Wall Street index S&P 500 rises above 7,000 for the first time<\/p>\n
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index has gone through the 7,000 mark for the first time, driven by optimism around artificial intelligence and expectations of strong results from big technology companies.<\/p>\n
The index is now up 29 points just below the 7,000 level. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 150 points, or 0.6%, to 23,967 at the open.<\/p>\n
It took about three years for the S&P 500 to rise to 5,000 points from 4,000, but only about nine months to jump from 5,000 to 6,000, in November 2024.<\/p>\n
Technology stocks account for nearly half of the S&P 500.<\/p>\n
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta<\/strong>, Microsoft<\/strong> and Tesla<\/strong> are due to report earnings later today.<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady at it the end of its two-day meeting, at 7pm GMT.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.45 EST<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Closing summary<\/p>\n Wall Street stocks are higher, with the S&P 500 crossing through the 7,000 mark for the first time.<\/p>\n Over here, the FTSE 100 index has slipped 0.35% to 10,172 while the French and Spanish stock markets have tumbled more than 1%.<\/p>\n The US dollar<\/strong> has stabilised somewhat, but is hovering at a four-year low against a basket of major currencies.<\/p>\n Yesterday Donald Trump<\/a> brushed off concerns over the currency\u2019s fall, sending investors fleeing to traditional havens including gold and the Swiss franc.<\/p>\n Spot gold<\/strong> broke through $5,300 an ounce at one stage, and is now 1.7% higher at $5,275 an ounce.<\/p>\n Our other main stories:<\/p>\n Thank you for reading. We\u2019ll be back tomorrow. Take care! \u2013 JK<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Wall Street index S&P 500 rises above 7,000 for the first time<\/p>\n On Wall Street, the S&P 500 index has gone through the 7,000 mark for the first time, driven by optimism around artificial intelligence and expectations of strong results from big technology companies.<\/p>\n The index is now up 29 points just below the 7,000 level. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 150 points, or 0.6%, to 23,967 at the open.<\/p>\n It took about three years for the S&P 500 to rise to 5,000 points from 4,000, but only about nine months to jump from 5,000 to 6,000, in November 2024.<\/p>\n Technology stocks account for nearly half of the S&P 500.<\/p>\n Facebook and Instagram owner Meta<\/strong>, Microsoft<\/strong> and Tesla<\/strong> are due to report earnings later today.<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady at it the end of its two-day meeting, at 7pm GMT.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.45 EST<\/p>\n Luca Bindelli<\/strong>, head of investment strategy, and Kiran Kowshik<\/strong>, currency strategist at the Swiss private bank Lombard Odier, have looked at the recent dollar weakness.<\/p>\n Purported coordinated intervention signals from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan to counter previous excessive Japanese yen weakness have reinforced market perceptions that US authorities may be increasingly willing to tolerate a softer dollar.<\/p>\n Against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, US trade policy, and the upcoming Federal Reserve chair nomination, where concerns about institutional independence linger, dollar downside risks have risen alongside a pick-up in currency volatility. The dollar\u2019s decline broadened and accelerated after President Trump stated he was comfortable with the currency\u2019s year\u2011to\u2011date softness. These developments also fuelled fears of monetary debasement, helping explain the concurrent rise in gold prices. Thus far, the impact on US bond markets has been limited, while equities have continued to hold their ground, with the earnings season remaining the dominant market driver.<\/p>\n A weaker US dollar generally reflects improved global liquidity conditions and tends to support broader risk markets, particularly emerging markets. While we do not view a disorderly dollar move as our base case given the still\u2011elevated US real interest rate premium relative to G10 currency peers and the country\u2019s strong earnings\u2011growth leadership within developed markets, a sharper downside scenario would likely see gold continue to outperform, even potentially accelerate despite its already-stretched momentum. We maintain our overweight stance in emerging market assets and gold.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Marston\u2019s shares plunged 16%, even though the British pub chain reported strong festive sales.<\/strong><\/p>\n Investors were spooked by flat like-for-like sales over the 17 weeks to 24 January and questioned whether the company can sustain momentum. The share price is now down 12%.<\/p>\n The owner of more than 1,300 pubs across Britain said like-for-like sales rose 4% over the festive period between 21 December and 3 January.<\/p>\n The lacklustre performance beyond the holiday season raises concerns about underlying consumer demand, as the hospitality sector is facing rising costs.<\/p>\n JPMorgan analysts noted that the flat sales lagged those of its closest rival, Mitchells & Butlers<\/strong>, which reported 4.5% like-for-like sales growth in the first quarter.<\/p>\n Last week, JD Wetherspoon<\/strong> warned 2026 profit could fall as it grapples with mounting costs from energy bills, repairs, and property taxes.<\/p>\n Marston\u2019s has kept a tight lid on costs and upgraded its sites to attract more punters, and is confident it will meet full-year underlying pretax profit forecasts of \u00a378.7.<\/p>\n It hopes events including the 2026 FIFA World Cup will bring more people into its pubs.<\/p>\n Yesterday, the government announced a support package for pubs and live music venues in England, providing some relief from the property tax rises announced in the November budget, which left the hospitality industry reeling and hit pubs particularly hard.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The GMB union has responded to the latest wave of job cuts at the US retail technology giant Amazon, which will also affect the UK, although we don\u2019t know how many.<\/strong><\/p>\n Rachel Fagan<\/strong>, GMB Organiser, said:<\/p>\n Amazon is showing itself for what it is; a company that cannot be trusted to do the right thing by working people in the UK.<\/p>\n Bosses are overseeing thousands of job losses which will cause huge damage in towns and cities across the country.<\/p>\n Now is the time for decision makers to recognise Amazon as a company fixated on eye-watering profits at the expense of workers and local people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a>SpaceX mulls $1.5tn IPO timed to \u2018align with Musk\u2019s birthday and the planets\u2019<\/p>\n Elon Musk<\/strong>\u2019s SpaceX<\/strong> is considering a flotation valuing the rocket company at $1.5tn (\u00a31.1tn) that will reportedly be timed for early summer to coincide with a planetary alignment and the multibillionaire\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s richest person is targeting a symbolic date of mid-June for the initial public offering, according to the Financial Times. This would be around the same time as Jupiter and Venus appear in close proximity to each other and shortly before Musk turns 55 on 28 June.<\/p>\n The FT also reported that SpaceX is seeking to raise $50bn \u2013 valuing the rocket company at $1.5tn \u2013 compared with previous reports that it was looking for $25bn at an $800bn valuation. Last week, it was reported that the rocket company was considering Bank of America<\/strong>, JP MorganChase<\/strong>, Goldman Sachs<\/strong> and Morgan Stanley<\/strong> for leading roles in the share sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n Musk, whose $680bn fortune would be turbo-boosted by a SpaceX<\/a> flotation, said last year the company\u2019s annual revenue would be $15.5bn, with $1.1bn of that coming from contracts with Nasa. The billionaire owns about 42% of SpaceX, as well as nearly 17% of the electric carmaker Tesla, where he is chief executive. He also owns more than three-quarters of the social media platform X.<\/p>\n The SpaceX mega rocket Starship takes off from a test base Boca Chica, Texas, USA, 18 November 2023. Photograph: Adam Davis\/EPAShare<\/a>ONS moves to supermarket checkout scanner data, which means inflation is slightly lower<\/p>\n Tom Knowles<\/p>\n The way UK inflation is calculated will now include collecting price data from supermarket checkout scanners, the Office for National Statistics <\/a>said, after years of delays. This means that the inflation rate will be slightly lower when applied to past data.<\/p>\n In a bid to modernise how consumer prices are measured, the ONS said that from March, the prices shoppers pay at supermarket checkouts or online will be incorporated into its inflation data.<\/p>\n Until now, the ONS has measured inflation by sending out price checkers at the same time every month to shops around the UK to record the prices of specific items. Prices were also collected from websites, telephone calls, catalogues and brochures.<\/p>\n The switch to taking data straight from supermarket tills comes five years after the ONS first announced plans to do so, due to the unexpected size and complexity of the switch.<\/p>\n The ONS said the process has involved<\/p>\n replacing 25,000 monthly price points\u2026 with 300m price points derived from sales of over a billion units of products per month taken directly from checkouts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The statistics body said the data will also enable it to better capture the impact of a wider range of promotions, such as store discount cards, on average price inflation. This is because it will be the price charged at the till, not the price shown on the shelf, that will feed into the inflation statistics.<\/p>\n If the new supermarket scanner data had been used between January 2019 and June 2025, it would have lowered the average inflation rate by 0.03 percentage points, and led to a 0.1 percentage point difference in the published rate in 39 out of 66 months, the ONS said.<\/p>\n It said it would also collect an additional day of prices for hotel stays in its inflation data each month to iron out the volatility that can come during a major event such as a big sports match or music concert.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Amazon tells staff it plans 16,000 job cuts after email leak<\/p>\n Amazon<\/strong> has now officially told staff it plans to cut around 16,000 jobs globally as part of efforts to streamline its operations, after it sent an email to its employees in erro<\/a>r.<\/p>\n It is the latest major round of job cuts at the retail technology giant, coming only three months after it axed 14,000 job<\/a>s.<\/p>\n It is understood the bulk of jobs impacted by the latest cuts will be in the US but there will also be some job losses in the UK. The company did not disclose how many UK workers will be affected.<\/p>\n Beth Galetti<\/strong>, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, told staff in a blog post:<\/p>\n As I shared in October, we\u2019ve been working to strengthen our organisation by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy.<\/p>\n Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm \u2013 where we announce broad reductions every few months. That\u2019s not our plan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a>US dollar sinks to its lowest level in four years; Swiss franc at decade high<\/p>\n Here\u2019s our full story on the dollar:<\/p>\n The US dollar has fallen to its lowest level in four years after Donald Trump<\/a><\/strong> brushed off concerns over the currency\u2019s fall, sending investors fleeing to traditional havens including gold and the Swiss franc.<\/p>\n The dollar dropped by 1.3% against a basket of currencies after the president\u2019s comments on Tuesday, marking its fourth day of declines, then slipped by a further 0.2% on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I think it\u2019s great,\u201d Trump said of the weaker dollar, during a visit to Iowa to promote his record on the economy<\/a>. Asked whether he was concerned about the currency\u2019s slide, he told reporters: \u201cI think the value of the dollar \u2013 look at the business we\u2019re doing. The dollar\u2019s doing great.\u201d<\/p>\n The greenback has tumbled by 10% over the past year, while Tuesday\u2019s fall was the largest one-day drop since last April, when Trump announced his sweeping tariff plans<\/a>, marking a global market sell-off.<\/p>\n The dollar has now touched its lowest level since February 2022, after unpredictable US policymaking, including Trump\u2019s recent threats to take over Greenland<\/a> and impose further tariffs on European allies, unleashed fresh geopolitical shocks.<\/p>\n \u201cA weaker dollar is a two-sided coin,\u201d said Steve Sosnick<\/strong>, a market strategist at Interactive Brokers, adding that it was good for multinational companies.<\/p>\n If you have operations around the world and foreign currency revenue that will have a conversion advantage when you turn it into US dollars, that will be good. On the other, it makes imported goods more expensive and there might be some inflationary impact from that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The dollar\u2019s slide has also propelled some rival global currencies to multi-year highs.<\/p>\n The Swiss franc has soared to its highest level against the dollar in more than a decade<\/strong>, as traders have sought out a store of wealth traditionally viewed as a haven insulated from global volatility. The franc has already climbed 3% against the dollar so far this year, after a 14% rise in 2025.<\/p>\n The euro has also surged to $1.20 against the dollar, setting a new milestone, while the pound hit $1.38 for the first time since October 2021.<\/p>\n Dollar falls to four-year low against basket of major currencies.<\/a>Dollar falls to four-year low against basket of major currencies.Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.18 EST<\/p>\n Here are the comments in full from Chuck Robbins<\/strong>, who runs Cisco Systems<\/strong> which produces IT infrastructure enabling use of AI.<\/p>\n He told the BBC<\/a> the technology will be \u201cbigger than the internet\u201d, but the current market is probably a bubble and some companies \u201cwon\u2019t make it,\u201d as reported earlier<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a lot of discussion about: \u2018Is this a bubble?\u2019. And the answer is probably yes, but we had a bubble in 2000 with the internet. And look at where we are today.<\/p>\n So the winners emerge, and there\u2019s carnage along the way, but it is going to be bigger than the internet.<\/p>\n It feels a lot like it (the dotcom crash), but what happens is you\u2019ll have money that will be invested in companies that won\u2019t make it, but the winners will emerge, the applications and use cases will begin to evolve.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Robbins compared AI to iPhones, with the constant development of new applications, saying new uses for the technology will develop over time.<\/p>\n He said it will make \u201clots of things better\u201d, but also has \u201cpotential risks we all have to mitigate\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>British Land to buy Life Science REIT for \u00a3150m in lab push<\/p>\n British Land<\/strong>, one of the UK\u2019s biggest property developers which owns the office complex Broadgate in the City of London, has struck a \u00a3150m deal to buy Life Science REIT<\/strong> (real estate investment trust).<\/p>\n British Land focuses on building office and shop clusters in London, and is one of the country\u2019s largest owners and operators of out-of-town retail parks. It is also constructing lab buildings, for example in the Knowledge Quarter near King\u2019s Cross station in north London.<\/p>\n The company said it \u201csees a compelling opportunity to grow its Science & Technology footprint\u201d through the acquisition, adding five well-located assets.<\/p>\n The Life Science REIT portfolio is all located with the \u201cgolden triangle\u201d of Cambridge, Oxford and London. It contains two central London buildings within the Knowledge quarter, a modern 24-acre technology park in Oxford, and a 13-acre campus and another building in Cambridge.<\/p>\n British Land acknowledged that demand for lab space was \u201cmore muted\u201d<\/a> in 2025.<\/p>\n It is paying 42.8p for every Life Science REIT share. That firm\u2019s share price jumped by 19% to 42.2p on the news.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The budget hotel chain Travelodge has warned that recent government policies have made trading conditions \u201cmore challenging\u201d after the sector missed out on fresh business rates relief.<\/strong><\/p>\n A day after the Treasury announced additional tax relief for pubs and music venues<\/a>, the Travelodge<\/strong> boss Jo Boydell<\/strong> said the move was \u201cneglecting the broader hospitality sector\u201d. She added:<\/p>\n Higher rates and a lack of bespoke support, together with wider regulatory cost increases sends the message that the government does not understand the economic value that our sector delivers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Travelodge said its business rates bill is set to increase from \u00a338m over the past year to \u00a350m in 2026 due to changes taking effect in April, with \u201cfurther significant rises\u201d in the following years as transitional relief measures are phased out.<\/p>\n Its warning came as the 625-strong hotel business reported a 0.7% increase in revenues to \u00a31.04bn last year.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Coinbase adverts banned in UK for suggesting crypto could ease cost of living crisis<\/p>\n A cryptocurrency company advised by George Osborne<\/strong> has been banned from showing a set of adverts that suggested using its services could be a solution to the cost of living crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Coinbase, which appointed the former Conservative chancellor to chair its global advisory council last year, has been told by the UK\u2019s advertising watchdog that its adverts were \u201cirresponsible\u201d and \u201ctrivialised the risks of cryptocurrency\u201d.<\/p>\n The adverts from the US crypto exchange include a sarcastic two-minute video showing people singing \u201ceverything is just fine, everything is grand\u201d as their home falls into a state of disrepair and suffers a power cut, while outside Britons cheerfully dance through streets littered with rats and piles of overflowing bin bags.<\/p>\n As the ad progresses, a shopper faces rising prices for fish fingers in a supermarket, white-collar workers lose their jobs, a sewage pipe bursts and rubbish falls from the sky.<\/p>\n The clip ends with large text saying: \u201cIf everything\u2019s fine, don\u2019t change anything\u201d, before being replaced with the Coinbase logo. The company, which was founded in 2012, provides a platform for people to buy and sell various cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n\n
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