Proactive Investors -
- Blue chips down 4 points to 7,907
- Gold reaches new all-time high
- Miners climb as retailers take a hit
Vet group CVS suffers cyber-attack
While the FTSE 100 continues to hold flat, in small caps, veterinary group CVS (LON:CVSG) revealed its IT systems were hit by a cyber attack, which is still affecting some operations at its practices.
The company said it has informed the Information Commissioner's Office "due to the risk of malicious access to personal information".
While it "intercepted" the unauthorised external access to a number of its IT systems, there was "considerable operational disruption" in the past week at its 500-plus vet practices.
IT systems were temporarily put offline as part of a response plan.
Vet Collection, the chain owned by CVS, said on its website: “We are having issues with our online forms and emails, please call your practice for appointments and queries.”
Retail insolvencies soar as high interest rates wreak havoc
Retailers like Marks and Spencer (LON:MKS) and Sainsbury's are some of the top fallers on Monday after new research highlighted the soaring rate of insolvencies in the industry.
There have been almost 20% more insolvencies in the last twelve months, Mazars data showed, as the effect of higher interest rates hits high streets.
Some 2,200 retailers went into administration in the twelve months to the end of January, up against 1,843 recorded a year earlier.
As the Bank of England continued to hold interest rates at 5.25% since August, the burden on debt-laden businesses has been found to have devastating effects.
Rebecca Dacre, a partner at Mazars, said: “We are unlikely to see the retail sector trading comfortably until interest rates start to fall.”
Microsoft to open AI hub in London
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is opening a new AI hub in London in another boost as the capital returns to business.
The artificial intelligence lab will be focused on developing the technology for consumers and will be led by Jordan Hoffman, a former scientist at Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s DeepMind.
It comes after both OpenAI and Anthropic also announced they would be opening offices in London as they look to expand their workforce with European AI experts.
Mustafa Suleyman, the DeepMind co-founder and newly appointed boss of Microsoft's AI consumer division, said: "There is an enormous pool of AI talent and expertise in the U.K., and Microsoft AI plans to make a significant, long-term investment in the region as we begin hiring the best AI scientists and engineers into this new AI hub.
"In the coming weeks and months, we will be posting job openings and actively hiring exceptional individuals who want to work on the most interesting and challenging AI questions of our time.
"We’re looking for new team members who are driven by impact at scale, and who are passionate innovators eager to contribute to a team culture where continuous learning is the norm."
The morning so far
With company news sparse and a barren macroeconomic calendar, attention turned to gold prices this Monday.
Prices for the precious metal hit a fresh all-time high of $2,350 an ounce after swinging $27 higher during Monday’s Asia trading window.
Analysts pointed to high central bank purchasing as a key driver, with UBS stating: “At a stretch one could question whether the dollar's failure to advance has something to do with de-dollarisation trends.
“We note that gold is still pushing ahead strongly, and recent data shows that the People's Bank of China has been a consistent buyer of gold.” India's central bank has also been on a buying spree.
Miners Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), Anglo American (JO:AGLJ) and Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) were among the top FTSE 100 risers.
Other top risers among the blue chips include easyJet plc (LON:EZJ) (up 3.5%), Entain PLC (LON:ENT) (up 2.8%) and Diploma PLC (LON:DPLM) (up 1.9%).
Digital gold (aka bitcoin) was also seen higher, adding a little over a percentage point to approach $70,200.
Elsewhere on the news front, Banco Santander (BME:SAN) is quitting the Lending Standards Body, according to a Sky News report.
The UK’s fifth-largest lender cited confusion with other regulatory standards, chiefly the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty and new fraud reimbursement rules.
These new regulations "supersede the existing voluntary industry standards that are set out in the current LSB codes", Santander is reported to have said. "This inevitably leads to duplicative regulation and can create confusion among staff and customers about which standards apply."
The FTSE 100 was last seen 11 points higher at 7,922, having started the day in the red.