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it is not a secret FTSE100 Index is at present having fun with her day within the solar. Nonetheless, India’s summer season is quickly extending as January marked the seventh consecutive month of enhance in Hussie numbers.
That is the longest month-to-month profitable streak in over 12 years.
That is fairly exceptional given the unstable previous few months, with intermittent tariffs, autumn price range uncertainty, AI bubble fears, Venezuela, and Greenland.
One other spectacular document is that the FTSE 100 not too long ago rose 1,000 factors within the shortest time period in historical past. In accordance with , it took simply 171 days to go from 9,000 to 10,000 individuals. AJ BellThat is your information.
The earlier document was 229 days within the late Nineteen Nineties, when the quantity went from 5,000 to six,000 days.
And that robust momentum continued into February regardless of billions of {dollars} worn out in worth by information corporations corresponding to: London Inventory Alternate Group (LSE:LSEG) and calm down Yesterday (February third).
As I write, the FTSE 100 is above 10,400.
Why is it burning?
Final yr, the blue-chip index returned 25.8%, together with dividends. This was the fifth greatest yr since its founding in 1984.
The return is S&P500stuffed with tech giants that resemble the company equal of nation-states.
What’s going on right here? Nicely, I do not wish to rain on the footsie parade, however in perspective, it ought to be famous that 2025 was a really robust yr for many main world indices.
In comparison with many of those, the FTSE 100’s restoration would not look all that spectacular.
Nonetheless, the index has benefited from traders fearful about unpredictable U.S. authorities coverage and the overpriced S&P 500. So, like gold, it has change into a little bit of a secure haven in troublesome instances.
There’s rising curiosity from abroad traders trying to diversify their holdings, and the FTSE 100’s abundance of defensive corporations has helped it shine throughout extra turbulent instances… The UK is a goldmine for dividends.
Dan Coatsworth, A: Bell.
Considerations about AI disruption
A standard criticism of the index is that it lacks high-growth tech corporations, notably within the area of synthetic intelligence (AI). However this Achilles heel has really changed into a bonus nowadays, as traders have begun to fret that AI is definitely a Pandora’s field.
That is definitely how traders really feel proper now. London Inventory Alternate Groupor LSEG. The monetary information supplier’s share worth, which crashed greater than 10% yesterday, has fallen by a surprising 40% in 12 months.
The massive concern right here is that AI corporations like Anthropic (which affords the Claude product) will poach clients who at present use LSEG’s information terminals (Workspace/Refinitiv). This can’t be utterly discounted.
Nonetheless, it’s price noting that UBS I believe the dangers are overstated. They level to LSEG’s information provide offers with Anthropic, OpenAI (ChatGPT), and others.
Moreover, the ahead worth/earnings ratio has fallen to lower than 16 instances. And the anticipated dividend yield is at present 2.2%, making the funding case even stronger when you think about LSEG’s 15 consecutive years of dividend will increase.
In fact, given the uncertainty, it might take braveness to pile on inventory costs right now. Nonetheless, it is price noting that UBS has simply set a 12-month worth goal for LSEG of £110. 55% greater than the present worth.
I believe this level alone is price additional investigation.