Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.
The FTSE 100’s rally came crashing down yesterday as steep losses across commodities dragged the index into the red.
Whilst one shouldn’t fret too much with the index still holding firm above its latest milestone, Wednesday’s 0.7 per cent drop still wiped over 70 points off the index sending into to 10,048.21p.
Leading this was blue-chip oil giants with Shell tumbling over 3.4 per cent to 2,653.00 and BP 3.2 per cent to 418.05p.
It followed a slump in oil prices after President Donald Trump declaring Venezuela would be “turning over” $2bn worth of oil to the US – a move that would be set to impact trading relations with China.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the Venezuelan oil would be sold at market prince with money generated from the sale controlled by the President.
Its the latest escalation in geopolitical tensions and whilst investors risk appetite is yet to be completely dampened, growing threats from the White House around Greenland are quickly spreading more unease.
Meanwhile, the City’s attention today will be fixed on retail with Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Greggs all set to post key earnings updates.
Investors will be on the scout for festive trading performances as well as using each of the three as a tester of consumer sentiment, which faced a battering in the latter months of 2025.
We’ll be bringing you the top news and analysis of the morning as we get it.
In the meantime, here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday:
Shell and BP shares sink as China slams ‘bully’ US over oil dispute
British investors fled the stock market at a record rate in 2025
Reform announces Laila Cunningham will run for London Mayor
Ex-Jefferies banker pleads not guilty in FCA insider dealing case
Angela Rayner in Downing Street tops banker fears