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Investors are worried that interest rates across the pond may not be cut as quickly as hoped.

Fiona Cincotta, senior financial market analyst at City Index, said:

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt held talks with some of the City's top business leaders this morning in a bid to inject fresh momentum into London’s flagging market for new company listings.

According to Sky News, the chief executives of asset managers Abrdn and Schroders and their counterpart at HSBC Holdings were among those scheduled to attend a breakfast summit with Hunt.

An unexpectedly weak December has forced recruitment specialist Hays (HAS.L) into dishing out a profit warning and has driven its shares back towards a three-year low, according to AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

Workers at Amazon’s new warehouse in Birmingham have voted to join ongoing strike action over pay and working conditions, the GMB trade union said.

Workers at the warehouse will take strike action on 25 January, GMB said.

The average rate on a two-year fixed mortgage has fallen again as lenders compete for customers.

Financial information service Uswitch said the two-year fixed-rate mortgage deal rate had fallen to 5.94% and the five-year fix to 5.49%.

Apple (AAPL) - Apple will release the new Vision Pro headset in the US on Feb. 2, with pre-orders opening on 19 January, in what CEO Tim Cook has described as the dawn of spatial computing.

Samsung (005930.KS) - Samsung posted its sixth consecutive quarter of falling operating profit amid a slowdown in demand for consumer electronics.

GSK (GSK.L) - GSK said it has bought Aiolos Bio for an upfront consideration of $1bn, with the potential for an additional $400m.

Jupiter (JUP.L) - Shares in the UK-based asset manager plunged 17% after the fund house warned it is anticipating worse outflows than previously expected in 2023.

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Unemployment in the eurozone has fallen unexpectedly to a joint record low, suggesting Europe’s jobs market remains strong despite the weak growth in the region.

The seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in the Euro Area hit 6.4% in November, with the number of unemployed individuals falling by 99,000 month-on-month to 10.97 million. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate, reflecting those under 25 seeking employment, fell to 14.5% from 14.8%.

In the wider European Union, the unemployment rate slipped to 5.9% in November 2023, from 6% in October.

Retailers suffered a disappointing festive period that failed to make up for a challenging year of sluggish sales growth, figures show.

Weak consumer confidence continued to hold back spending, with total UK retail sales up by just 1.7% in December against growth of 6.9% a year earlier, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor.

The post-Christmas sales were unsuccessful in enticing spending in areas such as furniture and homewares, with households remaining cautious about making larger purchases.

Sales saw a slight increase in the week leading up to Christmas as consumers scrambled to purchase last-minute gifts – particularly online – due to the wet weather.

Shares in recruitment group Hays (HAS.L) plunged by almost 13% after it warned that its half-year profits were likely to come in below expectations.

The company is looking for “cost reduction and efficiency programmes” to steer it through a tough macro-economic environment.

Hays said its group consultant numbers were 5% lower during the final three months of 2023 and were down 12% year-on-year, while it also axed non-consultant roles, with a 3% reduction in those teams during the quarter.

The FTSE 250 (^FTMC) company said group fees slumped 15% last month and were 10% lower overall in the quarter.

It now expects first-half underlying operating profits of around £60m.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said falling Treasury yields tempted investors to buy technology shares on the dip, as each of the main US indices all but recovered their early year losses.

Discount retailer B&M (BME.L) has reported a rise in sales over the key festive quarter although it witnessed a slowdown in growth.

It came as the chain said it is on track to have opened 45 stores this financial year, with plans for a similar number of new sites next year.

The B&M European Value Retail group, which also runs the Heron frozen foods chain, revealed that revenues increased by 5% to £1.65bn over the 13 weeks to December 23.

It said this means revenues grew by 8.1%, on a constant currency basis, over the first nine months of the current financial year, after growth eased back.

B&M UK, which has 717 shops, saw sales grow by 3.7% to £1.35bn over the quarter leading up to Christmas.