Daily market update: UK GDP, WH Smith, Card Factory, SolGold

The US tech sell-off was short-lived as Wall Street narrowed losses towards the end of yesterday’s session, helping to lift the broader market mood.

That new-found optimism, or perhaps relief, extended to Europe on Friday with gains seen across all the major equity indices. The FTSE 100 was lifted by a strong showing from the financial sector and from miners as a sparkle returned to the gold price, up 0.2% to $4,321 per ounce.

In the US last night, posh leggings supplier Lululemon reported better than expected quarterly earnings and said it would find a new CEO. That triggered a 10% jump in the share price in pre-market trading as the narrative shifts from one of a business struggling to one on the comeback trail.

UK GDP

The constant rumour mill about what might or might not be in November’s Budget caused consumers and businesses to put the brakes on spending in October.

A worse than expected GDP figure is the result of a country going into a freeze, fearing that the chancellor would hike taxes and leave less money in people’s pockets. There is a real chance that November’s GDP figure will be equally as gloomy given the Budget didn’t happen until the end of month.

It’s a disastrous situation for Rachel Reeves, who put economic growth at the heart of her Budget plan. She will have hoped that the country ended the year on the front foot, with economic progression and optimism as we move into 2026. This lacklustre GDP data paints a very different picture.

WH Smith

It’s never a good look when a company delays its financial results once, let alone twice as in the case of WH Smith.

Postponing the results again suggests WH Smith’s auditor has either found something troubling in the accounts or the retailer wants to be doubly sure its figures are as transparent as a pane of glass.

The accounting problems unearthed earlier this year were a major shock, implying that management didn’t have proper sight of how the US operations were run. The share price collapsed as the market feared the former UK high street staple was not the rock-solid business that people previously thought.

The chief executive has already fallen on his sword, WH Smith last month downgraded its earnings guidance, and it emerged that the UK financial regulator was scrutinising the business. Certain investors have run a mile, fearing there could be more skeletons in the closet.

Card Factory

There is a Nightmare before Christmas for Card Factory as it delivers a festive profit warning. It blames a weak UK high street, but it’s hard to look past the fact that a first-class stamp now costs more than one of its Christmas cards.

Just as the advent of email and text communication kiboshed sending letters, the writing is also on the wall for sending Christmas cards.

It’s not just the cost of sending an item by post that’s causing a headache. Weaker high street footfall is also a problem as Card Factory is heavily dependent on passing trade.

Whereas some retailers like clothing companies have the internet channel to drive sales, Card Factory is very much a physical store-led business. At the half-year results it bemoaned an 11.3% drop in online like-for-like sales, citing a strategic shift to focus on higher margin sales such as gifts and party supplies. Greetings cards are its bread and butter, and most people will buy them in person.

SolGold

China’s biggest integrated copper producer Jiangxi looks like it might have reached the magic number to gobble up UK-listed miner SolGold. Jiangxi has raised its bid to 28p cash per share and big shareholders BHP and Newmont have indicated they will vote in favour of the deal.

SolGold is sitting on a giant copper exploration project that requires significant sums to bring into production. It was never going to build the mine on its own, and being acquired by a major resources company seemed the natural destiny.