FTSE 100 hits record as interest rate hopes push down UK borrowing costs

The UK’s blue-chip stock index has hit a record high, as hopes of interest rate cuts this year drove down government borrowing costs.Almost every share on the FTSE 100 rose on Friday, the fall in the value of the pound bolstering multinationals listed in London and propelling the index above 8,500 points for the first time.The “Footsie”, which tracks the 100 biggest London-listed companies, rose 1.6% to hit a fresh intraday high of 8,533.43 points amid growing confidence that the Bank of England would ease monetary policy this year

FTSE 100 share index hits record high; relief for Rachel Reeves as UK borrowing costs fall – as it happened

Boom! Britain’s blue-chip share index has hit a new alltime high.The FTSE 100 index, which tracks the hundred largest companies listed in London, has jumped by over 1% to 8480.36 points in early trading, above its previous intraday high of 8474 points set last May.Stocks are on a three-day rally, which started on Wednesday when UK inflation dropped unexpectedly, potentially paving the way for several interest rate cuts this year.Today’s disappointing retail sales figures, folowing Thursday’s weaker-than-expected growth data for December, have added to hopes that the Bank of England will ease monetary policy this year

How would a Tiktok ban work in the US?

The US supreme court upheld a law signed by Joe Biden that banned the short-form video app TikTok beginning on Sunday. The company was given the option to divest from ByteDance to avoid the ban, but TikTok has said divestment is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally” and requested an injunction to pause the ban during the legal process.More than 170 million Americans use TikTok. Lawyers for the company contend that banning the app violates the first amendment rights of those tens of millions of users; the argument did not sway a federal appeals court, which upheld the ban-or-sale bill in December. Congress passed the legislation with a bipartisan majority in April

Sir David McMurtry obituary

In engineering, quantity production is possible only with fine, repeatable measurements. Starting from a problem in aerospace, David McMurtry, who has died aged 84, did much to advance the scientific study of measurement – metrology – and so facilitated hi-tech mass production in many fields.While working for Rolls-Royce in 1972 at its Filton factory, near Bristol, on the Olympus engines used in the Concorde supersonic airliner, McMurtry became frustrated with the foibles of the existing coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). One morning he arrived at work with a home-modified measuring probe that could cope with the complex task of properly measuring the twisting aerofoils of the Olympus fan blades – data needed to ensure that engine reached the required performance.To make these measurements was tiresome

Australian Open 2025: De Minaur v Cerundolo, Swiatek beats Raducanu, Sinner to come – live

De Minaur* (8) v Cerundolo (31) (5-3): De Minaur collapses from 40-15 to deuce before peeling off a fourth ace. Cerundolo responds with a trademark forehand inside-out winner. A third deuce eventuates when the Australian sends a backhand wide, and a fourth when he sends a backhand long. A blistering backhand winner down the line hands Cerundolo a break point, but deuce five follows quickly after as the eighth seed lands a rare first serve. Still De Minaur cannot see the job through, larruping a forehand long for deuce six

Emma Raducanu exits Australian Open after defeat to ruthless Iga Swiatek

Over the past few years of professional tennis, the sight of Iga Swiatek annihilating another poor, defenceless opponent has become as sure as the sun will rise. When Swiatek’s game is flowing and her mind is clear, the combined quality of her violent ball-striking, athleticism and unrelenting focus is so great that, at some point or another, she has rendered nearly all of the best players in the world spectators in their own match.On Saturday afternoon at Melbourne Park, it was Emma Raducanu’s turn to endure such an unpleasant experience. Raducanu cut a lonely, solemn figure on one of the biggest tennis stadiums in the world as she was completely helpless in the face of a supreme Swiatek, who ruthlessly opened up her bakery to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win.In her first tournament of the season, after back spasms significantly affected her pre-season preparation, Raducanu had arrived in the third round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career with two solid straight-sets wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 26th seed, and Amanda Anisimova