On Friday, the FTSE 100 experienced a decline of 1.5%, primarily due to a significant sell-off in banking stocks following concerns about U.S. lenders that have now spread to Europe. Market jitters were exacerbated by reports of alleged fraud linked to loans from two regional American banks, sparking fears of broader credit issues. Notably, Barclays and Standard Chartered both saw their shares slide by approximately 5%, while NatWest experienced a decrease of over 3%. Additionally, HSBC and Lloyds faced drops of about 2.5% each. The downturn extended beyond banks, impacting broader financial sectors. Intermediate Capital's share fell by over 7%, Prudential declined by more than 3%, and both Legal & General and Scottish Mortgage shares decreased by nearly 3%.
Pharmaceutical stocks were not immune, with AstraZeneca and GSK witnessing declines of 1.3% and 2%, respectively. Similarly, oil giants Shell and BP saw their share prices fall by over 1% and 2%, respectively, due to weaker crude oil prices. In contrast, Pearson shares climbed nearly 3% following a report of a 4% increase in third-quarter sales and a reaffirmation of its full-year outlook, driven by the growth in enterprise partnerships and encouraging results from its AI-driven learning tools.
