FTSE 100 picks: Barclays, Scottish Mortgage, Rolls‑Royce

The FTSE 100 has traded in a narrow range since July, standing around 10,830 on Monday, a few points above the August low of 10,686. With the index flat, investors are focusing on individual stock catalysts this week.

Barclays shares traded around 496p on Monday, about 40% above their lowest level this year. The bank’s earnings mix has been supported by higher UK interest rates and a strong investment bank. In the first half of the year its investment banking division generated more than £7.9 billion in revenue. Deal activity has been significant: Barclays has been a leading equity capital markets bookrunner in Europe this year, advising on roughly $28.3 billion of deals, and has participated in debt capital market transactions exceeding $310 billion. Barclays is expected to be among the banks in the planned Anthropic IPO; the bank earned about $10 million in fees on a prior large listing and could receive larger fees on bigger offerings.

Scottish Mortgage holds a notable position in Anthropic. Using the last public valuation of about $900 billion, Anthropic made up roughly 2.8% of the trust’s portfolio. If Anthropic’s market value rises toward reported IPO targets near $2 trillion, that weighting would increase. Other top holdings in the trust have recovered from earlier lows: SpaceX is about 41% higher from its trough this year, and companies such as TSMC, Nvidia and MercadoLibre have risen by double digits from recent lows.

Rolls‑Royce is drawing attention for chart patterns and corporate developments. Technical data show a formation consistent with a bullish flag, a pattern that combines a sharp rise followed by a descending consolidation channel. The company has reported improving revenue and profitability trends and is investing in new products, including a narrow‑body aircraft engine targeted to enter service around 2030. Rolls‑Royce’s small modular reactor programme remains a longer‑term project and is not expected to generate near‑term profits.

Investors will monitor near‑term items that could move individual shares: final fee tallies and deal allocations from banks, pricing and timing details for major IPOs, and company updates or technical breakouts at industrial names. These events could influence individual stock performance even while the FTSE 100 remains largely rangebound.