Business news live: FTSE 100 latest updates with Bank of England warning of jobs market slowdown

US stocks rose yesterday on apparent conviction from investors that interest rates could soon be cut further.

Lower interest rates make equities more appealing because it encourages more investment from businesses, which could boost profits, as well as making it more worthwhile putting cash where it may earn more money than in a bank account with a sinking rate.

“The old saying ‘make hay while the sun shines’, could have been created for yesterday, with markets on both sides of the Atlantic blossoming in today’s benign climate, said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.

“A stonking performance by chipmaker Micron has boosted US tech stocks, propelling the S&P and Nasdaq towards fresh records and perhaps finally laying to rest the uncertainty created by DeepSeek’s disruption earlier in the year.

“The genie is well and truly out of the bottle when it comes to businesses’ desire to harness the AI superpower and Micron’s bullish outlook suggests that trade tensions and global uncertainty haven’t put companies off investing in tools that should boost productivity in the long run.”

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, yesterday afternoon said there are signs that tax hikes are hitting pay and jobs – but there remains “uncertainty” over inflation.

“I am beginning to hear a bit more evidence of adjustments through pay and employment [rather than prices],” he said.

“The labour market has been very tight in the past few years. But we are now seeing signs that conditions are easing,”

Regarding the potential for interest rate cuts in August and beyond, Mr Bailey reiterated that the BoE would seek to stamp out inflation by cutting slowly and when appropriate.

“While the significant progress we have made on disinflation has allowed us to cut Bank Rate, we retain a restrictive monetary policy stance to squeeze out remaining persistence in inflationary pressures.

“Overall, interest rates remain on a gradual downward path.

“But monetary policy is not on a pre-set path, and at the June meeting, there was not a strong enough case to cut Bank Rate.

“As we meet for our August meeting in a few weeks’ time, we will assess the situation afresh.”

Frozen tax thresholds have seen another half a million taxpayers dragged into the 40% bracket, data has shown.

The income tax total take has increased by more than £20bn in the past year.

AJ Bell say 1.23m people are now paying income tax on incomes above the additional 45% rate threshold – a 115% increase in the past three years alone.

Here are the main stories from yesterday before we look at the overnight markets and more:

Good morning and welcome to our daily rolling coverage of business and stock market news.

Ahead of the weekend we’ll be looking at further tariff-related news as the 90-day pause approaches its end, how the global stock markets fare and whether there’s further movement in oil prices.