City Confidential

3 February 2026

We said yesterday that it had been a quiet start to the week but in truth as the day developed markets became increasingly volatile.  Although the FTSE 100 ended the day up 118.02 points at 10,341.56 there were significant price moves during the day.  Commodities such as silver and gold fell sharply with the oil price also falling back.  The price of copper has rallied by over 2.5% this morning as the prices of precious metals also rebound.  Mining stocks have risen accordingly whilst financial stocks have also gained.  The volatility in financial markets now concerns us and we are therefore wary of the UK equity market especially in those stocks close to record highs.