The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed lower by -0.6%, led down by Salesforce which was added to the index in August, and Chevron, which was off by -3.6%. Modest risers on the day were led by Walgreens Boots Alliance up 1.4% and Apple up 0.8%.

S&P 500: -0.2% Wednesday, +12.4% YTD

Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.6% Wednesday, +4.7% YTD

Nasdaq Composite: +0.5% Wednesday, +34.8% YTD

FTSE reacts negatively to Sunak economic update

UK markets reacted negatively to Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spending review update, on the back of poor economic data for the coming years. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now predicts that the UK economy will contract by 11.3% because of coronavirus – the worst fall in more than 300 years. UK GDP will not return to pre-Covid levels until the 4th quarter of 2022, says the OBR, with the economy growing by 5.5% next year, 6.6% in 2022, then 2.3%, 1.7%, and 1.8% in the following years.

On the back of the news, the FTSE 100 dipped, down 0.6%. The FTSE 250 was down more, off 1.1%, but most of this drop was baked in early on as investors changed positioning following the recent rally.

Leading the FTSE 100 lower was IT firm Aveva Group, which fell an eye-watering 20% on the day, unusual for a one-day price in the index. The stock dived after announcing a major rights issue which will see the firm sell £2.8bn worth to help fund its £3.8bn takeover bid of US software group OSIsoft. On the plus side, the biggest riser on the day was Unilever, up 5%, which announced the takeover of supplements firm SmartyPants Vitamins. Meanwhile, in the FTSE 250, Genus topped the rankings, rising 6%, while the biggest faller was media company Future PLC, down 17% after it agreed the takeover of GoCompare owner GoCo Group.

FTSE 100: -0.6% Wednesday, -15.2% YTD

FTSE 250: -1.1% Wednesday, -10.6% YTD

What to watch

US Markets: Stock markets in the US are closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, and close early (1pm ET) on Friday, so there will be no companies reporting today from the US and limited activity on Friday.