Meanwhile, the UK government is feeling the heat as gilt yields climb to heights unseen since 2008, sparking worries about pensions and mortgages. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves is under the microscope amid this market turbulence, but Downing Street assures us that Reeves isn't going anywhere until the current Parliament's curtain call.
On the international stage, China has slammed new US export rules on AI chips, calling them a breach of international trade norms.
In the corporate arena, Persimmon announced a 7% boost in completions and an 8% rise in forward sales, with pretax profit expected to hit the upper end of market forecasts. BP plc adjusted its fourth-quarter guidance, forecasting a dip in upstream production and a hit to its oil and production segment. Ocado reported an 18% surge in fourth-quarter retail revenue, driven by robust growth in volumes and average orders.
Things to read today:
- We're not out of the woods yet: China is considering selling TikTok US to Musk (Bloomberg).
- America's top corporate executives on the road to MAGAization (Financial Times).
- Are analysts misogynists? (Klement on Investing).
- One in five U.S. job ads is fake (Wall Street Journal).