So far, the blue-chip FTSE 100 index hasn’t had a great start to the year. The index has lost 3.6% since the market closed on 29 December. That’s a loss of shareholder value of around £72bn.
What’s more, London’s main market index is down 3.7% over the past 12 months, but has gained 9.5% over the last five years. That’s a long way behind the gains of other major stock markets.
The Footsie’s dogs and stars
Though the Footsie is down only 1.6% over the last five days, there have been some sharp price movements among the index’s constituent shares.
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As it happens, only 18 FTSE 100 shares have gained in value over the past week. These increases range from 0.1% to 3.9%, with the average rise being 1.3%.
All the action is at the other end of the scale, with 82 shares losing ground. These losses range from 0.1% to 15.4%, with the average drop being 3.9%.
FTSE flops
For the record, these are the six worst-performing FTSE 100 stocks over the last five days. I have also include share-price changes over one and five years.
| Company | Sector | One-week change | One-year change | Five-year change |
| Barclays | Banking | -7.8% | -22.3% | -12.3% |
| Standard Chartered | Banking | -8.2% | -18.0% | -4.6% |
| Marks & Spencer Group | Retail | -8.7% | +68.0% | -11.3% |
| Lloyds Banking Group | Banking | -10.1% | -14.6% | -24.7% |
| Burberry Group | Fashion | -12.0% | -44.9% | -29.9% |
| Ocado Group | Retail | -15.4% | -20.9% | -35.6% |
Two clear themes leap out at me from the above table. First, my table includes two leading retailers and a global fashion house. At this time of year, such stocks can take a beating if Christmas sales and growth fail to live up to expectations. This certainly seems to be the case for these three candidates.
Second, my list also includes three major UK banks whose shares took a hit over the last five days. These declines were driven by surprise news on inflation.
Annual inflation — as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) — came in at a higher-than-expected 4% in the 12 months to December. This was also ahead of November’s inflation figure of 3.9% and was news that spooked hopeful investors.
With inflation rising slightly instead of declining, this pushes back market forecasts for early rate cuts by the Bank of England. Hence, financial stocks were among the market’s worst performers over the last five trading sessions.
I own two of these dogs
Unfortunately, my wife and I own two of these FTSE flops: Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group. We bought both stocks in the summer of 2022 for their attractive cash dividends.
As it stands, we’re sitting on a paper loss of 8.9% and 2.2% on these shares, respectively. Dividends received will have cushioned these blows, but both shares haven’t performed as I’d hoped. Perhaps they will bounce back as this year unfolds? I hope so, but who knows?
