The FTSE 100 outperformed global peers on Thursday, encouraged by domestic economic data and lower bond yields, benefiting from a lower exposure to technology stocks, which continued to be volatile.
asserted
which → outperform → stocks
London’s gains came as investors shifted away from technology stocks amid fears about the future of capex spending, Chinese competition and expected returns from artificial intelligence.
asserted
investors → come → intelligence
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB said the AI trade was experiencing a “major shake-out”, and the market was ignoring strong earnings beats as investors fret about strong inflation, amid an increase in Fed rate hike bets.
asserted
investors → say → bets
She added that when the “AI trade sells off, the UK is the harbour in the storm”.
asserted
UK → add → storm
In Frankfurt, semiconductor firm Infineon lost 4.8%, while Siemens Energy, which provides power solutions to data centres, shed 2.6%, both well above earlier lows.
asserted
which → lose → lows
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.0% at the time of the closing bell in London on Tuesday.
asserted
Average → close → Tuesday
The S&P 500 edged up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite faltered 0.4%.
asserted
Composite → edge → ?
On Wall Street, chip makers Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom fell 2.2%, 4.4% and 1.9% respectively.
asserted
Nvidia → fall → Street
“Tech investors are getting uncomfortable with the amount of debt being used to fund the AI build-out,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
asserted
Coatsworth → get → Bell
He added: “There is a growing fear that big names in the tech space are running too fast, and they’re primed to trip up.
asserted
they → add → space
Reports about Anthropic’s third-quarter revenue suggest it isn’t growing as fast as expected, which added to fears that the AI euphoria might be hard to sustain.”
uncertain
euphoria → suggest → fears
The Financial Times reported that Anthropic has told investors that its third-quarter revenue rose nearly 50% to 16.8 billion dollars.
asserted
revenue → report → dollars
Revenue increased from 11.5 billion dollars in the second quarter, although growth slowed sharply from the previous quarter, when revenue more than doubled from about 4.8 billion dollars.
asserted
revenue → increase → dollars
More encouragingly for equities, bond yields eased despite the higher US inflation figures on Wednesday.
asserted
yields → ease → Wednesday
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 5.10% on Thursday, narrowed from 5.26% at the same time on Wednesday.
asserted
yield → quote → Wednesday
The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 5.42%, down from 5.57%.
asserted
yield → quote → %
David Morrison, analyst at Trade Nation, said it appeared that comments from Federal Reserve members, vice chairwoman for supervision Michelle Bowman and San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly, calmed investors somewhat by persuading them that there was no need for the Feds to rush to raise rates again this month, following September’s increase.
asserted
Feds → say → increase
The pound was quoted at 1.3254 dollars, up from 1.3152 dollars.
asserted
pound → quote → dollars
Against the euro, sterling nudged up to 1.1828 euro from 1.1826 euro.
asserted
sterling → nudge → euro
The euro firmed to 1.1204 dollars from 1.1121 dollars.
asserted
euro → firm → dollars
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 158.16 yen, down from 158.86 yen.
asserted
dollar → trade → yen
In the UK, figures showed that the economy proved more resilient than expected in August, posting surprise growth as a rebound in manufacturing offset weakness in services and construction.
asserted
rebound → show → services
August’s minor growth, which defied forecasts of a decline, followed a more convincing stride made in July and means that UK GDP is on track to top a Bank of England forecast for the quarter ended September 30.
asserted
GDP → defy → quarter
Gross domestic product rose 0.1% month-on-month in August, the Office for National Statistics said, beating expectations for a 0.1% decline.
asserted
Office → rise → decline
Growth slowed from 0.4% in July, while June’s expansion was revised up to 0.4% from 0.3%.
asserted
expansion → slow → %
Rob Wood at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: “We think GDP is on track to grow by a somewhat hard to believe 0.7% quarter-to-quarter in Q3, above the MPC’s latest forecast of 0.4%, and far above its expectation from just a couple of months ago of 0.1%.”
Mr Wood said the main short-term risks remained another hit to growth from uncertainty surrounding the October budget and higher energy costs increasingly dragging on consumers.
“But a relatively early fiscal statement and a chancellor aiming for a ‘beige’ Budget mean we should see a smaller growth hit than last year,” he added.
asserted
he → say → year
Credit checker Experian led the FTSE 100 risers, up 5.9%, with telecoms firm BT up 4.3%, and accountancy software provider Sage up 5.6%.
asserted
Experian → lead → BT
JD Sports Fashion climbed 4.3% as it hosted analysts in Orlando.
asserted
it → climb → Orlando
While there were no updates to financial guidance or targets, management focused the discussion on how they plan to drive growth and profitability in the US sporting goods market.
asserted
they → be → market
Computacenter, a beneficiary of strong data centre spending, led the fallers, down 5.6%.
asserted
Computacenter → lead → fallers
Technology-focused trusts Polar Capital Technology and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust declined 4.7% and 1.2% respectively.
asserted
trusts → focus → ?
Antofagasta fell 4.1% as it reported lower third-quarter output and 2027 guidance than hoped.
asserted
it → fall → output
The London-based miner focused on Chile sees copper production in 2027 between 630,000 and 690,000 tonnes compared to company-compiled consensus of 692,000 tonnes.
asserted
miner → base → tonnes
“Given the weaker than expected 2027 copper output guidance, we expect 2027 consensus Ebitda could fall by mid single digits,” said JPMorgan analyst Patrick Jones.
uncertain
Jones → give → digits
The miner is also facing strike action from two unions at its Centinela mine.
asserted
miner → face → mine
On the FTSE 250, THG leapt 16% as it edged up 2026 earnings guidance and said that whey prices were easing, which should support margins in its Protein division.
asserted
which → leap → division
Dunelm jumped 7.9% as it backed guidance and said sales had picked up after a slow start to the September quarter.
asserted
sales → jump → quarter
“Following a series of recent downgrades, today’s reiteration of FY27 [pretax profit] expectations has brought relief,” said Georgina Johanan, retail equity analyst at JPMorgan.
asserted
Johanan → follow → JPMorgan
Also in the green, XPS Pensions rose 7.7% after saying it expected full-year results to come in slightly ahead of expectations, following strong revenue growth in the first half.
asserted
results → rise → half
Heading lower, Weybridge-based packaging firm Mondi shed 8.1%.
asserted
Mondi → head → %
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
