FTSE 100 Live: Stocks called higher as Trump signals Iran ready for talks

Market Report FTSE 100 Written by: Oliver Haill 03:58 Thu 09 Jul 2026 --> Disclaimer No investment advice About this content Editorial Standards & Policies Share article About this content × About Oliver Haill Oliver has been writing about companies and markets since the early 2000s, cutting his teeth as a financial journalist at Growth Company Investor with a focusing on AIM companies and small caps, before a few years later becoming a section editor and then head of research. He joined Proactive after a couple of years freelancing, where he worked for the Financial Times Group, ITV, Press Association, Reuters sports desk, the London Olympic News Service, Rugby World Cup News Service, Gracenote... Read more About the publisher Proactive financial news and online broadcast teams provide fast, accessible, informative and actionable business and finance news content to a global investment audience. All our content is produced independently by our experienced and qualified teams of news journalists. Proactive news team spans the world’s key finance and investing hubs with bureaus and studios in London, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Sydney and Perth. We are experts in medium and small-cap markets, we also keep our community up to date with blue-chip companies, commodities and broader investment stories. This is content that excites and engages motivated private investors. The team delivers news and unique insights across the market including but not confined to: biotech and pharma, mining and natural resources, battery metals, oil and gas, crypto and emerging digital and EV technologies. Use of technology Proactive has always been a forward looking and enthusiastic technology adopter. Our human content creators are equipped with many decades of valuable expertise and experience. The team also has access to and use technologies to assist and enhance workflows. Proactive will on occasion use automation and software tools, including generative AI. Nevertheless, all content published by Proactive is edited and authored by humans, in line with best practice in regard to content production and search engine optimisation. FTSE 100 Live: Index opens lower after AstraZeneca trial failure, Computacenter surges Last updated: 03:58 09 Jul 2026 EDT, First published: 02:19 09 Jul 2026 EDT 8.57am: AZ failure hits 'water-tight' trial reputation AstraZeneca's market value has so far taken a £20 billion hit from today's news, with its market cap falling below £200 billion. It is still the second largest company on the Footsie, behind £248 billion HSBC and ahead of £169 billion Shell. Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten says the failure of the CARDIO-TTRansform trial was "surprising", putting circa 2% of AZ's net present value at risk, equivalent to about $2.5 billion in risk-adjusted sales. But he believes the shares could fall by twice that amount because of concerns over management credibility. "This does not jeopardise the company's 2030 $80 billion sales target, but mgmt had been very confident around the primary endpoint and the ability to hit in combination use. "Given AZN is meant to be able to design trials that are mostly water-tight, we suspect the share price reaction will go beyond the NPV impact." He said the stock "may not recover until the next volatility catalyst (AVANZAR) is out of the way". 8.21am: AstraZeneca's trial setback Digging through pharma analyst notes, it seems AstraZeneca's trial setback wipes out one of its biggest late-stage pipeline opportunities. In a note earlier this year, Citi analysts had forecast peak annual sales of more than $6 billion from Wainua and estimated the programme accounted for about 2.8% of its valuation. The CARDIO-TTRansform trial of Wainua was investigating its ability to treat transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy. The company said the treatment did not significantly reduce cardiovascular deaths and recurrent cardiovascular events versus placebo. 8.14am: AstraZeneca drags FTSE into red The FTSE 100 opened higher in the first two minutes of trading but has slumped into the red for one main reason: a 9% plunge for AstraZeneca. Earlier, the drug giant announced that a Phase III trial of drug Wainua failed to meet its primary endpoint of treating a rare, progressive heart disease. The study found no statistically significant reduction in cardiovascular deaths and recurrent cardiovascular events versus placebo, although a prespecified subgroup receiving Wainua alone showed a nominally significant benefit. Elsewhere, Computacenter jumped over 13% on the back of its positive trading update. Miners Antofagasta, Anglo American and Glencore are next, all up 3% or more. 8.03am: Energy System Operator issues heatwave warning The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has issued an electricity margin notice after forecasting tight electricity margins for tomorrow evening's peak demand period. Pressure on the system is being driven by the current extreme temperatures across