FTSE 100 rises after positive inflation data; focus on Fed, BoE meetings
June 18 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 rose on Wednesday as investors weighed positive inflation data ahead of key central bank meetings in the U.S. and the UK, though Middle East tensions tempered market optimism.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE), opens new tab, with its exposure to oil stocks, rose 0.2% by 0930 GMT. The domestically focussed mid-cap index (.FTMC), opens new tab was unchanged.
British inflation slowed in May, with services price inflation - a crucial metric for the Bank of England - cooling to 4.7% from 5.4% in April, matching the top bank's forecast for May.
The central bank is slated to meet on Thursday and is widely expected to hold base rate. However, the inflation data has given it room to make further cuts.
"Investors and homeowners will be looking hard at today's figures, trying to gauge whether what feels like a stabilising inflationary environment will give the Monetary Policy Committee room to make a further cut to interest rates," said Nick Saunders, CEO of investment platform Webull.
"It feels too early, but the tranquil waters give hope for optimism. Certainly, the voting split will be scrutinised hard."
The conflict between Iran and Israel entered its sixth day, with increasing concerns over direct U.S. military involvement after U.S. President Donald Trump called for Iran's "unconditional surrender."
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology stocks (.FTNMX201030), opens new tab were under pressure, with GSK (GSK.L), opens new tab and AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab both down more than 1%, after Trump said pharma tariffs were coming soon.
The Personal Goods Price Index (.FTNMX402040), opens new tab also faced selling pressures. Burberry (BRBY.L), opens new tab, Dr. Martens (DOCS.L), opens new tab and Moonpig Group (MOONM.L), opens new tab were among top decliners on the mid-cap.
In individual stocks, electronics retailer AO World (AO.L), opens new tab slipped 3.2% despite reporting a 27% rise in annual profit.
Across the Atlantic, the Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the day will be under scrutiny as investors try to gauge expectations for upcoming rate cuts.
Other economic data showed that UK house price growth halved in April.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
22 minutes ago
- Sky News
No sign of cost of living crisis end amid big consequential geopolitical shifts
Is the cost of living crisis over? If you're looking purely at the annual inflation data, the numbers us journalists, not to mention politicians and economists, tend to focus on, the answer might seem like: probably, yes. Sure, the rate is, at 3.4% in May, higher than the Bank of England's 2% target. But it's far below the double-digit peaks experienced in 2022. Plus, the Bank itself thinks prices are likely to drop back down towards 2% in the coming year or two, even assuming a few more interest rate cuts. End of story, right? Well, not quite. Because look a bit deeper into the numbers and you notice a couple of important things. The first is that whether the cost of living squeeze is over really depends on how you slice up the numbers. Look in a slightly different way and actually this is still an ongoing crisis for millions of families around the country. To see what I mean, recall that when economists talk about inflation, they are really referring to something quite specific. The rate at which the average level of prices across the economy (actually, it's a shopping basket of representative goods) has changed over the past year. And the change in that level over the past year is indeed 3.4%. But look back a bit further, say the past four years, and the rate of change is 25%. Why looking back makes sense Both of these numbers are accurate. They are both expressions of inflation, except that one is for a single year and the other is for a four-year period. But when you're going to the supermarket, or buying a big ticket item like a computer or a car, are you really thinking back over a 12-month horizon or, perhaps, thinking back further? For a lot of people, that four-year horizon feels much more representative of their everyday lives and retail decisions than the one-year horizon. True: the fact that it's up 25% is largely because of the enormous rise in prices in 2022 amid the energy price shock and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 3:05 But (and one can't emphasise this enough), it's not like prices went up and then went down. The prices went up and stayed up (in fact, they carried on getting more expensive). And when you look at the four-year, "recent memory" rate of inflation, it's higher in recent months than any period going back to the early 1990s. Now, economists have very good reasons for focusing on the annual rate of inflation. But by the same token, you can see why so many people scoff when they see the latest inflation data, finding it bears little resemblance to their lived experience. The problem isn't so much the data itself but the way we focus on an annual rate. Expect yo-yoing in the coming months However, even that annual rate might be in for more of a roller coaster than most economists assume. Because the second important underlying issue to remember is that we're living through big, consequential geopolitical shifts that could well be very inflationary but are really hard to model. Consider the events in the Middle East. Military conflict between Israel and Iran has already pushed the oil price up by 18% in June alone. If that price stays elevated, that will feed into higher petrol and other prices in the UK and further afield. And since no one has a clue what will happen next, you can expect that price to yo-yo around quite violently in the coming months. More broadly, it's very hard to know for sure what the impact of tariffs will be on UK inflation. The Bank of England's estimates in its latest set of forecasts suggested a reassuringly small impact on both economic growth and inflation. But no one really knows whether manufacturers will lift prices just for American consumers or for the rest of the world too. Finally, it's worth noting that in much the same way as the past few decades of globalisation were, all else equal, quite deflationary - with prices dropping as manufacturers shifted production to cheaper parts of the world, primarily Asia - the reversal of those forces could be very inflationary. Again, all this stuff is very hard to model and forecast. But we are living through a period of volatility, with significant historical shifts. It would be remarkable if that weren't reflected in the economic data, at some point.
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ukraine says it held talks with US on supporting defence projects under joint fund
KYIV, June 18 (Reuters) - Senior Ukrainian officials spoke with their U.S. counterparts about the possibility of supporting defence projects in Ukraine under a joint investment fund set up last month, Kyiv's first deputy prime minister said on Wednesday. Kyiv is aiming to shore up support from Washington, which has been its top military backer, as it seeks to end its grinding war with Russia, now in its fourth year. Yulia Svyrydenko said the discussions included U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and took place during the G7 summit in Canada. "Talks focused on expanding the fund's mandate to support defense sector projects inside Ukraine," she wrote on social media platform X. The two countries established a joint reconstruction fund as part of a deal allowing U.S. access to Ukrainian minerals, which Kyiv hopes will pave the way for more support against Russia's full-scale invasion. Svyrydenko did not specify the nature of the defence projects. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has previously asked the U.S. for a licence to produce critical Patriot air-defence systems used to shoot down ballistic missiles. He has also said Kyiv is willing to purchase weapons from the United States, which under the Trump administration has not announced any new arms packages for Ukraine.
The Independent
24 minutes ago
- The Independent
The AI revolution that's quietly transforming cyber-security operations
Sekoia is a Business Reporter client How artificial intelligence is rescuing overwhelmed security teams from alert fatigue – and why your organisation needs to pay attention. In the windowless rooms of corporate security operations centres across Britain, a quiet revolution is taking place. Where analysts once drowned in thousands of daily alerts – 99 per cent of them false alarms – artificial intelligence is now stepping in to separate genuine threats from digital noise. The numbers tell a stark story: the average security operations centre (SOC) processes over 10,000 alerts daily, yet fewer than 100 represent real threats. Meanwhile, the UK faces a cyber-security skills shortage of 2.9 million professionals, leaving existing teams stretched beyond breaking point. When human expertise meets machine speed 'We were haemorrhaging talent,' admits one CISO at a Fortune 500 Group. 'Brilliant analysts were leaving because they spent 80 per cent of their time chasing false positives rather than hunting real threats.' His team's transformation began 18 months ago with AI-driven SOC technology. Today, instead of manually sifting through thousands of alerts, his analysts receive just 10-15 high-priority cases daily – each one enriched with context, threat intelligence and recommended actions. The change has been dramatic. Response times have dropped from hours to minutes, while job satisfaction scores have soared. 'Our people are finally doing what they trained for. Strategic threat hunting, not digital paperwork.' The SMB paradox: enterprise threats, startup budgets The challenge isn't limited to large corporations. Small and medium-sized businesses face the same sophisticated threats but lack the resources for dedicated security teams. Recent data shows 60 per cent of SMBs that suffer a cyber-attack go out of business within six months. Stark reality: Sixty per cent of SMBs that suffer a cyber-attack go out of business within six months (Sekoia) Enter the partnership model that's reshaping the industry and democratising cyber-security. Managed security service providers (MSSPs) are now leveraging enterprise-grade AI-powered SOC platforms to offer Fortune 500-level protection to companies with fewer than 100 employees. 'With Sekoia's AI-SOC platform, we've built a scalable and efficient model in France. We are now ready to replicate this success across Southern Europe to protect local businesses from all types of cyber-threats,' said Romain Queïnnec, Director Southern Europe at Orange Cyberdefense. Beyond human versus machine: the collaboration model Contrary to headlines about AI replacing jobs, the most successful implementations put humans firmly in control. AI agents handle routine tasks – isolating infected devices, gathering forensic evidence, updating tickets – while analysts focus on strategic decisions and complex investigations. The technology learns continuously from human feedback. When analysts mark alerts as false positives or adjust detection rules, the AI adapts, becoming more accurate over time. It's less robot takeover, more digital apprentice. The business case: numbers that matter Early adopters are seeing remarkable results: A 70 per cent reduction in false positive alerts 60 per cent faster incident response times A 40 per cent decrease in analyst burnout rates ROI typically achieved within 12 months For CISOs facing budget pressures, these aren't just operational improvements – they're survival metrics in an increasingly hostile digital landscape. Ready to transform your SOC operations? Download comprehensive AI-Driven SOC whitepaper for practical implementation frameworks and real-world case studies. Time to act: Cyber-criminals are already using AI to accelerate their attacks, creating more sophisticated phishing campaigns and automating vulnerability exploitation (Sekoia) Racing against time The urgency is real. Cyber-criminals are already using AI to accelerate their attacks, creating more sophisticated phishing campaigns and automating vulnerability exploitation. Organisations that don't modernise their defences risk being left behind. 'The question isn't whether to adopt AI in your SOC,' warns a cybersecurity researcher in a major academic institution. 'It's whether you'll do it before or after a major breach forces your hand.' Looking forward: the 24/7 digital guardian The vision emerging from industry leaders is compelling: SOCs that operate continuously without human exhaustion, scaling automatically during attacks and freeing security professionals to focus on strategic initiatives such as risk assessments and proactive threat hunting. For organisations ready to explore this transformation, the first step is understanding how AI-native platforms can integrate with existing security infrastructure while maintaining the human oversight that remains crucial for complex threat analysis. The cyber-security landscape is evolving rapidly. To learn more about implementing AI-driven SOC operations and access detailed implementation guidance, security leaders can download comprehensive AI-Driven SOC whitepaper , which provides practical frameworks for modernising security operations while maintaining strategic human oversight.
