Closing post
Time to recap….
Britain’s construction sector has recorded its worst run since the financial crisis almost two decades ago, with housebuilding mired in the deepest slump since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
UK construction output shrank for the 12th month in a row in December, the longest unbroken run of declines since the global financial crash of 2007-09, although there were signs of optimism among companies, according to a monthly industry survey.
The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from S&P Global and Cips had a headline reading of 40.1 in December, close to its five-and-a-half-year low of 39.4 in November. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction. Economists had predicted a slight improvement, to 42.5.
Tim Moore, an economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said:
“UK construction companies once again reported challenging business conditions and falling workloads in December, but the speed of the downturn moderated from the five-and-a-half-year record seen in November.”
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has again told its shareholders to reject an “inadequate” $108.4bn (£80bn) hostile takeover bid by Paramount Skydance amid an extraordinary corporate battle to control the media conglomerate.
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, says:
“The blockbuster battle for Warner Bros Discovery continues to provide thrilling entertainment for bystanders. Paramount Skydance had already offered more cash per share than WBD’s favoured suitor, Netflix, but was nonetheless rebuffed by the board. It now seems that the additional protections proffered by Paramount have still failed to pass muster, with Warner Bros preferring the comforting assurances of the Netflix deal.
“One of the deal sweeteners sprinkled by Paramount was a break fee of $5.8 billion. But as Warner Bros points out, that would largely be swallowed up by a termination fee due to Netflix and other deal costs. A personal and irrevocable guarantee for $40.4 billion of equity financing from Larry Ellison has also fallen on deaf ears, presumably partly because pursuing such a large sum through the courts in the event of the deal collapsing isn’t particularly appealing. As Clint Eastwood said, ‘if you want a guarantee, buy a toaster’.
“At the heart of Warner Bros opposition to the Paramount takeover is the eye-watering amount of finance that will be required to complete the deal. The market cap of Paramount is just $14 billion, but it’s offering $108 billion to buy Warner Bros. The sources of that enormous financing, including Larry Ellison, would have to stay the course throughout a period of potentially up to 18 months, with all the possible changes in financial conditions and business performance that could involve. Warner Bros is therefore understandably concerned that some backers may get cold feet.
The US plans to control Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely” after laying claim to 50m barrels of blockaded crude and seizing a Russian oil tanker linked to the South American country.
The White House already plans to sell up to $3bn (£2.2bn) worth of Venezuelan crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities into the oversupplied global market after the American military’s capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Stocks have fallen in London, but in Germany the DAX hit a record high over 25,000 points.
Government bond prices have rallied too, pushing down borrowing costs.
Goodnight. GW
Updated
FTSE 100 closes in the red
Britain’s stock market has fallen for the first day this year.
The FTSE 100 has closed down 74.5 points at 10,048, down 0.75%, away from yesterday’s record closing high. It had risen on the first three trading days of 2026.
Precious metals producer Fresnillo (-4.8%) and copper producer Antofagasta (-4.3%), as falling prices of gold, silver and base metals hit the mining sector.
