15th Oct 2026 09:17
(Alliance News) - European equities were largely higher on Thursday, but artificial intelligence worries that battered Asian stocks filtered through to the continent, while sterling picked up on the dollar after the UK economy registered surprising monthly growth.
Elsewhere, US Treasury yields sank, after powering higher in the wake of Wednesday's hotter-than-expected consumer price report which may have given the Federal Reserve some food for thought.
The FTSE 100 index climbed 43.83 points, 0.4%, at 10,768.69. In Paris, the CAC 40 was up 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt edged down 0.1%.
The FTSE 250 in London was down 17.17 points, 0.1%, at 24,343.60, and the AIM All-Share shed 2.10 points, 0.3%, at 765.81.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.3% at 1,068.65, the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.2% at 21,354.85, and the Cboe Small Companies was flat at 18,762.49.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 slumped 4.9% as AI-exposed stocks plunged. The Shanghai Composite in China declined 1.6%, while the Hang Seng Index was down 1.2%. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.1%.
The lingering threat from China's CXMT, sturdy competition in the dynamic random-access memory space, has hit stocks hard.
SK Hynix slumped 11% in Seoul, while Samsung Electronics shed 9.5%. In Tokyo, SoftBank Group fell 9.3%, while Murata Manufacturing plunged 10%.
But wider AI funding worries have also played a part in the sell-off, and one company at the heart of that concern is CoreWeave. Shares in the Nasdaq listing plunged 15% in New York on Wednesday, shedding another 5.9% after hours. CoreWeave is a provider of a cloud platform for artificial intelligence. CoreWeave operates some data centres.
Analysts at ING commented: "Coreweave, which provides access to GPUs and data centres for AI cloud computing, has seen its debt sell off hard. It is a high-yield issuer, but its 2032 bonds trading at 78 cents on the dollar are raising some eyebrows and questioning whether the buy-side has limitless appetite to fund the AI build-out."
Among the European stocks hit as investors fret over AI, Schneider Electric and STMicroelectronics shed 5.0% and 7.3% in Paris. STM makes chips, while Schneider Electric supplies data centres with infrastructure.
In Frankfurt, chipmaker Infineon plunged 9.4%, while in London, Polar Capital Technology Trust and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust fell 5.0% and 2.4%, with their exposures stemming through individual holdings including Nvidia. Nvidia fell 3.2% on Wednesday in New York.
The mining sector was not spared either. In London, Rio Tinto and Anglo American fell 4.4% and BHP lost 4.2%. In a report back in January 2025, BHP said "copper is vital to support the rapid growth in data centres".
A miner also on the decline in London was Antofagasta, down 6.0%, on the back of the AI worry and a trading statement.
It said copper production in the third quarter of 2026 rose 7.0% to 151,900 tonnes, from 142,000 in the second quarter.
Looking ahead, it still expects annual copper output between 625,000 and 655,000 tonnes. It had cut its outlook from 650,000 to 700,000 tonnes in the wake of the weather event. Looking to 2027, it sees copper production between 630,000 and 690,000 tonnes.
Peel Hunt analysts said quarterly output was below the broker's 158,000 tonnes forecast and the 2027 outlook fell short of its 710,000 prediction.
For 2026, Antofagasta has raised its guidance for cash costs before by-product credits to USD2.60 to USD2.70 per pound, "reflecting global diesel prices remaining at elevated levels". The prior range was USD2.40 to USD2.60 a pound. But net cash cost guidance remains at USD1.15 to USD1.35 a pound. Capital expenditure guidance is unchanged at USD3.4 billion.
But supporting the FTSE 100 were software companies, that had previously been hit by worries that AI tools could disrupt their offerings. Experian added 3.7%, Relx rose 3.4% and Sage was up 2.9%.
Property also climbed, with British Land up 3.2% after backing guidance, while peer Land Securities added 2.8%.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 5.09% early Thursday, narrowing markedly from 5.26% at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was at 5.44%, dramatically slimming from 5.57%.
Deutsche Bank analysts commented: "Markets have just had an incredibly tumultuous 24 hours, as a strong US CPI print was then followed up with mounting fears around the AI trade. Indeed, you can see the story of the day from the huge turnaround in bond yields, with the 10yr Treasury yield initially surging to 5.33% after the CPI print, before paring that all back to close at 5.19%, and this morning it's now down another -8.4bps to 5.10%."
Sterling traded at USD1.3246 early Thursday, up from USD1.3152 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday. Against the euro, it fell to EUR1.1813 from EUR1.1826.
The euro bought USD1.1209, up from USD1.1121. Against the yen, the dollar faded to JPY157.97 from JPY158.86.
The UK economy registered surprise monthly growth in August, data on Thursday showed, led by a rise in production.
The Office for National Statistics said gross domestic product climbed 0.1% in August from July, defying expectations of a decline. According to consensus cited by FXStreet, a 0.1% decline had been expected.
"The growth in August was driven by a 0.8% growth in production, with services showing no growth, and construction falling by 0.2% in August 2026," the ONS said.
GDP growth in August eased from a 0.4% rise in July from June. Monthly growth in June, meanwhile, was upwardly revised to 0.4% from a previously reported 0.3% rise from May.
Back in London, THG and Mondi bookended the FTSE 250.
Mondi fell 10%. It reported robust profitability in the third quarter of this year, despite input costs rising faster than previously projected.
The packaging firm said underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was EUR196 million in the three months that ended September 30, up 17% from EUR167 million a year before. Ebitda is a key measure of underlying profitability.
Describing its performance as "resilient", Mondi said input costs were higher than expected as energy-related costs continued to increase through the third quarter, in addition to the anticipated increase in wood costs in Central and Eastern Europe.
In response, Mondi said it announced further price hikes for a number of paper grades during the quarter, with the benefit expected towards the end of this year and into 2027.
THG added 13%. The e-commerce firm, which owns the Myprotein brand, lifted its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation guidance to GBP103 million, ahead of market consensus.
THG said third quarter revenue rose 0.9% on-year to GBP408.8 million and it expects growth to accelerate in the final quarter.
"Q4 is traditionally our busiest and most cash-generative quarter, and we enter this important trading period with confidence. With strong operational momentum, improving profitability and continued strategic progress across both divisions, we expect to deliver an acceleration in group revenue in Q4," Chief Executive Officer Matthew Moulding commented.
ProCook shares shot up 13%. The kitchenware seller said it saw "strong trading" despite hot summer weather. Revenue in the second quarter ended October 11 rose 13% on-year to GBP24.1 million. E-commerce revenue was up 18% and retail revenue alone climbed 11%, ProCook added.
It is the 12th successive quarter of growth, the firm said.
For the whole of the half-year, revenue was up 16% to a record GBP39.7 million.
"Whilst mindful of the unpredictable macro backdrop, we are well positioned for the important peak trading period. Combined with a return to stronger trading performance as the weather normalised in the second half of Q2, we are confident in delivering a strong full year performance, in line with market expectations," ProCook said.
Still to come on Thursday is a US initial jobless claims reading at 1330 BST.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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