European markets opened Thursday on a steadier footing, choosing to look past another rough night for US tech and instead focus on what central banks are about to do next.
In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.26% by late morning, with the FTSE 250 ahead 0.38% and the AIM All-Share also higher. Moves on the continent were modest but positive. Paris added 0.2%, while Frankfurt edged up 0.1%.
Asia was more mixed. Tokyo’s Nikkei closed down 1.0%, weighed by tech weakness, while Chinese markets held firmer. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.1%. Sydney finished slightly higher.
The backdrop remains fragile. Wall Street sold off hard on Wednesday, with the Dow down 0.5%, the S&P 500 losing 1.2% and the Nasdaq sliding 1.8%.
Tuesday’s US jobs data failed to revive hopes of faster rate cuts next year, and the AI sell-off picked up pace as fresh funding questions emerged.
Two developments unsettled investors. Reports that Amazon is in talks to invest $10bn in OpenAI in exchange for chip purchases raised eyebrows, reviving concerns about circular deals and how dependent the AI ecosystem has become on a small group of players. Then came more uncertainty around Oracle’s Michigan data centre project, after the company confirmed that Blue Owl Capital was not part of equity talks, without naming who is. Oracle shares fell 5.4%, and the wider sector felt the knock-on effect.
Attention now turns firmly to central banks. The Bank of England is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points at midday, while the European Central Bank is widely expected to leave policy unchanged when it announces its decision at 13:15 GMT. ECB president Christine Lagarde will speak shortly after. US inflation data follows at 13:30 GMT, with economists expecting a slight uptick to 3.1% in November. On Friday, the Bank of Japan is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points.
In London trading, BP slipped 0.1% after confirming chief executive Murray Auchincloss will step down, to be replaced by Woodside Energy boss Meg O’Neill next April. Carol Howle will take over as interim chief in the meantime, with Auchincloss staying on in an advisory role through 2026.
Currys was the standout, jumping 10% after swinging back to profit and outlining £75m of shareholder returns this year. The retailer reported a £9m pretax profit for the half-year, compared with a loss a year ago, alongside stronger sales and an interim dividend of 0.75p per share.
Surgical Innovations slumped 40%. The company blamed softer-than-expected sales on a global flu outbreak, NHS disruption and a one-off manufacturing issue, trimming its full-year revenue outlook and denting investor confidence.