Meta shares sank on the release of Q3 earnings, despite the tech giant beating estimates, as investors fretted about rising AI-related costs.

Revenue for the period was $51.24 billion, an increase of 26% year-over-year and higher than the $49.41bn analysts had predicted.

Meta shares were down 8% in the US premarket.

However, the decline in shares was not a fair reflection of the group’s underlying progress on key metrics. Core measures, such as average price per ad and the number of users, all showed strength.

Unfortunately, higher revenues and better performance were masked by a one-off tax charge of $15bn, which led to an 83% drop in net income for the period.

There were also concerns around higher spending and costs. Costs and expenses rose 32% to an eyewatering $30bn as the firm ramped up spending on AI.

“Meta’s quarter highlighted a familiar tension: strong user engagement versus rising costs. The company’s platforms continue to see impressive activity, helped by AI-driven improvements, but investors focused on two negatives – lower growth for the next quarter and a sharp increase in spending plans,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Zuckerberg is betting heavily on AI infrastructure, which means profits will likely come under pressure in the near term. He argues this is essential to secure a bigger long-term opportunity, but the trade-off is clear: higher costs now for uncertain future gains. For some, that’s a reasonable risk; for others, it’s a concern given how much control rests with one person.”

Shawbrook Group has priced its initial public offering at 370p per share, the middle of the 350p – 390p range set out earlier in October.

The price gives the specialist lender a market capitalisation of approximately £1.92 billion.

The IPO comprises 13.5 million new shares raising £50 million in gross proceeds, alongside 80.5 million existing shares being sold by the bank’s sole shareholder, Marlin Bidco Limited.

The total offer size amounts to £348 million, representing 18.1 per cent of the company’s issued share capital.

Approximately £25 million of the offer was allocated to retail investors, who will receive 6.8 million shares through participating investment platforms and wealth managers.

Conditional dealings in Shawbrook shares commenced on the London Stock Exchange today under the ticker SHAW.

“The strong support we have received from investors across the UK, Europe and the US, reflects the strength of Shawbrook’s proposition and the business we have built. We are proud to be listing in London – our home market – a milestone that positions us well for the opportunities ahead,” said Marcelino Castrillo, Chief Executive Officer.

“We have built scale across diverse, attractive markets and, following significant investment under private ownership, are well placed to keep growing as we support UK businesses and households.

“As a listed company, we will continue to invest in our platform and people, deepen our presence in chosen markets and expand selectively where we see attractive demand. Our priorities are clear: keep supporting our customers and deliver sustainable, profitable growth and long-term value for all stakeholders.”

The FTSE 100 soared to a fresh intraday record high on Wednesday as hopes of a US/China trade deal boosted sentiment.

London’s leading index was trading 0.5% to the good at the time of writing, touching highs above 9,750.

“A positive mood on Wall Street extended into European markets on Wednesday on increased hopes for a US-China trade deal,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“US indices closed at record levels, with sentiment also supported by reports Nvidia will announce new AI chip supply contracts with major South Korean operators like Samsung and Hyundai.

Last week, we published an article exploring whether Nvidia could hit $200 before it reports earnings in November. We explained that Nvidia’s achievement of this milestone depended on US/China trade talks and the outcome for Nvidia’s exports to China.

Trump’s overnight comments that he would discuss Nvidia’s ‘super-duper’ Blackwell chips with China at the upcoming talks were all the equity bulls needed to send Nvidia through $200 in the US pre-market on Wednesday and towards a $5 trillion valuation.

The FTSE 100 has missed out on several US tech-inspired rallies recently, but not so on Wednesday, with cyclical sectors enjoying the improved sentiment.

“The FTSE 100 built on its own all-time highs this morning, with miners doing a lot of the heavy lifting and positive corporate updates from Next and GSK also contributing,” Russ Mould said.

Next was the FTSE 100’s top riser, surging over 7%, after the retailer yet again defied the negative feeling around the UK to produce sales growth that beat expectations and drove an upgrade of full-year earnings.

“Next seems to have missed the memo on Britain’s slowdown,” said Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro.

“The British retail giant has nudged up profit guidance for the fourth time in eight months, after third-quarter full-price sales rose an impressive 10.5%. While rivals have spent the year tripping over rising costs and cautious consumers, Next has managed to glide serenely through it all.

“Even more striking is the message behind the numbers. This is a retailer whose shares are up over 40% this year and whose leadership still finds room for a special dividend come January 2026.”

Glencore shares rose 6% after releasing Q3 production figures, which showed a 36% jump in copper production.

Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining were back among the gainers as gold prices rose above $4,000.

Housebuilders were at the bottom of the FTSE 100 leaderboard for the second day running.

The global equity rally will face several hurdles later today, when big tech reports in the US and the Fed releases its interest rate decision.

“A key test of investors’ optimism looks set to come later with the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates and earnings reports from Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft.”

Next has upgraded its full-year profit guidance yet again after sales significantly outperformed expectations in the third quarter.

The fashion retailer reported full-price sales growth of 10.5% in the 13 weeks to 25 October, beating its own forecast by £76m.

Investors will be pleased to see that the strong performance has prompted the company to increase its fourth-quarter sales guidance from 4.5% to 7.0%.

“Next seems to have missed the memo on Britain’s slowdown,” said Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro.

“The British retail giant has nudged up profit guidance for the fourth time in eight months, after third-quarter full-price sales rose an impressive 10.5%. While rivals have spent the year tripping over rising costs and cautious consumers, Next has managed to glide serenely through it all.”

Next shares were 5% higher at the time of writing as the stock continued its meteoric rise.

International sales proved the standout performer, surging 38.8% against last year. This far exceeded the 28.1% growth achieved in the first half and smashed the company’s guidance of 19.4%.

The company attributed its overseas success to two key factors. Next was able to spend 50% more on digital marketing than planned and achieved improved stock availability by consolidating its European warehousing operations with Zalando.

UK sales rose 5.4%, ahead of the 1.9% guidance but slower than the first half’s 7.6%. Management said they had underestimated the benefit of improved stock levels this year, after deliveries were delayed by disruptions in Bangladesh and global freight constraints last year.

“A double-digit rise in Q3 full-price sales and another profit upgrade show the group’s mix of disciplined inventory control and digital marketing is still working nicely,” said Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst UK at IG.

“Overseas growth was striking, with online sales up nearly 40%, suggesting its platform strategy has real international traction. The only worry is weakness in the UK as the domestic consumer cools, but even that looks well managed given Next’s track record of navigating downturns.”

Looking ahead, Next expects growth to ease – something it has warned of before, only to produce strong figures.

UK sales are forecast to slow to 4.1% in the fourth quarter as the exceptional first-half conditions normalise. Those earlier months benefited from favourable weather and competitor disruption.

Overseas growth is also expected to moderate to 24.3% in Q4 as the company cycles last year’s dramatic step-up. However, on a two-year basis, the momentum remains strong.

Next anticipates generating around £425m in surplus cash this year. It has already returned £131m through share buybacks but won’t purchase more shares at current prices, as those prices exceed its £121-per-share limit.

Instead, the retailer plans a special dividend of approximately £3.10 per share in January 2026, assuming no acquisitions materialise. The interim dividend of 87p per share will be paid on 5 January.

Total group sales guidance for the full year now stands at £6.87bn, up 8.7% on last year.

Quantum computing pioneer Alice & Bob has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to integrate the chipmaker’s NVQLink architecture into its fault-tolerant quantum computing systems.

The partnership centres around NVQLink, NVIDIA’s open-source platform launched at GTC Washington this week that integrates GPUs into real-time quantum feedback loops, addressing a critical challenge in fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC).

NVQLink accelerates the development of logical qubits by enabling GPU computation alongside qubit decoding and calibration.

“In the near future, every NVIDIA GPU scientific supercomputer will be hybrid, tightly coupled with quantum processors to expand what is possible with computing,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.

“NVQLink is the Rosetta Stone connecting quantum and classical supercomputers — uniting them into a single, coherent system that marks the onset of the quantum-GPU computing era.”

The collaboration between Alice & Bob and NVIDIA builds on existing ties between the companies’ quantum software teams.

Products, including Alice & Bob’s high-performance GPU simulation tool Dynamiqs, were developed using the NVIDIA CUDA-Q platform.

Alice & Bob believe NVQLink will enable better FTQC solutions, bringing forward timelines for practical quantum computing applications.

“We are thrilled to see NVIDIA’s NVQLink addressing the layers of the FTQC stack we’ve long considered critical: logical orchestration, decoding, and live calibration,” said Jérémie Guillaud, VP of Firmware at Alice & Bob.

“This launch is a clear signal that fault-tolerant quantum computers, such as Alice & Bob’s QPUs, are about to reach industrial maturity.”

Based in Paris and Boston, Alice & Bob aims to create the first fault-tolerant quantum computer. Founded in 2020, the company has raised €130 million, employs over 150 staff, and has produced experimental results that surpass those of major technology firms.

Advised by Nobel Prize-winning researchers, Alice & Bob specialises in cat qubits, a technology it claims can reduce hardware requirements for large-scale quantum computers by up to 200 times compared with competing approaches.

The FTSE 100 tiptoed higher again on Tuesday and was set to reach another record high amid hopes of a US interest rate cut this week.

The gains, however, were meagre compared to a rally in the US overnight, which saw the S&P 500 close over 1.2% as tech shares soared. S&P 500 futures were flat going into the open.

London’s leading index was just 4 points higher at the time of writing at 9,658.

Investors globally had a spring in their step ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision tomorrow and were also buoyed by progress in US-China trade relations.

“There are hopes that trade relations between Washington and Beijing can thaw when Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet in South Korea later this week,” explained Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Trade deal progress has been difficult but successful discussions could pave the way for lighter export restrictions on advanced technology to China, as well as preventing proposed Chinese tariffs on rare-earth minerals that are essential for semiconductor fabrication.  Meanwhile, markets are all-but-certain of a quarter point cut by the Federal Reserve Bank tomorrow, and confidence in another similar cut in December is high.”

HSBC was among the risers in London after the bank announced revenues that beat expectations and increased income guidance. The positivity around HSBC’s underlying performance offset the hit from provisions relating to the Madoff Ponzi scheme, and shares rose more than 3%.

“HSBC’s latest results show solid progress toward its 2027 goals, proving the bank can still deliver despite legacy headwinds, with a 14% drop in pre-tax profit linked to the Madoff Ponzi scheme,” said Max Harper, Analyst at Third Bridge.

“Revenue beat consensus expectations by 5.9%, with strength across both net interest income and fees. The $1 billion upgrade to NII guidance should be well received, reflecting how the bank’s streamlined operating model is driving greater efficiency and returns.”

Airtel Africa was the FTSE 100’s top riser, surging more than 6%, after half-year revenue rose more than 25%. Operating profits jumped 35% as customer numbers rose sharply over the period.

The biggest detractors from the positivity in London were the housebuilders and UK retailers, which were showing signs of budget jitters.