London, January 8, 2026, 09:21 GMT
- UK blue-chips cooled after a string of record highs as oil and bank shares dragged
- Global markets steadied ahead of Friday’s U.S. payrolls report
- Tesla’s UK registrations fell again as Chinese brands gained ground
London’s FTSE 100 closed down 0.7% on Wednesday, pausing after a run of record highs as energy and financial stocks fell and investors tracked the latest U.S.-Venezuela moves. Energy shares slid after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had reached a deal to import up to $2 billion worth of Venezuelan crude, while banks fell and defence stocks edged higher. The mid-cap FTSE 250 ended 0.4% higher, holding near a four-year peak.
The wobble comes at the start of a year when investors have pushed several major markets toward new highs, then started to pick at the assumptions underneath. A key one is whether U.S. labour data now arriving after a long government shutdown will keep expectations for Federal Reserve cuts intact.
For UK shares, it has been a tug-of-war between global earners and the home economy. Company updates on healthcare, retail and autos are landing in the same week as geopolitics swings oil and metals, and that mix shows up quickly in sector moves.
Tuesday’s rally took the FTSE 100 up 1.4% to a record close of 10,112.73, led by heavyweight healthcare shares after AstraZeneca said it would work with Bostongene on “foundation models” — large artificial intelligence systems — to speed oncology drug development. The sector also lifted Europe’s STOXX 600, while a weaker pound added support for UK-listed exporters and investors kept one eye on potential Bank of England rate cuts later this year. Next climbed after raising its profit outlook again, and Ocado jumped after Worldpanel by Numerator said it posted the fastest sales growth among UK supermarkets in the Christmas quarter. Reuters
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 ended lower on Wednesday while the Nasdaq eked out a gain as investors rotated back into AI-linked stocks such as Nvidia and Alphabet. “Rumors that the AI trade was done turned out not to be true,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive of Longbow Asset Management. The S&P 500 is trading at about 22 times expected earnings, above its five-year average of 19, according to LSEG data. Reuters
Japan’s Nikkei slipped on Wednesday from a record close set the day before, with investors booking profits and watching the U.S. jobs calendar. “The money that was concentrated in the U.S. artificial intelligence-related shares was diversified to other countries,” said Hitoshi Asaoka, chief strategist at Asset Management One. The Nikkei was down 0.4% at 52,284.23 as of 0152 GMT, while the broader Topix slipped 0.49%. mint
Gold fell 0.4% to $4,435.62 an ounce by 0539 GMT on Thursday, pressured by a firm dollar and caution ahead of payrolls data. “Traders are weighing heightened geopolitical tensions, including U.S. intervention in Venezuela … against macroeconomic signals from the United States,” said Bernard Sin, regional director- Greater China at MKS PAMP. Kelvin Wong, a senior market analyst at OANDA, said a Bloomberg Commodity Index rebalancing could “impact flows” as some speculators lock in gains. Reuters
Tesla’s UK car registrations — a proxy for sales — fell more than 29% from a year earlier to 6,323 vehicles in December, New AutoMotive data showed, as Chinese rival BYD’s registrations jumped nearly five-fold. “Rising EV uptake is an undoubted positive, but the pace is still too slow and the cost to industry too high,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes, as Britain’s overall new car market returned to around 2 million registrations in 2025. Auto Express’s Steve Walker said “the influx of new models and brands from China is creating fierce competition,” a dynamic that has started to grind on prices. Reuters
