Thursday 15 October 2026
Written automatically each morning by Claude from 10 news feeds, and published without editing.
UK markets face a soft start. Stocks are set to slip this morning despite a strong close for the FTSE 100 yesterday, and economists expect the ONS August GDP figure to show the economy shrank.
The weakness is coming from Asia. The global AI sell-off deepened overnight, with sharp falls triggering a trading halt on South Korea’s Kospi. Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 5%, following Wall Street lower.
That is the backdrop to Anthropic telling investors its quarterly revenue jumped 50%. By normal standards that is fast, but it is slower than some had anticipated, and it arrives just as fears about the AI trade are rattling markets.
On Ukraine, Zelenskyy was in London and met Prime Minister Andy Burnham at Downing Street on Wednesday, as he tries to shore up European support. His mood towards Washington is poor. He told the FT he is angry about the “dangerous” withdrawal of US intelligence sharing and the weakening of Starlink, and that Ukraine will resume strikes on Russian refineries. He also said he feels betrayed by Trump, accusing him of picking the other side, and pointed to the US agreeing to buy diesel from Moscow. Musk says the US government may be behind the slowdown in Ukrainian drone speeds. Ukraine says Starlink access has improved but is still speed-limited, which is disrupting its battlefield missions.
Separately, US negotiators floated unfreezing some Russian assets to restart peace talks during a meeting in Miami. European officials balked at the proposal.
In the Black Sea, suspected Russian drones have sunk or damaged five ships near Bulgaria and Romania, and NATO may redeploy anti-drone defences in response.
The ONS August GDP release this morning is the one to watch today.
Sources
- FTSE 100 Live: Stocks to slip; economy tipped to shrink — City AM
- Musk says US government may be behind slowdown of Ukraine drone speeds — BBC News
- Global AI sell-off deepens as Asian markets tumble — FT
- Ukraine to resume strikes on Russian refineries, Zelenskyy says — FT
- Anthropic tells investors its quarterly revenue jumped 50% — FT
- US floats unfreezing some Russian assets to restart Ukraine peace talks — FT
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy feels ‘betrayed’ by Donald Trump over Starlink access — Guardian
- NATO may redeploy anti-drone defenses as attacks sink more Black Sea shipping — Ars Technica
- Why Zelensky’s meeting with Burnham matters — BBC News
City AM, BBC News, FT, Guardian, Ars Technica — 2026-10-15