Closing summary
Stock markets in the UK, US and Europe have hit fresh record intra-day highs today.
The FTSE 100 in London, Wall Street and Spain’s Ibex have scaled new all-time peaks, and Apple briefly touched a market value of $4tn for the first time, boosted by the popularity of its new iPhone models.
Microsoft also topped that level as its share price jumped as much as 4% at the open, taking its market cap to $4.06tn, after announcing a new deal with OpenAI.
Both companies report quarterly results in the next couple of days.
Rachel Reeves has expressed confidence that a trade deal with Gulf countries can be done quickly, saying she had “really good” meetings in Riyadh.
“I am really confident we can get that deal over the line,” the UK chancellor said at Saudi Arabia’s flagship investment summit held in the Saudi capital, adding she was hopeful that the agreement could be reached “very soon”.
The UK government hopes to deepen its relationship with Saudi Arabia, even though it has been widely criticised for human rights abuses.
Our other main stories today:
Thank you very much for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest business news. Take care! – JK
FTSE 100, US stocks at all-time highs; Apple, Microsoft top $4tn market cap
The UK’s FTSE 100 has hit a new intra-day record and Wall Street shares are also at all-time highs – with Apple hit a $4 trillion market value for the first time.
The FTSE 100 has hit a record peak of 9,715.22, and is currently trading 0.5% higher at 9,698.4.
US stocks also hit new peaks after the opening bell on Wall Street, with gains of between 0.3% and 0.7% for the S&P 500, tech-heavy Nasdaq and Down Jones.
The Apple share price rose by around 1% to $269.86, taking the company’s market cap to $4tn, boosted by the popularity of its latest iPhone models. It has dipped just below that level again. The tech company is due to report quarterly results on Thursday.
Microsoft jumped as much as 4% to a market value of $4.06tn after announcing a deal with OpenAI, and ahead of its earnings report tomorrow.
Other tech companies such as Google owner Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook and Instagram parent Meta are also reporting earnings this week.
Investors have been willing to take more risks after signs of easing trade tensions and ahead of a likely interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve at the end of its two-day meeting tomorrow.
Updated
