- FTSE 100 up 14 points at 9,231
- Miners lead the upsurge
- UK govt approves Gatwick second runway
4.54pm: Small gain for the Footsie
The FTSE 100 ended 10 points higher at 9,226.68.
Top of the leaderboard were Endeavour Mining (6.96%), Fresnillo 4.6%), St James's Place (2.9%), Rio Tinto (2.05%) and Glencore (2%).
4.09pm: FTSE inching higher, US stocks break into green
With less than half an hour of trading to go, the FTSE 100 is around its highest point in the day, though that's not saying much.
Gains for miners, of gold in particular, are keeping the index above water, with drug companies, defence and financials also buoyant.
However, losses for consumer-focused giants such as Unilever, Diageo, British American Tobacco, Haleon and Coca-Cola Europacific are holding the index back from further gains.
Having said that, all the main mainland European share benchmarks have been wallowing in the red all day.
Across the pond, Wall Street has fairly quickly emerged from its gloomy morning mood, with small gains across the main indices, led by a 0.3% advance for the Nasdaq.
Apple, Tesla and Oracle are all up over 2.8%.
3.11pm: US offers financial help for Argentina
The US has offered a lifeline to Argentina, with Argentine president Javier Milei set to meet Donald Trump tomorrow.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "all options for stabilization are on the table" to support Argentina.
"These options may include, but are not limited to, swap lines, direct currency purchases, and purchases of U.S. dollar-denominated government debt from Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund," Bessent wrote in a social media post.
Argentina is a systemically important U.S. ally in Latin America, and the @USTreasury stands ready to do what is needed within its mandate to support Argentina.
All options for stabilization are on the table. 1/4
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) September 22, 2025
2.55pm: Wall Street starts lower
It's a low-spirited start to the week, with the Dow Jones and Russell 2000 leading the losses.
The blue-chip Dow has dropped 0.5%, while the small cap Russell index has retreated another 1.1% to add to a faltering finish to last week.
In between, the S&P 500 dipped just over 0.1% and the Nasdaq was a little less than that.
Biggest fallers on the S&P are Coinbase, down 3.7%, followed by Kenvue, after reports of the Trump administration linking Tylenol to autism.
Strategy, a bitcoin holder, is the big faller on the Naddaq 100, down 3.7%.
2.05pm: Fed voter sees no need for more cuts
Fed voter Raphael Bostic says: "I see little reason to cut rates further for now."
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the FOMC member said he only pencilled in one rate cut for all of 2025 at the Fed's meeting last week, with the current moment "one of the most difficult periods for policymakers" because both risks to inflation and unemployment are rising.
He says he doesn't see inflation returning to 2% until 2028 and expects core CPI to end 2025 at 3.1%.
The US labour market is not in crisis right now, he believes, predicting the unemployment rate at 4.5% by year's end.
1.45pm: Gold vs bitcoin
Gold demand has been super strong in 2025, and, until today maybe, bitcoin has also "demonstrated remarkable resilience", says Deutsche Bank.
BTC has tradied close to its all-time high after surpassing $123,500 in August.
"Its price strength highlights growing institutional adoption and its emerging status as a potential macro hedge."
In a new piece of analysis, too long to feature in here, the German bank's research analysts Marion Laboure and Camilla Siazon assesses whether Bitcoin can qualify alongside gold as a reserve asset by 2030, and under what conditions.
Evaluating both assets across key reserve criteria such as volatility, liquidity, strategic value and trust, they conclude that "there is room for both gold and Bitcoin to coexist on central bank balance sheets by 2030".
1.12pm: Case for commodities
The case for ‘real’ assets is perhaps at its strongest, after "more than a decade of dominance" from the stock market, says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
"Analysts’ forecasts for miners’ profits and dividends still look muted, in comparison to their historic average contribution to the FTSE 100’s total, and if commodity price strength persists, thanks to improved global growth or a wider inflationary problem, then producers and owners of ‘real’ assets could yet come back into favour after a long period of neglect."
The agreed merger of Anglo American and Canada’s Teck Resources is the fifth copper-focused deal worth $1 billion-plus since 2022, he notes.
"Gold saw a similar rash of activity between producers of the precious metal earlier this decade, and that commodity price has since gone into orbit.
"It now remains to be seen whether copper miners’ management teams are similarly ahead of the game and providing investors with a hint as to where big commodity and share price moves may be coming next."
12.17pm: FTSE better than the rest, as Europe and US in the red
The FTSE 100 has hugged the line this morning, but outperformed peers on the European mainland thanks to its strong mining sector weighting.
Precious metals diggers Endeavour Mining PLC (LSE:EDV) and Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) are at the front of the drive, up 4.7% and 3.5%, with base metals focused Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) and Rio Tinto Ltd (LSE:RIO).
There's a new name in the top 10 risers too, with Metlen Energy & Metals PLC (LSE:MTLN) promoted to the blue-chip index today, and up 1.3% on its first day.
This follows the Greek utility and mining company floating in London in early August in what was the largest listing in the UK in almost 12 months, with mining tycoon Evangelos Mytilineos shifting the family firm's primary listing from Athens to London.
Burberry also returned as part of the FTSE reshuffle, exactly a year after being relegated to the mid-cap index. Its shares are down 1% today.
Over on the Continent, Germany's DAX is down 0.7%, France's CAC is 0.3% lower, Spain's IBEX has dropped over 1% and Italy's FTSE MIB 0.15%.
The Euro Stoxx 600 is down 0.1%, with biggest fallers being German carmakers Porsche and Volkswagen, followed by London-listed Tate & Lyle and Spanish lender Banco de Sabadell.
Tate & Lyle was hit by a downgrade from Morgan Stanley, which moved to an ‘underweight’ from ‘equalweight’ rating and cut its share price target to 500p from 590p.
Looking across the pond, US stock index futures are in the red, all down just over 0.3%.
11.52am: Could gold hit $4k this year?
With gold having scaled another all-time high today of $3,729.83, up around $400 this month and adding well over $1,000 this year, many analysts and industry experts are now looking at how high the yellow metal can climb.
Paul Williams, managing director of Solomon Global, envisions $4,000.
He says the past month has seen gold supported by numerous factors, including a softening US dollar, inflation concerns, anticipated additional rate cuts from the Fed, declining confidence in risk assets, ongoing geopolitical flashpoints and continued accumulation by central banks.
"These dynamics and this momentum look set to remain, putting gold on a trajectory that makes $4000 by Christmas a strong possibility," he says.
Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank minig analysts said they saw $4,000 as a target for next year, based on further Fed cuts, global central bank appetite and ETF holdings.
11.20am: Gatwick runway will lower holiday costs, says Reeves
Costs for family holidays will be lowered by the addition of a new runway at Gatwick, says Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has visited the West Sussex site today.
Reeves noted that the backing of a second runway at Gatwick is in addition to a commitments to a third runway at Heathrow.
"This extra runway at Gatwick will mean that people going on holiday will have a greater choice of destinations. It will mean lower costs for a family holiday," she says.
"And it will also mean more good jobs paying decent wages through this injection of cash into our economy. We said as a Government we will back the builders and not the blockers, and that is exactly what we are doing with this announcement."
10.58am: Downing Street looking to attract top talent amid potential US brain drain
Good news for tech and life sciences businesses, Downing Street is looking at proposals to slash or even abolish visa fees for top scientists, academics and digital experts, according to the Financial Times.
A 'global talent task force' is working on ideas for a sort of reverse brain drain, to bring experts to the UK to help drive economic growth.
The report says one proposal is to remove visa costs for those who have attended the world's top five universities or have won prestigious prizes.
While discussions were underway before the Trump administration's recent rule imposing a $100,000 fee for visas used by US tech companies, this has put "wind in the sails" for a UK reform.
Lots of reporting this morning about Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee.
For the US, economist Atakan Bakiskan at Berenberg says the move is "anti-growth" and tilts the risk to growth forecats in 2026 to the downside.
He says it comes alongside deportation efforts, attempts to strip work permits from existing employees, and a hostile environment for foreign workers.
These have "already caused labour force growth in the US to nearly flatline", and the new H1B policy is likely to shrink the US labour force going forward.
"The future of economic growth now depends almost exclusively on productivity gains. However, by making it very expensive for companies to attract foreign talent, and by forcing some international students to leave the country after graduation, the brain drain will weigh heavily on productivity."
It could get worse.
He adds: "Taken together, the erosion of trust in institutions, a loss of human capital, tariffs, chronic uncertainty, and unsustainable fiscal policies can raise the tail risk of a financial crisis in the US.
"In the long run, they may set a path for an even weaker dollar and higher long-term yields."
The risk of recession "ultimately depends on when markets decide if AI proves a bust or a boom," he adds.
"We do not expect a recession in the near-term, but anti-immigration policies tilt the risk to our forecast of 1.7% growth in 2026 to the downside."
10.15am: Gold up and bitcoin down
A tale of two assets, one old and one new.
Gold has been surging to new record highs, smashing through $3,720 and climbing a few more dollars on top of that
Meanwhile, bitcoin is down 2.7% today to $112,432.
It has been a tough start to the week for crypto assets in general, says market analyst Chris Beauchamp at IG, with declines across the board.
Ethereum's ETH token is down 7.1%, Solana 7.5% and XRP down 5.8%.
"There appears to be little in the way of a definite catalyst," Beauchamp notes, however.
"It’s important to keep these moves in context, given the big gains made in recent months, and they are a useful reminder to all crypto participants that this is an asset class where higher volatility should be viewed as a given."
On gold, AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould observes that the safe-haven asset is "benefiting from hopes for further rate cuts as well as continuing geopolitical uncertainty, big government debt in the developed world, and demand from central banks".
9.50am: Gatwick second runway
The government this morning gave the green light for Gatwick Airport to build a second runway.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander and the Planning Inspectorate approved the £2.2 billion plan that is designed to increase capacity by 100,000 flights a year for London's third-closest airport.
The plan is to move an existing emergency runway 12 metres away from its current location, so it will be able to be used for departures.
Gatwick says the extra runway should add 14,000 jobs.
Government sources said flights could take off from the new full runway by 2029.
The Friends of the Earth warned that, with emissions from aviation rising, "it's a struggle to see how the government can conclude expansion at Gatwick is a wise move".
Alexander was reported as saying a second runway is a "no-brainer" for the economy, but the environmental campaign group's spokeswoman, Rosie Downes, said "the economic case for airport expansion is massively overstated".
"Any growth in air passengers leaving the country is likely to mean more UK tourists using their spending power overseas than anything we might gain from visitors".
She said the decision also "makes it much harder for the government to approve expansion at Heathrow", if the UK is to meet legally-binding climate targets.
9.15 am: Miners spark revival
The miners, particularly those focused on the precious metals sector, pulled the FTSE 100 out of its early nudge into the red.
Gold was 1% higher at $3,718.01, while silver was up 3.3% at $43.73, a high not seen since the 2011 spike.
Endeavour lead the blue-chip rises, with a 4% gain, while Fresnillo was up 3%.
Outside precious metals, Glencore and Rio Tinto were in demand.
8.20 am: Stock-taking time
As expected, the FTSE 100 opened in the red, albeit marginally, dropping 9 points to 9,207.49.
As mentioned below, it was stock-taking time for UK investors last week after the Fed's interest rate drop sparked a period of giddiness across global markets.
News flow was at a premium, with the stage thrown open to the small- and mid-caps.
Trawling through the papers, it was thin gruel. The Times runs with an item on house comparison site Zoopla, which reported a pre-tax loss.
Outside of this, there were updates on Samsung's Nvidia tie-up, which has boosted the former's shares to record highs and Warren Buffett's exit from BYD.
7.31 am: Blue-chips set for a slow start
The FSTE 100 looks set to open on the back foot, with the futures market predicting a 14-point drop to 9,204.67, with investors taking stock after last week’s global rally sparked by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates.
In Asia overnight, Tokyo led the gainers, the Nikkei climbing 1.5%, after the Bank of Japan reassured traders it would unwind its massive holdings of exchange-traded funds only gradually.
The central bank’s announcement on Friday that it planned to reduce the stockpile had rattled markets, sending shares lower. Officials have since indicated the sales will take place over many decades.
Sentiment also drew support from talks between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, with the US president saying progress was made on issues ranging from trade to a deal on TikTok. The two are due to meet again at an Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea later this year.
Elsewhere, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore and Taipei posted gains, while Hong Kong, Wellington, Manila and Jakarta retreated.