BHP Group is among the top losers after it approved plans to exit the London index next week to have a main listing in Sidney. Rio Tinto was down 2.6% after Serbia scrapped its $2.4 billion lithium mine project over environmental concerns. Anglo American and Glencore are down as well.

Markets are also worried by new data showing UK retail sales dropped by 3.7% between November and December. However, “some of this fall is undoubtedly linked to Omicron, given footfall appeared to have been a little lower in the run-up to Christmas. But a lot of this also looks like a pullback after an unusually strong November and Black Friday”, said ING’s Developed Markets Economist James Smith.

And as inflation continues to run high, investors are bracing for imminent rate hikes in the US and the UK. Today, Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann is due to give a speech on inflation at 1pm GMT.

 

Things to read today:

Scientists lambast EU over gas and nuclear’s green energy label (Financial Times)

Boris Johnson’s Other Disaster (Wall Street Journal)

Global Inflations Ends Era of Ever-Cheaper Clean Energy (Bloomberg)