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Stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, with a downbeat sales report from AB Foods hitting the FTSE 100, while the Brent price decreased as the US and Iran hold indirect talks in Qatar. The FTSE 100 closed down 18.78 points, 0.2%, at 10,478.34. The FTSE 250 ended up 316.62 points, 1.4%, at 23,330.07, and the AIM All-Share rose 3.88 points, 0.5%, at 776.05. The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.2% at 1,040.05, the Cboe UK 250 was up 1.3% at 20,046.92, while the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.7% at 18,320.98. In European equity markets on Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.8%, while the DAX 40 rose 0.2% in Frankfurt. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up slightly. ‘Stocks across Europe...took a step back as investors continued to fret about the prospect of the Fed pushing up interest rates,’ said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell. Coatsworth said while expectations for a rate hike at the July Federal Reserve meeting have reduced, ‘what’s troubling investors is the prospect of a rate hike at the end of the year.’ On Wednesday, new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said the US central bank was committed to delivering price stability for Americans, while giving little away on the trajectory of interest rates. ‘We’re going to deliver price stability in the US,’ Warsh said at a European Central Bank forum in Portugal, sitting alongside the heads of the ECB, the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada. ‘That’s what this committee has signed up to do, and our objective is to do that,’ he said, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee that sets interest rates. At his first meeting in charge of the FOMC last month, Warsh had delivered a similar message, with his fellow policymakers flagging that a rate hike may be in the offing for later in the year to combat inflation. US bond yields spiked with the 10-year Treasury yield trading at 4.47% on Wednesday, widening from 4.40% on Tuesday, and the US 30-year Treasury yield stretched to 4.97% from 4.89%. On Wall Street, shares of Meta Platforms jumped 10% after a report said the social media giant is preparing to launch a cloud computing business that would sell AI computing power to outside customers. The report, published by Bloomberg, said Meta is developing plans to compete directly with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud by monetising the excess computing capacity it has built up while racing to develop artificial intelligence. The pound traded at $1.3273 on Wednesday afternoon, up from $1.3263 on Tuesday. Against the euro, sterling firmed to €1.1657 from €1.1614 on Tuesday. The euro traded lower against the greenback, at $1.1383 on Wednesday against $1.1419 on Tuesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥162.43, down from JP¥162.60 on Tuesday. Euro weakness came as the eurozone’s consumer price index inflation slowed more than anticipated in June as energy prices continued to fall on-month. Data published by Eurostat showed the eurozone annual CPI inflation rate fell to 2.8% in June from 3.2% in May, exceeding the FXStreet-cited consensus for a deceleration to 3.0% in June. Notably, the on-year rise in energy prices slowed to 8.7% in June from 10.8% in May, while the on-year rise in processed food prices decelerated to 3.2% from 4.0%. Thursday sees the June US jobs report, a day earlier than its usual Friday slot, due to the Independence Day holiday. ‘This week’s jobs data will be crucial information for traders. The NFP report is expected to show 113,000 non-farm payrolls were created last month,’ said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. ‘Analysing the US jobs data that is due on Thursday will be important for traders and investors. ‘Kevin Warsh, the new chair of the Federal Reserve, has stated that he thinks a rebound in productivity will keep inflation low in the long term. For now, the US CPI rate is running above 4%, which means that the Fed is wary about inflation concerns. ‘If we get a strong payrolls report this Thursday, it will be a reminder that price growth is elevated because of a strong US economy, rather than the energy price shock,’ she added. Ahead of the report, figures from payroll provider ADP showed the employment change for June was an increase of 98,000 jobs on a monthly basis, slowed from an increase of 122,000 in May, and below the increase of 113,000 pencilled in by FXStreet-cited consensus. Brent crude for September delivery traded lower at $71.85 a barrel on Wednesday, down from $73.04 on Tuesday as Iran and the US prepare to hold indirect talks with mediators in Doha on Wednesday. Both have said they will send officials to discuss their memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the Middle East war, but Iran has insisted direct negotiations will not take place. Gold traded at $4,080.66 an ounce on Wednesday, up from $4,032.83 on Tuesday. On the FTSE 100, defence manufacturer Babcock International rose 5.2% amid further analysis of the government’s defence spending plans, while J Sainsbury added 3.4% after Tuesday’s trading update. But Associated British Foods PLC fell 3.2% as it reported a continuing decline in comparable sales at fast fashion chain Primark in its third quarter and a deteriorating outlook at its sugar business. At Primark, like-for-like sales were down 2.2% in the quarter, an improvement on the 2.7% drop reported in the first six months of the financial year, and are 2.5% lower in the year-to-date. UK & Ireland LFL sales at Primark eased by 0.2%, with Europe down 3.6%. But there was further bad news at its sugar business, which AB Foods expects to deliver an adjusted operating loss in the range of £25 million to £60 million in the 2026 financial year, compared to market consensus for a £22 million loss cited by Citigroup. The firm had already lowered its guidance for the sugar business in April when it said it expected an adjusted operating loss in 2026 compared to projections of a small adjusted operating profit previously. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Babcock International, up 49.20p at 1,001.00p, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, up 365.00p at 7,935.00p, Aberdeen, up 10.40p at 248.60p, Endeavour Mining, up 152.00p at 3,856.00p and Sage Group, up 30.60p at 846.60p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Associated British Foods, down 62.50p at 1,923.50p, British American Tobacco, down 141.00p at 4,536.00p, National Grid, down 37.00p at 1,211.00p, GSK, down 51.00p at 1,930.00p and Diageo, down 39.00p at 1,483.50p. Thursday’s global economic calendar has the US jobs report and eurozone unemployment figures. Thursday’s local corporate calendar has full-year results from Baltic Classifieds and Currys. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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