FTSE 100 Live: Ofwat £11m fine; Unemployment at four-year high December 16, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. We received another gloomy snapshot of the economy ahead of the ever-important Bank of England rate decision on Thursday. New unemployment data showed another blow for the Labour government, which has denied that its policies have had an on the ailing jobs market. The UK [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Budget hits hiring market as economy feels pinch December 15, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. On Friday, the Labour government’s mission for economic growth proved to be not just sluggish but in free fall. The latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) dealt another blow to Rachel Reeves as new data showed production output shrank 0.5 per [...]
‘We chose AIM over Nasdaq and Euronext’: Power Probe boss December 12, 2025 The boss of US toolmaker Power Probe said he felt the AIM market was the best international venue for the company after completing a London stock market float. In an interview with City AM, Power Probe chief executive Chema Garcia said: “With 90 per cent of our revenue in the US, the first option was [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Blow for Reeves as economy shrank ahead of Budget December 12, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Today fresh economic data has given another crucial assessment of the Chancellor’s growth agenda. The UK economy shrank 0.1 per cent in October as businesses paused investments amid consistent rumours around upcoming tax hikes in Rachel Reeves’ second Autumn Budget. A Bloomberg poll of City economists had predicted the Office [...]
Martin Lewis discovers the stock market December 11, 2025 All of us at City AM would like to give a heartfelt congratulations to personal finance guru Martin Lewis for his discovery of the stock market. This newfound enthusiasm could even see him in the running for the City Champion gong at next year’s City AM Awards. Lewis opened his ITV money show this week [...]
2025: It’s been one hell of a year for UK business December 11, 2025 From political drama to market volatility, cyber attacks, takeovers and trade wars – 2025 has not been plain sailing. January: motor finance and angry farmers We began the year reporting on the exodus from the London stock exchange noting that 2024 had been the quietest year on record for new listings and we suggested that [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Reeves scrutinised, Fed interest rates decision, stocks suffer December 10, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog covering the FTSE 100 and other big market moves. Rachel Reeves is set for a showdown with MPs on the Treasury Select Committee later today while the Federal Reserve is expected to slash interest rates by 25 basis points by the evening. Reeves will begin [...]
UBS chief strategist: Market is not in a ‘bubble’, but US debt poses the real risk December 9, 2025 Despite narrow market leadership that mirrors the crashes of the 1970s and 1990s, the equity market is not currently in a ‘bubble,’ according to UBS Investment Bank Chief Strategist Bhanu Baweja. Speaking at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Baweja addressed investor concerns that just nine companies in the Russell 3000 have driven 72 per cent of [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Fed interest rates, retail sales, GDP December 9, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog covering the FTSE 100 and other big market moves. Investors are bracing for a crunch decision at the Federal Reserve this Wednesday, with markets pricing in a 25 basis point cut to bring interest rates down to 3.5-3.75 per cent. Forecasters will be taking a [...]
How Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC fired up the FTSE 100 in 2025 December 9, 2025 If 2025 was supposed to be the year of the AI bubble, nobody told Britain’s banking giants. Amidst the noise of the US tech boom, the UK’s FTSE 100 banking heavyweights, Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC, have staged a formidable, if understated, rally. Lloyds delivered an astonishing 75.8 per cent gain, while Barclays surged 65 [...]