FTSE 100 hits record high as trade war fears ease
Newsflash: Britain’s blue-chip stock index has hit a new alltime high, as investors shrug off the threat of Donald Trump’s trade wars.
Update: The FTSE 100 index has risen by as much as 80 points, or 0.9%, to a fresh record peak of 8947.84 points, over the previous record of 8908.82 set in March.
Mining stocks are leading the rally today, signalling that traders are not worried that Trump’s blizzard of tariffs will cause a global recession, despite new tariffs such as the 50% imposed on US copper imports and on imports from Brazil.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, says investors are in an “ebullient summer mood”, adding:
Perhaps most notable is the market’s apparent indifference to escalating trade tensions. Trump’s 50 percent tariff on copper imports and threats toward Brazil triggered little reaction. Many now view such announcements as political posturing, summed up by TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out.
So far this year, the FTSE 100 index has surged by over 9%. It has benefitted from a range of factors this year, including the rotation out of US assets as investors have feared that Donald Trump’s trade war would hurt America’s economy.
Relief that the UK struck an early trade deal with the US has also helped make the London market attractive.
Precious metals producer Fresnillo has been the top-performing FTSE 100 stock so far this year; it has more than doubled (+140% since 1 January), as the prices of both gold and silver have risen.
British defence companies Babcock (+117% year-to-date)and BAE Systems (+63% ytd) have also both risen sharply this year, helped by expectations of a surge in defence spending as the Russia-Ukraine war has continued.
Engineering firm Rolls-Royce (+73% ytd) has also had a strong 2025.
Key events
FTSE 100 ends at new closing high
And finally…
After a strong day’s trading in London, the FTSE 100 share index has ended the day at a new closing high.
The blue-chip share index has closed up 108.64 points, or 1.23%, at a new end-of-day peak of 8975.66 points.
Earlier in the session, the Footsie pushed its new intraday high record even higher, to 8979 points.
Mining stocks led the rally, with Glencore (+39%), Rio Tinto (+3.9%) and Anglo American (+3.7%) at the top of the list of risers, along with equipment rental firm Ashtead (+3.8%).
“It’s hard to think it was only last year that London’s blue-chip index climbed above the psychologically important 8,000 mark and stayed there. It had managed to briefly scale that peak a year earlier but quickly fell back, so watching the FTSE 100 creep closer and closer to 9,000 feels a little surreal,” says AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson.
She adds:
“London based mining stocks have surged today, helping to bolster an index which has been on the front foot for most of the year, if you excuse its post Liberation Day rout. Investors have had a chance to digest Donald Trump’s copper tariffs and the surge in prices has certainly created opportunities, at least in the short term.
“It’s going to take years for the US to increase its copper mining and smelting capacity, and considering how vital it is in manufacturing EVs and mobile phones, not to mention its importance in the power grid, US demand is unlikely to fall back in any measurable way. That means copper importers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it will be the US consumer who will ultimately pay the price.
“But the current price surge reflects shifting policy. The sector had been anticipating tariffs on copper – even if they have come in much higher than expected – and stockpiles have been built up, so the price premium is expected to fall back in the near term.
“What is unknown is where prices will settle once they’ve had a bit of time to bed in, and how that will affect global trade, especially if economic growth slows across the world as it’s predicted to because of all the uncertainty.
“Generally, investors seem to have been rather dismissive of Donald Trump’s latest tariff tangos, believing that ultimately the US president will back off if negotiations don’t go his way. The crunch point is likely to be if a US-EU deal can’t get over the line, but even then the assumption seems to be that the new deadline, just like the last, is soft.”
And on that note, goodnight! GW
JPMorgan CEO Dimon warns of complacency in financial markets
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has warned that markets are complacent, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements, Reuters reports.
Dimon told an event at Ireland’s foreign ministry:
“Unfortunately I think there is complacency in markets”
Although shares in London have had a strong day, the pound has been weakening.
Sterling has slipped by a third of a cent today to $1.355, with the US dollar strengthening a little following the drop in jobless claims reported today.
Mulberry raises £20m to fund growth drive
Sarah Butler
Back in the UK, Mulberry has raised £20m from its key shareholders, Challice and Frasers Group, to boost growth amid falling sales and widening losses at the British luxury handbag maker.
The group said it would also raise up to £1.2m from other shareholders after it revealed sales fell 21% to £120.4m in the year to the end of March while underlying losses widened to almost £24m from just under £23m a year before.
It said the new funds would enable it to make “targeted investments to accelerate its future growth and meet its stated medium term financial targets.”
The latest fundraising comes less than a year after Mulberry raise £10.35m, before expenses to strengthen its balance sheet and provide “financial flexibility” amid a slowdown in the global luxury market.
The group also slashed a quarter of staff at its headquarters in Somerset late last year after rejecting an £111m bid from Frasers, Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley’s retail business.
Challice, a group controlled by the Singaporean entrepreneur Christina Ong and her husband, was quick to rebuff the proposal, saying it had no interest in selling its shares. Challice’s 56% stake means it can block any deal.
Muted open in Wall Street
The New York stock market isn’t matching the sizzling performance in London today.
The S&P 500 share index has dipped by 2.5 points, or -0.04%, to 6,260 points in early trading.
Airline stocks are rising, led by Delta Air (+11%) which told investors today that demand trends have “stabilised”.
US jobless claims drop
Just in: US job losses remain low, new data shows, despite trade war uncertainty.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment support fell by 5,000 last week, to 227,000, the Department of Labor has reported.
Initial jobless claims fell to 227K (-5K), while continuing claims hit 1.97M — the highest since Nov 2021. Unemployment rate steady at 1.3%. Notable claim spikes in NJ, NY, IL from layoffs in education, healthcare & manufacturing. #Unemployment #JobMarket pic.twitter.com/FogjVrmSfK
— Econoday, Inc. (@Econoday) July 10, 2025
Following the four arrests, an M&S spokesperson says:
“We welcome this development and thank the NCA for its diligent work on this incident.”
Four people arrested after cyber-attacks on M&S, Co-op and Harrods
Four young people have been arrested for their suspected involvement in the damaging cyber-attacks against Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods, PA Media reports.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the individuals were arrested early on Thursday morning on suspicion of blackmail, money laundering, offences linked to the Computer Misuse Act and participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
The arrests included a 17-year-old British man from the West Midlands, 19-year-old Latvian man from the West Midlands, 19-year-old British man from London and 20-year-old British woman from Staffordshire.
All four were arrested from their home addresses and remain in custody.
It comes after investigations by NCA into attacks against the three retailers, where hackers sought ransom payments after breaking into their IT systems.
Paul Foster, head of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said:
“Since these attacks took place, specialist NCA cybercrime investigators have been working at pace and the investigation remains one of the agency’s highest priorities.
“Today’s arrests are a significant step in that investigation but our work continues, alongside partners in the UK and overseas, to ensure those responsible are identified and brought to justice.”
Earlier this week, the chair of Marks & Spencer claimed two hacks involving “large British companies” had gone unreported in recent months.
M&S’s cyber-attack is expected to knock around £300m hit to profits, as its online ordering system was offline for around six weeks.
Back in the energy sector, a former boss of Virgin Money has been lined up to chair Britain’s fourth-biggest home energy supplier.
Sky News are reporting that Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia will become independent chair of Ovo as part of a boardroom shake-up at its parent company, succeeding Justin King, the former J Sainsbury chief.
Gadhia’s appointment comes as Ovo holds merger talks with Scottish Power, one of its largest rivals.
Lisa O’Carroll
The EU and the US are no closer to announcing a deal after a phone call between EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic and the US trade representative Jamieson Greer, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll in Brussels writes.
The agreement in principle is expected to be a three page document outlining headline reductions in tariffs for cars, medical devices and possibly steel, in exchange for a baseline 10% import duty on all imports from the bloc and some simplification of paperwork on food imports.
Sources say the agreement is just waiting for Trump’s sign off and that did not happen last night so the call with Greer could never have delivered the deal.
It could yet come later today but the EU is blind on Trump’s announcement intentions.
The European Commission has the power to accept the deal as it is not legally binding as it is an agreement in principle, meaning there is no need for the type of showbusiness moment granted to UK prime minister Keir Starmer when he took a call from Trump while visiting Jaguar Land Rover’s factory in England.