Time to wrap up…. and get ready for Christmas! Here’s a quick recap.

American Airlines has lifted an hour-long ground stop of all its flights in the US due to an unspecified technical issue, a notice on the US aviation regulator’s website showed.

The ground stop, ahead of the busy Christmas travel, had threatened the holiday plans of thousands.

AA had told customers:

“A technical issue is affecting American flights this morning. Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

Shares have risen in London, on the final trading day before Christmas. Stocks are also rallying on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 is now up 0.6%.

But footfall at UK shopping outlets yesterday was lower than a year earlier, in a worrying sign for the retail sector.

The British car industry has welcomed government proposals that could allow Toyota Prius-style hybrids to continue to be sold in the UK after 2030, as part of a package of measures to ease regulations on carmakers.

UK housebuilder Vistry has issued its third profit warning in three months, in a year-end blow to the construction company that sent its shares to a two-year low.

Very best wishes for Christmas and the festive season!

The disruption at American Airlines came today as the industry prepared for its busiest Christmas season ever.

A record 54mn passengers are forecast to fly on US carriers between December 19 and January 6, according to trade group Airlines for America (A4A).

UK carriers are also expecting a record-breaking festive period, with 6.1m seats expected to be flown between December 20 and January 2, aviation data company Cirium has predicted.

The FT has more details.

There’s been some worrying disruption to pre-Christmas flights in the US today – but happily, the problem may now be fixed.

An unspecified technical issue forced American Airlines to suspend all flights earlier today, which must have delayed travel plans for some passengers across the country.

The airline told one passenger, on X, that it was “currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights”.

But after roughly an hour, the ground stop has now been lifted, according to a notice on the U.S. aviation regulator’s website.

London’s stock market has closed for Christmas, after a morning in which shares have risen in the City.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 share index has closed up 34 points, or 0.4%, at 8136 – meaning the traditional seven day “Santa Claus Rally” period has got off to a solid, if unspectacular start (see earlier post for details of this festive stock market theme).

AirTel Africa finished the shortened session as the top riser, up 3.8%, after beginning a new share buyback progrmme, followed by Pershing Square (+2.2%), mining company Anglo American (+2%) and Vodafone (+1.9%).

Housbuilders, though, had a poor day following this morning’s profits warning from Vistry. Persimmon was the top FTSE 100 faller, down 2.4%.

Vistry itself has posted a 16% plunge today, putting it firmly at the bottom of the FTSE 250 share index.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says the FTSE 100 has risen despite recent “lacklustre economic data”, adding:

Monday’s session saw the index close slightly lower after opening in the red, as final GDP figures revealed the UK economy stalled in the third quarter with no growth from the prior period and just a 0.9% annual rise.

Adding to the wintry chill, second-quarter growth was revised down from 0.5% to 0.4%, stoking concerns about the UK’s slowing momentum heading into the new year.

We have further signs today that this is not a brilliant Christmas for the retail sector.

Yesterday, year-on-year footfall at UK shopping destinations was 1.2% lower than on 23rd December 2023 (a Saturday), according to retail technology firm MRI Software.

Visits to UK high streets were 5.3% lower than a year ago, reflecting the general decline in physical shopping since the Covid-19 pandemic, although this was somewhat balanced out by a 4.9% rise at retail parks.

On a weekly basis, footfall was up 28.5% in all UK retail destinations compared to the week before.

Jenni Matthews, marketing and insights director at MRI Software, says:

This spike reflects the attraction of the vast leisure and retail options available to consumers especially large families buying those last-minute gifts, groceries and also looking for that experiential element to keep the children entertained. High streets also saw strong week on week growth (+18.8%) however this was over half of what was seen in shopping centres.

However, footfall remained 5.3% lower in high streets compared to the same date last year suggesting the cost of living pressures continue for many families. This was also reflected in modest year on year rises recorded in shopping centres and retail parks of +1.4% and +4.9%, respectively.