The FTSE 100 made steady gains on Thursday as investors positioned for a potential US interest rate cut in September and breathed a sigh of relief as the global bond sell-off eased.

London’s leading index was 0.2% higher after a solid session for US stocks amid jobs data that pointed to a need for the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs.

“Ahead of non-farm payrolls on Friday, sharply lower job openings across the Atlantic suggested a weakening in the labour market which could push the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates more aggressively,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Markets remain twitchy however, and the pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves is unlikely to dissipate in any meaningful sense before she delivers her Autumn Budget in late November.”

Reeves’ decision to schedule the budget for the end of November could be seen as unusual, but fortunately, bond markets took the news well, and the sell-off of long-dated gilts experienced at the beginning of the week has slowed.

As bond market tensions eased, the focus shifted to the US, and strong gains for tech stocks spilt over into the European session.

“SPX managed a 0.5% gain, with the Nasdaq outperforming on the back of an 11% surge in Alphabet shares after a favorable antitrust ruling relieved it from being forced to spin-off Google Search engine,” explained Ahmad Assiri, Research Strategist at Pepperstone.

In the UK, Next was the FTSE 100’s top riser as consumer-facing stocks enjoyed the easing in interest rate tensions. Next rose 2.5% while Autotrader gained 2%.

JD Sports also joined the rally but remained below 100p mark, which is proving to be a strong level of resistance. Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s all joined the rally.

Admiral Group was the top faller with losses of 3% as the stock moved below levels seen before they released a strong half-year report in August.

Defence Holdings shares surged on Thursday after the software-led defence company announced it will showcase its inaugural AI product at DSEI 2025.

The real driver of shares on Thursday is that the technology is already in active development for the UK Ministry of Defence.

Defence Holdings shares were 20% higher at the time of writing.

The product is the creation of Defence Technologies, a partnership between Defence Holdings and Whitespace Global, a British deep-tech specialist in AI infrastructure for defence and national security.

Defence Holdings and Whitespace Global are collaborating with one of the world’s “Magnificent 7” technology giants on the product, with engineers from both Whitespace and the unnamed hyperscale partner working together to integrate cloud infrastructure designed specifically for AI workloads directly into the build.

“Our first product proves that Defence Holdings can move faster than the traditional defence cycle and from vision to operational capability in record time,” said Andrew McCartney, Chief Technology Officer of Defence Holdings.

“Through Defence Technologies, we are embedding sovereign AI into the heart of defence where it matters most. The scale of what we can deliver, secure, deployable software that can run at the tempo of modern operations, sets a new benchmark for UK defence.”

The partnership with the hyperscaler positions Defence Technologies amongst the few emerging defence platforms capable of operating at the same scale as established tech suppliers and underpins the progress the company has made in a short period.

It is also a massive validation of Defence Holdings’ ‘Five-Year Strategic Plan’ set out when the group transitioned from an e-sports firm to defence earlier this year.

Beeks Financial Cloud won more than $7 million worth of new Private Cloud contracts in August, the financial markets cloud computing and connectivity provider announced today.

Shares in the firm were 3% higher at the time of writing.

The contracts span multiple financial institutions across different regions, with revenue recognition beginning in the current financial year. This supports the board’s expectations for FY26.

Private Cloud offers secure, high-performance, low-latency computing platforms built exclusively for single organisations within their chosen data centres, unlike shared public cloud resources.

The August wins follow Beeks’ record Proximity Cloud performance in June, demonstrating continued contract momentum for the AIM-listed company.

“Demand for our offerings continues to build as financial institutions increasingly recognise the need for secure, high-performance infrastructure,” said Gordon McArthur, CEO of Beeks.

“These wins add meaningful contracted revenue for this year and reinforce our confidence in the Company’s ongoing growth prospects.”

The FTSE 100 bounced back from a wobble caused by bond market gyrations yesterday as miners surged amid rising precious metals prices.

Although London’s leading index didn’t recover all losses sustained yesterday, investors will be reassured that the global bond market sell-off didn’t spill into a second session of equity declines. That said, bond yields remained elevated and are likely to impact the equity story again before long.

The FTSE 100 was trading 0.5% higher at the time of writing, with mining stocks leading the charge. US equities were set for a higher open as tech stocks gained in the premarket.

Fresnillo, up 5%, was the top riser as gold scaled fresh highs. Fresnillo is the FTSE 100’s best-performing stock of 2025, posting gains in excess of 220% and playing a significant part in the index hitting record highs on a number of occasions this year.

Gold was last trading comfortably above $3,500 at $3,547 – a fresh record high.

“Gold is undergoing an impressive rally, supported by a combination of macroeconomic factors and capital flows,” said Linh Tran, Market Analyst at XS.com.

“After setting new record highs, the precious metal has continued to attract investors thanks to expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will soon shift toward monetary easing, declining real yields, and rising demand for safe-haven assets amid global economic uncertainties.”

Diversified miners also joined the rally and helped lift the FTSE 100 index. Antofagasta and Anglo American both added more than 3%.

Ashtead rose 2.7% as the plant hire firm pleased investors with an encouraging set of Q1 results that further dispelled the gloom around the stock at the beginning of the year.

“Ashtead’s share price resurgence, up over 50% in just a few months, marks one of the most compelling turnarounds in the FTSE 100 this year. What began as a bleak 2025, marred by slowing construction starts and fears of a U.S. hard landing, has flipped dramatically as infrastructure tailwinds, resilient U.S. demand, and record free cash flow have reignited investor confidence,” said Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro.

“Q1 results only add fuel to the rally, $2.8bn of revenue, $552m in profit, and raised free cash flow guidance underscore both operational strength and balance sheet discipline.”

There was also strength in defence stocks after China showed off its military hardware in a major parade that featured AI-powered robot attack wolves and nuclear bombs.

“It was telling that defence stocks moved higher, including gains from BAE Systems and Rheinmetall as investors potentially took the view that a more serious threat from the East could further increase demand for Western defence capabilities,” explained Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Babcock added 3% as BAE Systems rose around 0.5%.

Klarna has set its sights on New York for its long-awaited IPO that could value the ‘buy now, play later’ company at up to $14bn.

The Fintech filed for an IPO confidentially earlier this year, but pushed back plans due to market volatility caused by Trump’s tariffs.

The news will come as a blow to London, following reports that the Swedish start-up was considering listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The US has enjoyed a raft of successful IPO’s in recent months, so the decision to pass on London in favour of New York wouldn’t have been a difficult one to make.

Figma recently more than doubled on its first day of trading in the US, while a string of space-focused firms have been met with strong investor demand. London-listed Tekcapital has also picked the US to list its AV safety firm Guident, which, like Klarna, has filed for a US IPO confidentially.

Klarna is offering 34.3 million ordinary shares at an expected price range of $35-$37 per share, trading under the symbol “KLAR.”

Of the total offering, Klarna will issue 5.6 million new shares, whilst existing shareholders will sell 28.8 million shares. Underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase an additional 5.1 million shares to cover over-allotments.

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering as joint book-running managers. Several major banks including BofA Securities, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank are serving as bookrunners, with additional firms acting as co-managers.

While it will be pretty tricky for UK-based private investors to gain exposure to the Klarna IPO before shares start to trade, they do have the option of taking a position in London-listed Chrysalis Investments Limited, which holds a £125m stake in Klarna, accounting for roughly 15% of the fund’s portfolio.

James Cropper shares rose on Wednesday after the Advanced Materials and Paper & Packaging group announced that recent trading had exceeded expectations across both core divisions.

Shares rose 20% in early trading on Wednesday as the group said it was targeting ‘significant growth in Adjusted EBITDA against FY25’.

The company produce paper and packaging as well as advanced materials such as composites for a broad range of industries, including automotive and defence. It also provides materials for batteries and electrolysers.

The group’s financial position improved during the 18-week period ended August 2, 2025, which also helped boost sentiment. Net debt fell to £10.3m from £12.9m at the end of the previous financial year in March 2025 – a reduction of £2.6m. This represents a £5.0m improvement compared to the same period last year.

The debt reduction was supported by disciplined cash management and £1.2m in net receipts from selling non-core assets. This aligns with the capital allocation policy outlined by the board at its Capital Markets Event in June.

“I am pleased we are making progress on our three key objectives: sales growth in Advanced Materials, improving profitability in Paper & Packaging and disciplined cash management to embed leverage below 2x EBITDA,” said David Stirling, CEO.

“The business is becoming more agile and streamlined to deliver our objectives, which will create long-term value for shareholders as we make progress against our recently introduced strategy.”

After a torrid 2024, shares are 30% higher in 2025 and investors will hope today’s update builds a foundation for further recovery.