LONDON, March 11, 2026, 10:28 GMT
London stocks slipped early Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 dropping 0.9% to 10,320.86 by 10:07 local time. The FTSE 250 tracked a similar path, sliding 1.0% to 22,260.53.
The market surrendered a chunk of Tuesday’s relief gains. The FTSE 100 had surged 1.6%—its sharpest daily jump in almost a year. Still, after Monday’s tumble, the index remains roughly 7% off the record from February 27. That gap highlights just how fast London stocks have been marked down as oil, inflation, and the UK’s energy shock come into play.
Oil swung back and forth early Wednesday. Three ships took hits from unidentified projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters, and the International Energy Agency considered tapping over 100 million barrels from emergency reserves. Crude stayed jumpy, refusing to pick a direction.
That money heads straight for the Bank of England. Both Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley have postponed their expectations for a rate cut until the second quarter. Investors are now pricing in a 98% probability that the BoE leaves rates unchanged this month. Morgan Stanley added that if oil hovers around $120 a barrel, UK growth could take a 0.7 percentage point hit.
Legal & General weighed heavily on the FTSE 100, with shares sliding 5% by 0945 GMT. The insurer posted weaker-than-expected core operating profit and fell short on its solvency ratio—a key gauge of capital strength—even as it floated a £1.2 billion buyback. “In two years, we’ve reshaped the company,” said chief executive Antonio Simoes. But since Simoes stepped in at the start of 2024, the stock has barely budged, trailing behind Aviva’s roughly 44% surge and a 34% lift for the FTSE 100. Reuters
Mid-cap action saw Balfour Beatty jump up to 12% early on. The company projected operating profit would see high-single-digit growth by 2026, crediting its record order book—stacked with UK power contracts, nuclear jobs among them. A £200 million buyback was also rolled out, and the full-year dividend goes up 12%.
This wasn’t limited to London; the STOXX 600 dropped 1%, with Germany’s DAX off 1.7%. Swissquote’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya flagged the risk that the Iran war may drag on, calling it a situation that might not be “done and dusted quickly.” Citigroup’s Beata Manthey pointed to stubbornly high input costs, saying margins could be “hard to protect.” Investors held back, eyeing U.S. inflation numbers due later and awaiting fresh signals from European Central Bank officials. Reuters
The risk is clear enough, even if no one can pin down just how big it might be. A fresh surge in energy prices would land squarely on consumers, tighten the squeeze on company margins, and push rate cuts further out of reach. Still, policymakers are feeling their way through the disruption. Finance minister Rachel Reeves called it “unwise to speculate” about impacts on inflation, growth, or interest rates, adding that the government is weighing multiple scenarios. Reuters
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