UK Stock Market Today: FTSE 100 Dips as Unilever Slumps on Magnum Spin‑Off (London Close, 8 December 2025)

The UK stock market started the new week on the back foot on Monday, 8 December 2025, as investors juggled a landmark Unilever spin‑off, a renewed bond sell‑off and looming interest‑rate decisions from both the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.

By the closing bell in London, the FTSE 100 had slipped around 0.2% to 9,645.09, while the FTSE 250 fell 0.7% to 21,921.28 and the AIM All‑Share lost 0.4% to 748.52. Alternative benchmarks told a similar story, with the Cboe UK 100 down 0.2%, the Cboe UK 250 off 0.6% and Cboe Small Companies down 0.9%. ^[1]

Across the continent, the pan‑European STOXX 600 faded 0.1%, with London’s FTSE 100 underperforming slightly, down about 0.23%, as higher long‑dated bond yields weighed on real estate and other rate‑sensitive sectors. ^[2]

Index recap: a cautious start to a crucial week

The price action was muted but telling.

FTSE 100: down 21.92 points (‑0.2%) at 9,645.09. ^[3]
FTSE 250: down 142.67 points (‑0.7%) at 21,921.28. ^[4]
AIM All‑Share: down 0.4% at 748.52. ^[5]
Investing.com UK 100: fell roughly 0.24% at the close, echoing the broader UK equity weakness. ^[6]

The tone was shaped by two big macro questions:

Will the Fed cut rates again on Wednesday?
- Markets are pricing around a 90% chance of another 25 bps cut, which would be the third consecutive reduction, taking the federal funds target range to roughly 3.5–3.75%, according to CME FedWatch data cited by Reuters. ^[7]
Will the Bank of England follow suit?
- The BoE is widely expected to trim Bank Rate by 25 bps to about 3.75% next week, after holding in November, as a still‑weak UK jobs market and post‑budget tax concerns weigh on business confidence. ^[8]

In the background, UK government bond yields moved higher alongside European peers, with a Bloomberg live blog noting that UK bonds were falling amid a broader sell‑off as traders pared back rate‑cut expectations. ^[9]

Unilever’s Magnum spin‑off: ice cream debuts, parent melts

The single biggest story on the FTSE 100 today was Unilever’s demerger of its ice‑cream business, now trading as The Magnum Ice Cream Company (MICC).

What actually happened

Unilever completed the separation of its global ice‑cream arm — which includes Magnum — over the weekend, with Magnum shares debuting today in Amsterdam, London and New York. ^[10]
In Amsterdam, Magnum opened around €12.20, below the €12.80 reference price, implying a valuation of roughly €7.8–7.9 billion, shy of some earlier expectations. ^[11]
Unilever has flagged that a share consolidation will take place after today’s London close to adjust for the value of the spin‑off. ^[12]

Market reaction

The reaction in the parent stock was brutal:

Unilever fell about 6.6% to 4,160p, making it the FTSE 100’s worst performer of the day. ^[13]

Alliance News and Reuters commentary point to a couple of key drivers behind the drop: ^[14]

Technical selling pressure
- Magnum is headquartered in the Netherlands and listed primarily on Euronext Amsterdam, meaning it is not eligible for inclusion in the FTSE UK index series.
- UK index funds benchmarked to FTSE UK indices that received Magnum shares in the spin‑off are forced sellers, creating short‑term downward pressure on the new listing and sentiment knock‑on for Unilever.
Valuation reset & uncertainty
- Magnum’s initial valuation came in lower than some earlier estimates, prompting investors to reassess how much long‑term value Unilever has actually unlocked. ^[15]

Despite the rocky debut, Morningstar and other analysts quoted in today’s coverage remain constructive on the long‑term story, arguing that a standalone Magnum should benefit from a focused management team and category‑specific strategy, even if early flows are dominated by forced selling and arbitrage. ^[16]

Rate jitters hit housebuilders and real estate – but 2026 hopes stay alive

Higher bond yields and the prospect of further central‑bank moves left UK housing and property shares among the weakest pockets of the market.

The FTSE 350 housebuilders index fell more than 3%, according to Reuters. ^[17]
Barratt Redrow tumbled roughly 4% to around 363p, after Citigroup cut its price target to 506p from 530p. ^[18]
Persimmon lost about 3.5%. ^[19]

Real‑estate stocks were also under pressure across Europe, with Reuters highlighting a 1.6% drop in the STOXX real estate sub‑index as long‑dated bond yields hit fresh highs; Germany’s 30‑year yield climbed to levels not seen since 2011. ^[20]

Yet the outlook isn’t uniformly bleak. Citi’s equity team, quoted in the London close report, still sees a “spring bounce” in UK volume housebuilders into 2026, pointing to: ^[21]

A gradually more supportive interest‑rate backdrop,
Early signs of improvement in UK planning and housing policy,
And pent‑up demand after a multi‑year affordability squeeze.

In other words: today’s pain reflects macro nerves, not a definitive verdict on the sector’s medium‑term prospects.

Defensives, Rolls‑Royce and select mid‑caps buck the trend

Not every part of the UK market was under pressure.

Defence names and industrials

On the FTSE 100, defence and aerospace stocks outperformed amid ongoing geopolitical tension:

Babcock International led the blue‑chip risers, up around 2.6%,
BAE Systems also advanced, and
Rolls‑Royce gained about 2.1% after securing a major order for over 300 engines for Leopard 2 battle tanks from KNDS. ^[22]

The move continues a longer trend in which defence earnings visibility and order backlogs have made the sector a haven during bouts of macro volatility.

Mid‑cap standouts

In the FTSE 250, a handful of names shrugged off the broader weakness:

Kainos surged around 6.6% after a double‑upgrade from Bank of America to “buy” from “underperform”,
Baltic Classifieds rebounded nearly 6% as bargain hunters stepped in following a sharp slide last week. ^[23]

Currencies, bonds and the macro backdrop

The equity moves were tightly intertwined with activity in currencies and fixed income.

Sterling: The pound slipped slightly to around $1.33 by the London close, down from about $1.3326 on Friday, as traders positioned ahead of the Fed and BoE meetings. ^[24]
Gilts: UK 10‑year yields hovered around 4.53%, with shorter‑dated yields nudging higher as traders trimmed aggressive rate‑cut bets. ^[25]
Global context:
- Reuters reported that European shares ended subdued, with rising yields and hawkish ECB commentary keeping risk appetite in check. ^[26]
- In the US, Wall Street’s main indices traded lower as Treasury yields climbed ahead of Wednesday’s Fed decision. ^[27]

The messaging from analysts can be boiled down to this:

Equities are in “wait‑and‑see mode” – but any surprise from the Fed or BoE on the pace of easing could quickly reprices risk assets, including UK stocks.

Where UK investors were trading: retail flow snapshot

Beyond index moves, retail trading data from interactive investor gives a good feel for what UK individuals were doing during Monday’s session.

According to interactive investor’s “Daily Trading Flash” for 8 December 2025, the 10 most‑traded stocks on its platform between the open and late morning were: ^[28]

SDCL Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT)
Wishbone Gold (WSBN)
Unilever (ULVR)
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY)
Diageo (DGE)
Empyrean Energy (EME)
Marks & Spencer (MKS)
Rolls‑Royce (RR.)
Taylor Wimpey (TW.)
Rockhopper Exploration (RKH)

Crucially, the data also show the split between buy and sell orders:

Unilever saw an eye‑catching 94% of trades on the buy side, suggesting many private investors viewed today’s sell‑off as an opportunity rather than a reason to run.
Taylor Wimpey, despite sector headwinds, clocked around 90% buy trades, hinting at contrarian interest in housebuilders.
At the other extreme, SEIT — which plunged more than 16% after breaching its leverage policy limit, according to Reuters — saw a more balanced pattern, with only about 37% of trades being buys, reflecting genuine concern over gearing and dividend risk. ^[29]

For readers tracking sentiment, this split underlines a key theme of the day:

Institutions may be de‑risking around macro and structure events, but retail money is still hunting selectively for value and income.

Quant signals: which UK stocks look cheap (or rich) after today’s move?

Fresh analysis from eyeQ (Quant Insight), published this morning and syndicated by interactive investor, flagged a group of UK stocks whose current prices diverge meaningfully from their “model value” based on macro conditions. ^[30]

On the “screening as cheap” side (trading slightly below macro‑implied fair value) eyeQ highlights:

Pearson (PSON) – long, tough 2025, but macro momentum may be bottoming, with conditions once again consistent with a share price above 1,000p.
Standard Chartered (STAN) – benefiting from global rate and FX trends, with a modest discount to model value.
St James’s Place (STJ) and Convatec (CTEC) – both flagged as trading at small discounts, with macro factors still highly relevant.

On the “rich” relative to macro side:

CRH, SSE, Capita, BHP and Glencore are all judged to be trading at premiums to their model values, some with sizeable “fair value gaps”. ^[31]

EyeQ’s takeaway is not that these names are automatic buys or sells, but that macro conditions alone would justify somewhat different pricing, making them ones to watch as the rate and growth outlook evolves into 2026.

Analyst and media forecasts: how pros see the FTSE into 2026

Although today’s market move was modest, strategists and stock‑pickers are already looking ahead to 2026.

A widely circulated stock‑picking piece published today highlighted two unnamed FTSE 100 stocks positioned for “epic share price gains in 2026”, focusing on companies with strong balance sheets and structural growth drivers. ^[32]
Another batch of articles over the weekend drew attention to very high‑yielding FTSE 100 income stocks (around 8–9% yields), arguing that if rates fall as expected, those payouts could look increasingly attractive versus cash. ^[33]

On the macro side, strategists quoted by Reuters and Alliance News stressed that:

If the Fed and BoE both deliver dovish cuts this month, equity markets — including the FTSE 100 — could re‑rate higher into early 2026, especially in domestically focused and rate‑sensitive sectors such as housebuilders, banks and real estate. ^[34]
However, if inflation or labour‑market data re‑accelerate, central banks may have to slow or pause easing, keeping bond yields elevated and capping valuations for long‑duration assets, including some growth and infrastructure plays. ^[35]

In short, today’s modest FTSE dip sits at the intersection of two narratives:

Short‑term caution about the exact timing and pace of rate cuts, and
Medium‑term optimism that lower borrowing costs and stabilising growth could underpin stronger earnings and, in some cases, richer valuations in 2026.

Corporate calendar: what could move UK stocks next

A preview from Hargreaves Lansdown’s equity research team, published ahead of this week, outlines several key corporate updates that may drive individual UK names and sector sentiment over the coming days: ^[36]

Tuesday 9 December
- Ashtead (Q2 results) – markets expect a slight revenue decline as US construction demand remains soft, but improving cash flow and any update on 2026 capex plans will be closely watched.
- British American Tobacco (full‑year trading statement) – investors are looking for confirmation that revenue growth can move from about 2% back toward the group’s 3–5% medium‑term target, alongside progress on debt reduction.
- Chemring (FY results) and Moonpig (H1 results) also report.
Wednesday 10 December
- Berkeley Group (H1 results) – a key read‑through for London and South‑East housing.
- TUI (full‑year results) – focus on its new shareholder‑return strategy and prospects for resuming dividends in 2026.
- TSMC (corporate sales release) – not UK‑listed, but important for global semi and AI sentiment, which feeds back into UK‑listed tech and industrial suppliers.
Thursday 11 December
- NCC Group (FY results) – cybersecurity demand and contract pipeline closely watched.

Overlay these company‑specific events with Wednesday’s Fed decision and next week’s BoE meeting, and it’s clear why today’s session felt cautious rather than panicky: the real catalysts are still ahead.

Key takeaways for UK stock‑market watchers

To wrap up, here’s what matters most from “after the bell” on 8 December 2025:

Headline indices were modestly lower, with the FTSE 100 down about 0.2%, the FTSE 250 off 0.7% and AIM in the red, as investors stayed cautious ahead of major central‑bank decisions. ^[37]
Unilever’s Magnum spin‑off dominated the session, triggering a sharp fall in Unilever’s share price and raising short‑term technical pressures, even as analysts remain upbeat on the ice‑cream unit’s long‑term potential. ^[38]
Rate‑sensitive sectors, especially housebuilders and real estate, underperformed, but big‑picture forecasts from Citi and others still point to a constructive 2026 backdrop if rates drift lower. ^[39]
Defence, aerospace and selected mid‑caps provided pockets of strength, underscoring ongoing investor preference for earnings visibility and structural growth stories. ^[40]
Retail investors leaned into the volatility, aggressively buying names like Unilever, Taylor Wimpey and Rolls‑Royce, while remaining more cautious on leveraged income plays such as SEIT. ^[41]
Quant and fundamental analysts alike are already framing 2026 as a potential opportunity year for selected FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 stocks, contingent on central banks delivering — and sticking to — a credible rate‑cut path. ^[42]

For now, the message from today’s close is straightforward:

The UK market is marking time, not capitulating – and the next major moves will likely be scripted in central‑bank press conferences and company boardrooms over the coming days.