Newsflash: Britain’s blue-chip share index has hit a new record closing high.The FTSE 100 index has ended the day at 8,884 points, above the previous closing high of 8,871 points set on 3 March this year.Shares rallied despite economic data this morning showing the UK economy shrank in April, as tariffs and taxes hit growth.This milestone follows a two-month long recovery in share prices, after markets plunged in early April after Donald Trump announced new tariffs on US trading partners.That selloff pushed the FTSE 100 below 7,600 points on 9 April, just before Trump bowed to market pressure and suspended tariffs for 90 days, triggering a global rally.

Today, the FTSE 100 gained 20.5 points or 0.23%, outperforming other European markets which dipped amid ongoing jitters about trade.Top risers included UK health and safety device maker Halma (+2.8%), whose shares hit a record high after it predicted revenue growth above City forecasts for the next financial year.

Supermarket chain Tesco (1,8%) also rallied, after reporting a better-than-expected pick-up in underlying sales growth in its first quarter of the year,The FTSE 100 is now within sight of its intraday record high, 8,908 points, which it also hit on 3 March,Time to wrap up…,The FTSE 100 index has closed at a record high tonight, cementing its recovery from the trade war slump two months ago.

The blue-chip share index ended the day at a new closing high of 8,884 points, shrugging off weak UK economic data earlier today.Analysts said the London market was benefitting as investors sought alternatives to US stocks.The dollar has sunk to its lowest in more than three years, after Donald Trump’s threatened to impose new unilateral tariffs on US trading partners.The UK economy contracted in April by 0.3% as businesses cut jobs and cancelled investment plans in response to higher taxes and the uncertainty created by Donald Trump’s tariff war.

There were also signs that the trade war had hurt the UK economy in April, with a record drop in UK exports to the US.A leading thinktank has warned that Britain is on track to become a “National Health State” where half of all public spending is allocated to the NHS and social care by the end of the decade.Tesco has reported a jump in sales, lifted by demand for its upmarket Finest range.VodafoneThree, the newly formed leader in the UK’s mobile market, is aiming to more than double its broadband business by 2034 as it pledged to create thousands of jobs and upgrade its network.The discount retail chain Poundland is expected to close dozens of its stores after it was sold to the investment company Gordon Brothers for £1.

The UK’s recent trade deals may also have helped push the stock market higher,The Financial Times reports:“Investors have been allocating away from the US, and so Europe and the UK have benefited from that,” said Charles Hall, head of research at UK investment bank Peel Hunt,“We’ve got an improving economy, and we’re seen as having a more stable political situation than a lot of other companies,” he added,Trade agreements with the US, EU and India in recent weeks had also been “helpful in terms of sentiment”, added Hall,The FTSE 100 index has rallied this year as investors have looked for alternatives to US company shares, explains Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets.

He writes;I think we have clearly seen a rotation in global equity markets as investors have for the first time in years questioned the TINATA – there is no alternative to America,Investors are looking elsewhere and consistently conversations with clients revolve around geographic diversification and reducing exposure to the US,Of course there are alternatives to the UK - we should note that while the FTSE is up over 8% YTD, the DAX has rallied almost 20%, but clearly the UK has picked more than a few crumbs,Wilson also points out that precious metals producer Fresnillo has been the best-performing FTSE 100 stock this year, as silver and gold prices have soared,British defence names Babcock and BAE Systems take the silver and bronze medals with each rising on the geopolitical shifts taking place and expectations for more spending on defence.

The FTSE’s global footprint has also helped, he adds; Africa-focused Endeavour Mining and Airtel Africa have both rallied sharply this year and take fourth and fifth place.Today’s record closing high means the FTSE 100 has gained almost 9% so far this year, outpacing the US market.Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, explains:“The UK stock market has been a star performer this year, delivering more than three times the return as the S&P 500 in the US.It’s been ages since the UK trumped the US on the stock market, and 2025 has been the breakthrough year.“As Mr Kipling would say, this situation is ‘exceedingly good’ for anyone holding UK stocks in their pension or ISA.

Lots of investors have a home bias and FTSE 100 stocks are key holdings for many people in the UK.These are typically household names and investors often feel comfortable buying shares in brands they see day in, day out.“Driving the FTSE 100 this year have been precious metal miners including Fresnillo, defence stocks Babcock, BAE and Rolls-Royce, and financials such as Lloyds and Prudential.“The FTSE’s year-to-date performance is better than the main indices in France, India, Japan and China, and is exactly what’s needed to help raise the UK market’s profile among international investors.“It’s been an eventful first half of the year, with many investors turning their backs on the US amid concerns about Donald Trump’s trade policies and how they might hurt the economy.

They’ve fished for opportunities across the pond, with Europe being a magnet thanks to its cheaper markets relative to the US.“The UK market has done well, but Germany has done even better thanks to the government’s plans to splash the cash on defence and infrastructure.”Indeed, Germany’s DAX is up 19% since the start of January….Newsflash: Britain’s blue-chip share index has hit a new record closing high.The FTSE 100 index has ended the day at 8,884 points, above the previous closing high of 8,871 points set on 3 March this year.

Shares rallied despite economic data this morning showing the UK economy shrank in April, as tariffs and taxes hit growth.This milestone follows a two-month long recovery in share prices, after markets plunged in early April after Donald Trump announced new tariffs on US trading partners.That selloff pushed the FTSE 100 below 7,600 points on 9 April, just before Trump bowed to market pressure and suspended tariffs for 90 days, triggering a global rally.Today, the FTSE 100 gained 20.5 points or 0.

23%, outperforming other European markets which dipped amid ongoing jitters about trade.Top risers included UK health and safety device maker Halma (+2.8%), whose shares hit a record high after it predicted revenue growth above City forecasts for the next financial year.Supermarket chain Tesco (1.8%) also rallied, after reporting a better-than-expected pick-up in underlying sales growth in its first quarter of the year.

The FTSE 100 is now within sight of its intraday record high, 8,908 points, which it also hit on 3 March.Looking back at trade deals, Bloomberg are reporting that negotiations between the US and India continue, with the two sides taking hard stances on some key issues.They say:Trade officials from India and the US have hardened their stance on some key issues as they race to conclude an interim deal before higher US tariffs take effect in July, people familiar with the matter said.Negotiators from both sides, who met in New Delhi this week, wrangled over issues including a US demand that India open up its market to genetically-modified crops, officials in New Delhi said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.The US also wants India to eliminate tariffs and ease price controls on medical devices, and relax rules on data localization policy, which mandates storage of data on local servers, the people said.

New Delhi is pushing for the US to exempt India from existing sectoral tariffs on steel and automobiles, and threatened reciprocal tariffs that are scheduled to kick in on July 9, the people said,India also wants to be exempted from proposed duties on pharmaceuticals, they said,The US stock market has dipped in early trading, with the Dow Jones industrial average losing 148 points or 0,35% at 42,717 points,Aerospace firm Boeing (-4.

5%) is leading the DJIA fallers, after an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff near Ahmedabad airport today.The cause of the disaster has not yet been reported; Boeing has said it is working to gather more information.Neil Wilson, investor strategist at Saxo UK, said:While it’s too early to determine the cause, the fact that this is the first crash involving a 787 raises serious concerns.If a manufacturing flaw is to blame, it would be a major setback for Boeing, which has been working hard to rebuild its safety record after the two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019.The incident threatens to undermine recent progress in restoring investor and public confidence.

The broader S&P 500 index is flat in early trading in New York.Another day of US dollar weakness...and this in the context of generalized, albeit mild, "risk off" sentiment in markets.

#economy #markets pic,twitter,com/A1555p3k87Ouch! The dollar has taken another step lower, after new data showed inflation ‘at the factory gate’ was lower than feared,The US Producer Price Index only rose by 0,1% on a monthly basis in May, below the 0.

2% rise expected, indicating that inflationary pressures were lower than feared,On an annual basis, the PPI index rose by 2,6% in the year to May, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported,The dollar has continued its decline – now down 1% today against a basket of currencies,UK tax officials have denied that HMRC is “hopelessly outgunned” by the army of lawyers and tax agents in London used by wealthy individuals to minimise the amount of tax they pay, or avoid it altogether.

MPs on the public accounts committee have questioned John-Paul Marks, the new permanent secretary and chief executive of HMRC, and other officials about a recent report from the National Audit Office that found the wealthy could be avoiding more tax than had been thought, with a dramatic fall in the number of penalties being issued to the super-rich.Lloyd Hatton, a Labour MP, said London was a “world renowned hub for professional services” with an “army of lawyers, of accountants, of promoters of schemes and of tax experts and advisers” and asked how HMRC is tackling this “unique challenge”.He said a lot of people would think HMRC is “hopelessly outgunned and that there is, quite frankly, a very well trained, very knowledgeable part of our professional services sector who go about their life making HMRC’s job pretty impossible”.Jonathan Athow, director general for customer strategy and tax design at HMRC, replied:“The NAO report credits the team for the progress that they’ve been through in recent years in more than doubling the yield from our wealthy team, managing to keep the tax gap at around 5% [or £1.9bn], but your point, we want to go further.

We want to reduce that tax gap, and my job working with ministers is to make sure the team have got the capacity and capability that they need.They will have more investment and more enablement to do more.”And Penny Ciniewicz, HMRC’s director of general compliance, said:“I would just say we’re far from outgunned.We have huge expertise in this space, and we constantly seek to build it, because we’re not complacent.But you can see in the results that the NAO report describes that we are improving both the return on investment and … that we can bring the the most serious cases to successful conclusions in trials.

”Hatton said HMRC was not using the tools it has to impose more penalties, saying the recent stop notices against the tax avoidance specialist Paul Baxendale-Walker was the first time HMRC took action against an individual, not a company.Marks said: “We’re happy to reassure the committee that we use the power when we think it’s appropriate to do so.” He welcomed the NAO’s report, and said HMRC would implement its recommendations.The department is recruiting “400 people to tackle the wealthy offshore side” over the next five years, adding to its team of 1,000, which is expected bring in at least £500m in revenue.Marks expects the number of prosecutions to rise in coming years, as HMRC is also investing in artificial intelligence, and is already using predictive analytics and machine learning to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share of tax.

Nesil Caliskan, another Labour MP, said:“I have constituents living in Barking who are… paying housing charges going to a company owned by individuals living in offshore tax havens, they’re getting ripped off.And… so they really want HMRC to go after individuals who should be paying their fair share of tax.”Marks said “fairness is right at the heart of our charter.”And Philippa Madlin, HMRC’s director for wealthy and mid-sized business compliance, said: “We are not complacent and our ambitions are undimmed.”Newsflash: A key measure of job losses in the US has hit its highest level in almost two years.

The 4-week moving average total of initial jobless claims, which measures how many Americans seek unemployment support, has risen to 240,250.That’s the highest level for this average since August 26, 2023, and may signal that the US jobs market has weakened, five months into Donald Trump’s second term.In the last week along, there were 248,000 new initial claims – seen as a proxy for layoffs in the US econony.The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 247,000 to 248,000.Initial Claims 4-week Average 240.

3k, highest since Aug 2023 pic.twitter.com/ZSc0iStryU