London shares gave up their early gains to finish in negative territory on Tuesday 10 November 2026, as hotter-than-expected US inflation data unsettled investors and overshadowed a further fall in oil prices.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.29% at 10,751.59, after spending most of the session in positive territory. The mid-cap FTSE 250 fared better, finishing up 0.16% at 24,746.65, while the techMARK index rose 0.22% to 6,205.87.

At midday the FTSE 100 had been 0.5% higher at 10,834.13, lifted by hopes that the conflict between the United States and Iran could be nearing an end. That optimism faded in the afternoon as attention turned to the US inflation figures.

Oil falls as Trump says Iran war is over

Oil prices continued to slide during the session. Benchmark Brent crude shed 0.9% to $91.74 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell 0.29% to $86.60.

Sentiment had been boosted after US President Donald Trump said overnight that the war with Iran was “effectively over”. Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said the United States was “just keeping it the status quo”, adding that taking military action “doesn’t seem to be a very necessary thing” but that the US remained “locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason”.

He also said on Truth Social that he had had an “excellent” talk with the Qatari prime minister and pointed to “positive momentum toward an end to this conflict”.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said markets were increasingly taking the view that Trump needed to find a way to end the Iran war, which in theory would help bring down energy costs and bring relief to consumers and businesses.

Hot US inflation lifts rate-hike bets

Trump’s comments came before the latest US consumer price index, which rose 0.4% month on month in October, above the 0.3% economists had expected. Axel Rudolph, chief technical analyst at IG, said the US 10-year Treasury yield was rising towards 5.00% as the hotter-than-expected inflation reading strengthened expectations of further Federal Reserve rate hikes, with Fed governor Christopher Waller also backing a December increase.

On home shores, figures from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed retail sales growth remained sluggish in October, as consumers held back spending ahead of Black Friday and Christmas. Total retail sales increased by 1.5% year on year over the four weeks to 31 October, slightly below the 1.6% growth recorded in the same period last year but ahead of the three-month average of 1.2%.

Separate data from Worldpanel by Numerator showed like-for-like grocery price inflation edged up to 2.6% in the four weeks to 1 November, from 2.5% in September and 2.3% a month before that.

M&S leads risers as miners and oil fall

In equity markets, Marks & Spencer was the standout riser, climbing 4.07% to 455.40p after pledging to double its dividend and reiterating plans to ramp up food and clothing sales. Investec rose 1.82% and Computacenter gained 1.77%.

On the downside, Shell fell 2.07% and BP also dropped as oil prices slid, while miners were on the back foot. Fresnillo fell 4.74%, Antofagasta lost 2.15% and Glencore slipped 2.10%.

Vodafone shares dipped even though the telecoms group raised full-year guidance. It now expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and lease-related expenses of between €13.2 billion and €13.4 billion, up from €13 billion to €13.3 billion previously.

Playtech reversed earlier gains despite saying full-year profit was set to come in ahead of analysts’ expectations, while Watches of Switzerland also turned lower despite hailing a strong first-half performance. Avon Technologies slid even after posting a rise in full-year profit and revenue.

Investors will now look to the rest of the week’s US data, including producer prices on Friday, for clues on whether the Federal Reserve will raise rates again at its December meeting.