FTSE lower but Ocado a runaway success

The FTSE started the morning slightly lower as investors remain concerned that the US-China trade deal will slip through the Trump administration's fingers, but a rally in Ocado shares and UK consumer borrowing data helped the index reach even ground.

The runaway success of the morning has been online grocery chain Ocado which rallied over 12%. The company has just signed a deal with Japan’s largest supermarket group Aeon to develop their e-commerce business and help it protect market share in a space where Amazon and other online retailers are expanding fast.

At the other end of the scale FTSE wealth manager St. James’s Place is being sold off and has lost 4.56%. Hedge funds have been going increasingly short on the company which has come under criticism over its fee structure and the way it incentivizes its advisors, and the company is now among the ten most shorted companies in the FTSE 100 index.

Bullish Boris and a confused pound

The pound is weaker for the moment and it has yet to digest a comment from Boris Johnson that the UK will leave the EU if the Conservatives are elected on 12 December. In theory a quick resolution to Brexit should be beneficial for the markets but investors are holding back, trying to work out whether this means Britain will end up with an orderly departure or messy exit.

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