Market Live Email
Wizz Air reports sharp drop in traffic, Balfour Beatty sells 10 infrastructure assets
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Monday 05 Jan 2026
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 57 points higher (+0.6%) ahead of the bell on Monday, after finishing Friday's session 0.2% higher at a record closing price of 9,951.14.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Budget airline Wizz Air reported a sharp jump in passenger traffic last month, with 5.85m people flying its routes, an increase of 15.5% year-on-year. Capacity surged 16.3% in December to 6.81 million seats, while the load factor for the month was 85.9%, down 0.6 percentage points.
Balfour Beatty announced the sale of ten UK assets from its infrastructure investments portfolio. The infrastructure firm said it sold its share in each of the assets to Equitix in December 2025 for combined proceeds of £87m, with a total gain on the disposals of £7m. The disposed assets comprise three Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTOs), five street lighting projects, one biomass plant and one road concession.
GSK has received regulatory approval in China for its Nucala treatment for adults with inadequately controlled chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Following the green light from China's National Medical Products Administration, Nucala is the first and only monthly biologic approved in the country for a COPD patient population with a blood eosinophil count of 150 cells/µL or higher - which accounts for 67% of COPD patients who continue to exacerbate despite inhaled triple therapy.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The UK is poised for a rise in unemployment in 2026 fuelled by the collapse of "zombie" companies that have struggled to adapt to a rise in business costs, according to a report. At the start of what could be a pivotal year for the economy, the Resolution Foundation said businesses were grappling with a "triple whammy" of multiyear increases in interest rates, energy prices and the minimum wage that could "finish off" some underperforming companies. - Guardian
A ban on junk food advertising on TV before 9pm and a total ban online has come into force as the government attempts to tackle the childhood obesity crisis. Under the rules, which will be enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) 13 categories of products can no longer be advertised on TV before the watershed or at any time online. The banned products are high in fat, sugar and salt. - Guardian
Shell could earn billions of dollars from new Venezuelan gas projects following Donald Trump's ousting of Nicolįs Maduro. The British oil company wants to target the rich gas fields lying between Venezuela and the neighbouring offshore islands of Trinidad and Tobago but has faced years of delay linked to US sanctions. - Telegraph
Britain is on the brink of a "turning point" where deaths begin to consistently outnumber births, the Resolution Foundation has warned. Gregory Thwaites, a research director at the Left-leaning think tank, said 2026 may be the first year of a "new normal" for the nation's ageing population, driven by "extremely low fertility and not especially high deaths". More deaths than births would leave the UK facing a shrinking population unless it welcomed more migrants. - Telegraph
British workers are increasingly unhappy in their jobs, with almost one in ten planning to quit in January, a new survey shows. Nearly a quarter said their work was making them unhappy, while 9 per cent expected to hand in their notice this month, according to research from the international schools group ACS. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Friday as big-name chip stocks carried their recent strong performance over into the new year.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.66% at 48,382.39, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.19% to 6,858.47, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.03% firmer at 23,235.63.
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