There was plenty of news for investors to sink their teeth into this morning, with George Osborne's Mansion House speech later, supermarkets and Boohoo making waves as traders surfed the net.
Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY), one of the UK's biggest food stores, was second biggest riser on Footsie after Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) , despite it revealing another slip in quarterly sales.
The supermarket blamed lower prices and competition from discounters as contributing to the decline.
It was the sixth quarterly sales decline in a row for Sainsbury's, which along with other established UK grocers is battling cut-price competition from the likes of Aldi and Lidl, and
However, chief excutive Mike Coupe said: "Despite the challenging market conditions, we are confident that we are building on strong foundations and making good progress with our strategy."
Shares were up 4.22% to 259.5p, while another supermarket Tesco (LON:TECO), Britain's biggest, saw shares add 3.88% buoyed by its rival.
The chatter on George Osborne and what's getting the analysts and commentators in a sweat is the chancellor's apparent plegde tonight to commit to a law, in which governments would permanently have to run at a surplus (ie, spend less than take in).
It is reported that he will announce that for the first time in more than 150 years, that the Committee of the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt will formally meet.
This is a body, which was set up by William Pitt the Younger to help repair the damage caused by Napoleonic Wars.
Critics have said Osborne's latest move heralds a return to the out of date Victorian times. He certainly apears to be not wasting any time in getting his voice heard after the Tory win recently.
Also in the news was online fashuion house Boohoo.com (LON:BOO), whose shares added almost 6% as it emerged sales had soared 35% simce last year as ever more customers turn to the laptop to buy clothes.
Revenues stood at £41.3million in the three months to May, while the rest of Europe and the world grew 27% per cent and 66% respectively.
Standard Chartered shares went 4% higher on speculation that Osborne may signal an end to the £3.5bn a year bank levy at his black tie speech later tonight.