FTSE 100 Live: Asos shares tumble, retail sales drop, Babcock sinks

Good morning from the City PM liveblog team.

With just days to go before the Budget, there is increasing investor nervousness about what surprises could be in-store for businesses. Few are expecting those surprises to be pleasant.

Speaking to the paper yesterday, the boss of the world’s biggest platinum group metals recycler warned Rachel Reeves not to make it any more expensive for firms to do business.

“The minimum ask is don’t increase costs for business,” said Liam Condon, chief executive of FTSE 250 firm Johnson Matthey.

“The UK is an expensive place to do business. Energy costs are too high, labour costs are relatively high.

“We’re a heavy investor in the UK and we’re a big believer in the UK. But at the end of the day we’re working in a global industry and we need to be competitive from a cost point of view so avoiding additional cost burdens will help ensure that we can keep jobs – and ideally grow jobs – in the UK.”

There are likely many bosses across the FTSE who share Condon’s concerns. For now, they’ll just have to hold their breath.

Here’s a summary of our top headlines from yesterday:

• Manufacturing output plummets at fastest pace since pandemic
• Shoplifting ‘epidemic’ and AI data centre demand help Mitie revenue surge
• Asda raises almost £600m from supermarket sell-off
• Nvidia’s golden quarter dares markets to call AI a bubble
• OBR questioned on Reeves’ flip-flopping and forecast changes
• Banking chief warns Reeves against ‘quick fixes’ in Budget