The FTSE 100 is poised for a sharp fall to end the week, with futures pointing to an 86-point slide as global markets resume the sell-off seen earlier in the week.
The projected decline would erase Thursday’s modest 20.2-point gain, which saw the index close at 9,527.65, after a chaotic night on Wall Street where early optimism abruptly gave way to heavy losses.
Wall Street’s main indices ended Thursday sharply lower, marking the collapse of an initial Nvidia-fuelled rally. The S&P 500 fell 1.5%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2.2% and the Dow Jones lost 0.8%, as fears of an overinflated AI boom resurfaced.
Earlier in the session, Nvidia’s market-beating results had temporarily calmed concerns over a speculative AI bubble, helping its shares jump nearly 5% and lifting both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 — but the optimism proved short-lived as selling pressure quickly returned.
“It was by far the wildest session on Wall Street since the post-Liberation Day sell-off that almost caused a meltdown in global markets,” said Kyle Rodda, market analyst at Capital.com.
Rodda suggested the sharp reversal was likely driven by monetary policy uncertainty, noting that while the jobs report lifted expectations of a December Fed rate cut, the odds still remain against one.
The nervous tone has spread across Asia. Markets there are firmly in negative territory this morning, with the Nikkei, Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite all down more than 2%.
Bitcoin slides to April lows as October slump deepens
Bitcoin fell sharply throughout the day, sliding to levels last seen in April as the sell-off that began in October gathered pace.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency dropped 5.5pc to around £66,000, extending a persistent downturn that has steadily eroded confidence and wiped out recent gains.
