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The FTSE 100 ended higher on Thursday as oil continued to trade far below recent highs and the Dow Jones hit a new record. The FTSE 100 closed up 68.26 points, 0.7%, at 10,529.89. The FTSE 250 ended up 59.89 points, 0.3%, at 23,161.41, but the AIM All-Share fell 5.45 points, 0.7%, to 771.92. The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.7% at 1,045.36, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 19,877.24, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.3% at 17,999.21. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9%, hitting a new all-time high, the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher although the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%. Micron Technology soared 11% after third quarter results and guidance beat expectations amid AI’s rampant demand for memory bandwidth. Micron, which has seen shares soar nearly ten-fold in the last 12 months, has been a beneficiary from tight supply conditions in the computer memory market which has seen prices skyrocket and it expects these conditions to persist beyond calendar 2027. Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra told the earnings call following results that AI’s ‘insatiable’ appetite for memory bandwidth has transformed the industry. Meanwhile oil prices remained subdued despite edging higher on Thursday. Brent crude for August delivery traded higher at $74.42 a barrel on Thursday, up from $73.45 on Wednesday, and well below levels since at the height of the Middle East war. David Morrison, senior analyst at Trade Nation, said: ‘It has proved to be a great relief that crude oil has fallen so rapidly so far this week. This helped to ease concerns over inflation and has thereby reduced expectations of aggressive central bank tightening.’ In European equity markets on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt advanced 1.0%. Bayer soared 19% after the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that exposed the company to thousands of claims that the Monsanto weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. In a 7-2 decision, the US high court sent back to a Missouri state court a $1.25 million jury award against the Germany-based company, concluding that the US Environmental Protection Agency’s determination that Roundup is not a carcinogen preempts state labelling requirements. JPMorgan analyst Richard Vosser believes this covers around 80% of filed glyphosate cases and would prevent future claims being filed on this basis. ‘Overall, this represents a significant step towards containment of the glyphosate litigation and hence we expect the shares to outperform by 15-20% today,’ Vosser added. The pound traded at $1.3213 on Thursday afternoon, higher from $1.3167 on Wednesday. Against the euro, sterling firmed to €1.1604 from €1.1591 on Wednesday. The euro traded higher against the greenback, at $1.1387 on Thursday against $1.1358 on Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥161.63, down from JP¥161.76 on Wednesday. Figures from the Commerce Department showed the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure hit a fresh three-year high in May, with the personal consumption expenditures prices index jumping 4.1% from a year ago, up from 3.8% in April. In separate data, the Commerce Department revised its first-quarter GDP growth estimates up by 0.6 percentage points to 2.1% ‘primarily reflecting a downward revision to imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, that was partly offset by a downward revision to consumer spending.’ The US 10-year Treasury yield traded at 4.39% on Thursday, narrowed from 4.41% on Wednesday. The US 30-year Treasury yield traded at 4.85%, trimmed from 4.86% on Wednesday.. Back in London, 3i Group soared 11% after encouraging sales figures from its key investment Action. Chief Executive Simon Borrows said like-for-like sales growth so far in 2026 has been 3.3% at the Dutch discount store chain, which represents 75% of its net asset value. Analysts at Citigroup noted 3i had previously reported LFL growth of 2.4% year-to-date in the first 19 weeks of the year at Action, implying on-year sales growth of 6% in the last six weeks. ‘Investors were sceptical when 3i Group cited poor weather at its last update, but it seems likely that recent warm weather has led to a strong recovery in seasonal sales,’ the broker said. Barratt Redrow climbed 4.6% after major shareholder Phoenix Asset Management Partners called on the company to materially increase its share buybacks to create value for long-term shareholders. Presenting its analysis at the London Value Investor Conference, Phoenix demonstrated the material undervaluation of the housebuilder and showed the significant value creation opportunity that a substantial increase in share buybacks would represent. Phoenix is a major shareholder in Barratt Redrow having first invested in 1998. On the FTSE 250, easyJet rose 6.6% as it said it is willing to allow potential suitor Castlelake access to limited commercial information in order to produce a proposal that better reflects the value of the airline. The Luton, Bedfordshire airline said it had rejected a fourth bid plan from Minneapolis-based asset manager Castlelake on Tuesday, worth 650 pence per share, putting a value of £4.93 billion on the FTSE 250-listing. On Monday, easyJet said it had rejected a third proposal from Castlelake worth 625p per share. AJ Bell Investment Director Dan Coatsworth said the latest development suggests easyJet is no longer dismissing the approach outright. ‘easyJet has changed its tune regarding a takeover,’ Coatsworth said. Moonpig rose 2.5% as the retailer delivered better-than-expected results, hiked its dividend and announced plans for a new share but back. Berenberg called it an ‘impressive’ year, while Wayne Brown, analyst at Panmure Liberum hailed a ‘cracking’ set of results. ITV was also in demand, with shares up 3.1%, as Reuters reported Comcast-owned Sky has agreed on terms to buy ITV’s broadcast and streaming unit, with ITV acquiring Love Productions as part of the `deal. Gold traded at $4,025.66 an ounce on Thursday, up from $4,014.40 on Wednesday. The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were 3i, up 261.00p at 2,534.00p, Barratt Redrow, up 13.00p at 294.00p, Antofagasta, up 143.00p at 3,793.00p, Aberdeen Group, up 8.40p at 240.40p, and Persimmon, up 36.00p at 1,128.50p. The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were London Stock Exchange Group, down 252.00p at 8,028.00p, ICG, down 41.00p at 1,670.00p, Lion Finance, down 240.00p at 11,000.00p, BT Group, down 4.20p at 191.85p and United Utilities, down 26.00p at 1,299.00p. Friday’s global economic calendar has the Michigan consumer sentiment index and US wholesale inventories figures. Friday’s local corporate calendar has full year results from Solid State. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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