Good morning and welcome back to the City AM morning liveblog.
The FTSE 100 kicked off the new year on the front foot marking an intraday high of 10,046.25p on Friday in the first trading session of 2026.
Whilst it slipped back in later trading, strong performances across blue-chip heavyweights including Rolls-Royce and Fresnillo, led to a 0.2 per cent gain for the session closing at 9,951.14p.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on X the rally was a “vote of confidence in Britain’s economy and a strong start to 2026.”
Rebecca Maclean, investment director at Aberdeen Investments, said: “Looking ahead, the UK market is expected to deliver solid earnings growth in 2026 and remains one of the cheapest equity markets globally, creating fertile ground for future returns.
“For those looking beneath the fizz, UK mid‑caps lagged last year’s rally and could present a compelling place for investors to focus next.”
But attention now turns to the batch of corporate updates that will kick of the year and shine a light on retailer’s performance throughout the golden quarter.
Supermarket stalwarts Tesco and Sainsbury’s will provide a snapshot of the Christmas trading, whilst Next and Marks & Spencer will offer a view of the high street.
Next and Sainsbury’s will kick off results first on Tuesday before attention turns to Tesco and Marks and Spencer on Thursday. Meanwhile, Greggs is also pencilled in for a trading update on Thursday.
We’ll be bringing you the top news and analysis of the morning as we get it.
In the meantime, here’s an overview of some of our top stories from the last week:
FTSE 100 closes whisker away from 10,000 after intraday high
Uber prices set to soar as ministers introduce VAT crackdown
Housing market ended 2025 on ‘softer note’ after ‘resilient’ year
Labour ‘quietly hammering’ workers as pensioners benefit, think tank says
UK’s first high-speed railway HS1 faced cancellation months before Channel Tunnel opening