London stocks opened on the back foot on Friday, with weakness in US tech spilling neatly into the FTSE 100, a familiar theme that has been plaguing markets for months.
The cautious tone in London follows another weak session on Wall Street on Thursday, where the Dow Jones fell 1.2%, the S&P 500 lost 1.2% and the Nasdaq slid 1.6%.
The blue-chip index was down 0.3% in early trade while the FTSE 250 fell 0.5%, with software, data and analytics names bearing the brunt as investors questioned how much Big Tech spending on artificial intelligence is really worth in the near term.
The mood was set overnight in the US, another tech giant, another earnings update, another promise to pour eye-watering sums into AI and infrastructure, and once again the market response was to sell first and ask questions later.
Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy said capital expenditure will reach about $200bn in 2026, well above the $146.6bn expected by analysts and ahead of roughly $131bn earmarked for 2025. Jassy pointed to demand across AI, chips, robotics and low earth orbit satellites and added that Amazon expects strong long-term returns on the money spent.
A day earlier, Google owner Alphabet said it plans to invest between $175bn and $185bn in 2026, sending a clear message from Silicon Valley that the bill for AI is rising fast and markets are getting twitchy about who foots it.
That anxiety fed straight into London’s software-heavy names, with Relx dropping 4.0%, Sage Group sliding 3.8% and London Stock Exchange Group down 1.5% as investors fretted about disruption and shifting capital flows.
GSK shares fell 0.9% despite the company securing European Commission approval for Nucala, or mepolizumab, as an add-on treatment for adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The green light was based on results from its phase-three Matinee trial, which showed clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements.
On the FTSE 250, HgCapital Trust jumped 5.9%. The trust estimated a 4.0% net asset value total return per share for 2025, with NAV per share at 561.9p at the end of December. Strong trading and exits above book value in the second half helped offset a weaker start to the year.
HgCapital Trust also acknowledged the rough ride in listed markets, saying volatility has risen sharply through January and into February 2026, especially in software, driven by concerns over AI’s impact and a rotation of capital into hardware such as chips and data centres. Its share price is down 20% year to date.
The board said it is actively considering steps to address the discount to NAV, including share buy-backs, and confirmed it has engaged Deutsche Numis to run a buyback programme with authority to repurchase up to 15% of issued capital.
Elsewhere, Victrex shares dropped 4.6% after the group held its full-year guidance. First-quarter revenue fell 6% to £62.4m while volumes slipped 4%. Chief executive James Routh said trading picked up in January after a softer December but flagged subdued conditions across some end markets.