Closing post
Time to wrap up…
Analysts have welcomed a small fall in company insolvencies across England and Wales.
The Insolvency Service has reported that there were 2,043 registered company insolvencies in England and Wales in June, 8% lower than in May 2025 (2,230) and 16% lower than in June 2024, when 2,430 companies failed.
Donald Trump has claimed that Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell was “truly one of my worst appointments,” and also criticised the Fed Board for not forcing rate cuts.
Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller has said he would accept the job as Fed chair if asked by President Donald Trump.
G20 finance leaders have agreed a final communique on Friday that stressed the importance of central bank independence, saying:
“Central banks are strongly committed to ensuring price stability, consistent with their respective mandates, and will continue to adjust their policies in a data-dependent manner. Central bank independence is crucial to achieving this goal.”
Elsewhere…
China has welcomed the US’s decision to allow Nvidia to ship its H20 AI chips
US consumer sentiment has risen to a five-month high.
Goodnight, and have a lovely weekend. GW
FTSE 100 closes near record high
Britain’s stock market has ended the week close to its record high.
The FTSE 100 index has finished today’s session at 8992.12 points, up 19.5 points or 0.22%. That’s only a handful of points shy of Monday’s record closing high of 8998 points.
Rentokil (+3%) and Antofagasta (+2.6%) led the risers.
