The FTSE 100 started Christmas week on the back foot, with healthcare and utility stocks acting as a drag on the index.
Precious metals miners led the way, as they have for much of 2025, with gold hitting a new all-time high on expectations of further interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and robust demand for its safe haven qualities.
An end-of-the-week rally in US stocks, driven by revived enthusiasm for AI, which also saw Asian markets move higher overnight, is not so relevant for a UK stock market largely bereft of tech names of any scale.
A poll from the Confederation of British Industry paints a gloomy picture for the UK economy heading into 2026. It suggests private sector activity is on course to fall in the fourth quarter, with expectations for the first three months of next year strikingly downbeat.
GSK
Under pressure from the Trump administration GSK has agreed to lower the cost of prescription medicines for American patients. The company is also setting up a direct purchasing platform for patients – which could entail some complexity in setting up – and commitments to help shore up drug supply chains in the states.
The company has taken these steps to avoid being hit by tariffs, having already committed to significant capital expenditure across the Atlantic with the same goal.
What’s not clear at this stage is exactly what impact this decision will have on the company’s bottom line and how it compares with GSK’s investment in and commitment to the UK.
While GSK will hope these efforts go a long way to providing its US operations with some certainty and security, it would not be a surprise if incoming CEO Luke Miels continues to have to manage the relationship with the White House carefully when he succeeds Emma Walmsley next week.
Rank
Better known for its bingo halls in the UK, it is a more obscure part of the business which has tripped Rank Group up.
While the sums involved in the payment fraud at Rank’s Spanish operations are not immaterial the share price reaction likely also reflects some uncertainty about whether this will prove to be a more extensive issue for the company.
Investors will be on tenterhooks as they await the results of an investigation like a bingo player desperately waiting for the number which will let them call ‘house’.
The fraud issues in Spain follow on from the impact of a Budget which gave to Rank with one hand and took away with the other as the abolition of bingo duty was accompanied by an increase in the digital gaming levy.
Russ Mould: Investment Director
Russ Mould is AJ Bell's Investment Director. He has a Master's degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford and more than 30 years' experience of the capital markets.
He started out at Scottish...
