Good morning from London where the FTSE 100 is rounding off the week with a flourish, rising once again to blast through that 7,350 point ceiling. And the positivity continues with news that GfK’s consumer confidence index climbed in August, because of “renewed optimism” that inflation is starting to subside.
Ofgem also delivered some good news for consumers, announcing that its price cap, which determines energy bills, will be falling again in October and taking some of the sting out of those autumnal energy bills.
Prices of some household staples are also set to fall, with Asda saying this morning that they’ll be following Sainsbury's and Ocado by investing in price cuts. Asda are going to spend £23mln on lowering the cost of chicken breasts and fish fingers, among other things. Ocado announced a similar move on Wednesday and its share price has been well-supported in the days since.
Here in the City, financial services firm CMC Markets faced a blow to its share price this morning after announcing poor market conditions had continued to hit its trading revenues.
Retailer John Lewis has announced it will be recruiting for some 10,000 jobs over the coming months, ahead of the busy Christmas holiday season.
And with the small caps, Panthera Resources soared after confirming subsidiary Indo Gold had received unconditional funding to pursue claims against the Indian government.