FTSE 100 Live: Antofagasta leads stock rally; oil falls as US-Iran deal ‘close’ FTSE 100 Live Welcome back to the Morning Wire FTSE 100 liveblog. The UK’s blue-chip index slipped on Wednesday morning, dragged down by oil majors BP and Shell, before recovering later in the day to be level with Tuesday’s close. Brent crude – the international benchmark – fell by more than two per cent on Wednesday to $86 [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 jumps in best streak since May; Vistry, Melrose lead risers FTSE 100 Live Welcome back to the Morning Wire FTSE 100 liveblog. The blue-chip index jumped on Tuesday to extend its best winning streak since May. Melrose Industries led the FTSE 100 after the completion of a probe into a chemical incident in California, while Vistry gained 18 per cent on the FTSE 250 after winning cash in [...]
Digital investment nearly doubles since 2019 yet AI’s growth contributions questioned Tech Investment in digital infrastructure has nearly doubled in the space of just five years official data has shown even as economists question whether recent gains in productivity are down to artificial intelligence. A revision of how digital infrastructure spending is calculated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has suggested that business investment in digital [...]
As it happened: Stocks rally; US to unveil ‘economic D-Day’ Iran sanctions August 24, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. The FTSE 100 rallied on Monday afternoon following a brief slump in the early afternoon. Wier, Airtel Africa and Intercontinental Hotels Group led the index’s risers while Autotrader and Melrose Industries dragged on the index. The attention of investors is trained on the other side of the Atlantic, [...]
Iranian hackers behind UK energy plant attack August 23, 2026 An attack on an energy facility which was shut down for four days last month was carried out by hackers linked to the Iranian regime. The cyberattack, which is believed to be the first time Iranian-affiliated hackers have successfully infiltrated a UK energy facility, shutting it down. A government spokesperson for the Department for Energy [...]
Nationwide warns returns from corporate AI are still hard to measure August 21, 2026 Nationwide has warned that the financial returns from workplace AI remain difficult to quantify, even as the building society rolls out the technology to around 16,000 staff. Around 1,000 employees across the combined Nationwide and Virgin Money finance team now have premium Microsoft 365 Copilot licences, while some 2,500 engineers are using Github Copilot. Paul [...]
AI startup raises $20m to build ‘digital twins’ of office workers August 20, 2026 An AI startup that creates digital replicas of employees has raised $20m (£15m) as investors bet that technology used to model factories and machinery can be applied to office workers. Twin1 AI emerged from “stealth” on Thursday after securing seed funding in a round co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners and Aramco Ventures. [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 rallies after JD Sports drags on blue chips; oil jumps again August 20, 2026 Welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. The FTSE 100 has slipped to a week low on Thursday, as JD Sports dragged on the index after warning on profit. The blue-chip index fell to 10,693 around midday, marking a 0.46 per cent drop on Wednesday’s close and a 0.7 per cent fall in the week [...]
Trainees ‘exploiting’ aspiring lawyers by monetising advice on social media August 20, 2026 Trainee lawyers are taking to social media to monetise their “advice” and offer “mentorship” to aspiring candidates looking to land training contracts and apprenticeships, sparking backlash from industry veterans who claim the practice is exploitative. Paul Leamy, a solicitor at Temple Bright and former Winston Taylor partner of ten years, told Morning Wire there is [...]
Monzo faces outage as thousands of users unable to make payments or transfers August 19, 2026 UK fintech Monzo has suffered an outage that has left thousands of its users unable to use its banking services. The digital bank said it had “identified some issues” and initiated a stand-in backup service, which would allow users to still complete card payments and receive transfers. But some users have continued to raise concerns [...]