What happened yesterday?
London stocks ended yesterday just below the waterline, as investors braced themselves for fresh Covid-19 restrictions to be imposed on England.
The FTSE 100 ended the session down 0.04% at 7,337.35, and the FTSE 250 was 0.04% weaker at 23,229.88.
Sterling was down 0.08% on the dollar at $1.3233 and 0.65% weaker against the euro at €1.1678.
US stocks edged higher Wednesday, with major indexes near record highs, aided partly by news suggesting the omicron variant of the coronavirus may not disrupt economies as much as feared.
The S&P index rose 0.35% to 4,701.21, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1% to end at 35,754.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index, on the other hand, firmed up 0.5% to reach 15,786.99.
In company news
Mercedes terminated its sponsorship deal with Kingspan, a firm that made insulation material involved in the Greenfell Tower disaster, a week after it was announced. The Formula 1 team were heavily criticised over the deal, with survivors of the June 2017 tragedy describing it as “truly shocking”.
Lobby group London First unveiled plans to change its name in a bid to avoid a clash with Boris Johnson’s levelling up agenda, which looks to focus on towns in the north of England instead.
Investment bank Jefferies Financial Group cancelled all client parties and most travel, requesting staff to work from home wherever possible due to a recent spike in Covid-19 cases. The firm recorded 10 cases of Covid amongst employees on Tuesday and has had more than 40 new Covid cases in December.