preparing for the next tech revolution: How to be a CEO podcast
When BT Business was officially launched in April this year, Bas Burger was the man entrusted to take the reigns. He’s in charge of 24,000 people, and a multi-billion pound strategy to make the UK’s broadband infrastructure fit for the future.
End-of-day market snapshot
Take a look at today’s closing market snapshot as the FTSE lost almost 60 points after last week’s rally.
FTSE closes down 0.8%
The FTSE 100 finished the day at 7,652.94, down 0.8%, as rising oil prices stoked new inflation fears.
The index started the day flat, but shares fell as the day went on, as the price of a barrel of brent crude oil came close to $95 a barrel.
Big fallers included RS Group and Entain,
Pubs in England and Wales are closing at the rate of two a day
About 230 pubs closed in the second quarter of this year, according to official statistics.
The data showed that pubs are closing at the rate of two per day across England and Wales, and the number of closures has risen by 50 per cent from 153 during three months prior.
The costs of running a pub have soared alongside consumers finding themselves with limited disposable income and unable to afford a pint.
Online spending ticks down in August
Customers spent £9.43 billion online in August, and racked up the most buy-now-pay-later debt of any month this year, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index.
The amount spent online during August was down slightly from July, but online sales in both months have been strong as shoppers shunned the high street amid bad weather.
There was good news on inflation, with online prices falling by 6.2% year-on-year, the biggest year-on-year fall since March 2022. The online price of essential items continued to increase, but more slowly than past months.
Sales of back-to-school items surged in the month, as parents left it late to buy school supplies, while barbecue sales got a boost towards the end of the month as good weather finally arrived.
Little movement on Wall Street to start week
Wall Street shares are little changed this morning, with the S&P 500 slightly down and the Nasdaq slightly up, as markets prepare for the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rates decision on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates where they are.
Want to be happy in London? Just earn £79,524 a year, claims new research
If you want to be as happy as possible in London, you’ll need to earn £79,524 a year — that’s according to new research based on an influential study into the relationship between money and happiness.
New research from currency exchange platform S Money built upon on Purdue University’s oft-cited “Happiness Premium” study, which found that happiness increases with earnings up to a certain point, above which making more money no longer has a significant impact. By adjusting the findings of the study for regional currency and cost-of-living differences, S Money now claims to have worked out the happiness premium for a number of major cities, including London.
It found that the point where happiness plateaus in London is just short of the £80,000 a year mark.
Market snapshot as FTSE dips further
The FTSE 100 has declined further, with RS Group, Rightmove and Entain among the biggest fallers.
CMA warns on danger of AI adoption on consumer trust
Consumers are at risk of being exposed to a fresh wave of scams, misinformation and manipulation through new AI tools, a report by the UK competition regulator has warned.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said the evolution of large language models (LLMs) and other machine learning techniques exacerbate existing online harms and risk undermining consumer trust in businesses who use them.
Fake reviews on e-commerce websites will become much easier for bad actors to create at scale using the technologies, according to the report, while scam phishing emails are set to become more personalised and convincing, and users could also be manipulated by information shared with them from LLM chatbots.
Chatbot ‘hallucinations,’ in which a LLM unwittingly creates false information that appears plausible, is also likely to increase the circulation of misinformation, the CMA warned, citing examples of a chatbot fabricating medical notes and making false allegations against individuals.
Can a merger of the CBI and Make UK work?
Ahead of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)’s annual meeting this Wednesday, the group is reportedly now seeking £3 million from members to avoid financial collapse. At the same time, it seemingly remains in discussions with manufacturing trade group Make UK around future collaboration – including a potential merger.
This all comes after a challenging year for the CBI, including allegations of sexual misconduct, and a toxic workplace environment, by current and former employees.
The potential Make UK tie-up raises interesting questions around managing reputational risks in corporate transactions, especially where brand and name recognition represent an important part of the attraction to prospective partners or purchasers.
