FTSE 100 surges but tech selloff goes on

The selling isn't over in US tech names but the FTSE 100 has had another stellar day, says Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at investing and trading platform IG.

FTSE 100 reaches new high

The FTSE 100 has happily surged to a new high while the rest of the world seems consumed by worries about AI and what Powell might say at Jackson Hole. After two weeks of a dash back to growth stocks, the dividend payers of London’s top index have regained their lustre; solid but perhaps somewhat dull stocks like United Utilities and Unilever dominate, a dramatic change from the tech-fuelled gains seen of late.

Magnificent 7 stumble further into the red

It has been a miserable week for tech stocks in the US, which have caught a bad case of the AI chills. The mini-panic induced by Altman’s comments and the MIT article have not yet subsided, though in most cases this is still a trimming of recent gains rather than any bigger rout. It is August, after all, and as thoughts turn to Jackson Hole on Friday we are bound to see some prudent derisking.