FTSE 100 breaks two records in one day

The FTSE 100 finished up 15 points today to secure a record breaking 12th day of consecutive rises.

This is the longest uninterrupted run of growth in the flagship share index in its 33 year history and leaves the FTSE at its highest ever level.

The markets have been buoyed by some better than expected results from mining companies, strong Christmas trading figures and the Bank of England's governor and one of Project Fear's chief propagandists repeating his assessment that the EU has more to lose by making Brexit difficult than we do.

That global economic apocalypse that Brexit is going to cause is taking its time to materialise!

FTSE 100 finishes at record high for 9th day in a row

There has been more terrible economic news today with the FTSE 100 finishing on a record high for the ninth consecutive day of trading.

It follows this morning's terrible news that Snapchat is joining the other tech giants Google, Apple and Softbank in moving its international headquarters to London since Brexit.

The FTSE 100 has now risen for 11 days in a row, nine of which have been at record high levels. The previous record was eight days of record growth following Labour's landslide election in 1997 and another day of growth tomorrow will see the longest period of continuous growth in the FTSE 100's 33 year history.

FTSE 100 & 250 approaching record highs

The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 share indices are racing towards record highs, demonstrating strong investor confidence in the UK.

Despite the Bank of England's best efforts to derail the post-referendum boom, the FTSE 100 finished up 25.17 points at 6,941, fast approaching its record high of 7,089 points in April last year. Similarly, the FTSE 250 finished up 7.89 points at 17,929 which saw a record high in May last year of 18,192.

In a further show of confidence in the economy, the Bank of England failed to meet the bond buyback target it set itself because investors don't want to sell them. The BoE's latest intervention was to create £1.17bn of free money and use it to buy back bonds but they didn't bank on investors being reluctant to sell their bonds and ended up more than £50m short of their target.

The pound will increase in value as time goes on but at the moment the weak pound is a good thing. The Bank of England is pursuing a policy of devaluing the pound (hence it magicking £1.17bn out of thin air) to drive up exports and attract foreign investment. What we sell costs about 10% less to buy in the major currencies since the referendum which increases demand. This in turn creates jobs and new businesses as well as increasing the profile of UK goods and services around the world. Higher prices for imported goods means that it becomes cheaper to buy domestically produced goods and services which again creates jobs and new businesses. The weaker pound is putting us on a much stronger footing for when we eventually leave and the uncertainty of Brexit negotiations is behind us.

FTSE 100 returns to pre-referendum levels

The FTSE 100 share index returned back to it's pre-referendum level yesterday, causing panic amongst Remain campaigners desperate for support for their campaign to overturn the result of the referendum.

Stock market jitters were expected in the aftermath of the referendum because investors don't like uncertainty. Who the Tories choose as their new leader and who replaces George Osborne when he's sacked as Chancellor will also have an impact on the stock market but the decline was lower than expected and for a shorter period of time than expected.

The big losers since the referendum have been International Airways Group (the owner of British Airways), Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey. However, analysts at Barclays warned at the start of June that IAG shares were overpriced and their outlook was uncertain because of competition from the US, stagnant economic growth in Europe and the US and terrorist attacks driving down demand. Analysts have also been divided on Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey but several have been warning that they are vastly overpriced.

FTSE companies withdraw support for pro-EU letter paid for by the taxpayer

Thanks to a change in the rules to allow Downing Street to use taxpayer-funded civil servants to promote the EU, they've had one of David Cameron's SpAds draft a letter for FTSE 100 company bosses to sign promoting the EU.

Last week they were briefing the papers that 80 of the top 100 companies on the FTSE were going to sign the letter. Yesterday they were briefing the papers that 50 of the top 100 companies on the FTSE were going to sign the letter. Today the letter is published in the Times with just 36 signatures. How embarrassing.

H/T Guido