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BRIT POP

Britain’s biggest stock index hit a new record this week — what’s actually in there?

The FTSE 100 passed the 9,000-point mark for the first time on Tuesday and so far is outperforming the S&P 500 in 2025.

7/17/25 9:52AM

It’s a strange time for the global stock market. Amid tariffs, mounting geopolitical tensions, and stalling consumer spending, companies the world over have spent much of the year weathering countless ups and downs. While that volatility has left Wall Street banks with much to celebrate, another surprise winner has been UK stocks.

On Tuesday, Britain’s blue-chip stock index, the FTSE 100, broke through the 9,000-point barrier for the first time ever, taking its 2025 gains to more than 10% — thus far beating the S&P 500, at just over 6%. Though the index then fell back below this benchmark, closing nearly 60 points lower by the end of the session, reaching the milestone could signify a shift in investor confidence about UK business.

But why is the FTSE only now hitting new highs — and which companies are actually in it?

The FTSE is made up of the 100 largest stocks on the London Stock Exchange, counting AstraZeneca (worth ~$217 billion), HSBC (~$214 billion), and Shell (~$206 billion) among its biggest constituents.

Dino-soar

Per the Guardian, the FTSE has previously been referred to as a “Jurassic Park” index owing to a lack of fast-growing tech players and reliance on long-standing industries like finance and energy — with the latter making up 9% of the index’s total ~2.3 trillion pounds (~$3 trillion) value between just two companies at the time of writing. Currently, defense stocks are the FTSE’s top performers, with BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce up ~63% and ~70%, respectively, since the start of the year.

These dependable companies have become increasingly appealing to investors during market turmoil. Even though the majority (~75%) of the FTSE’s earnings is still derived from abroad, its reliance on industry stalwarts has become a boon for the index, rather than a bane. (It also doesn’t hurt that uncertainty from the trade war has seen more international investors turn away from the US and the EU.)

Claire Yubin Oh21m

Adobe rises on $25 billion stock buyback

Adobe was up as much as 3.5% in early trading on Wednesday after the company announced a share repurchase plan worth up to $25 billion, signaling to investors that company management sees retiring shares as a prudent use of capital at these levels. The stock has been down more than 60% since Feb 2024, largely on concerns that AI tools will disrupt the company’s business.

The new authorization, which Adobe detailed will extend through April 30, 2030, “is a direct expression of confidence in our robust cash flow and the long-term value we are delivering to investors,” said CFO Dan Durn in a press release.

Indeed, fears that new agentic models could affect demand compounded when Anthropic unveiled Claude Design last week, sending the company’s shares down on the announcement. Adobe released a series of AI-enabled customer service functions shortly after. Rival Figma, which Adobe was set to acquire before the deal was blocked by regulators, has also been under pressure.

Adobe is also not the only spooked software company proposing new buyback plans to bring investors back, joining Salesforce, which actually issued debt to buy back shares in a programme of the same size ($25 billion).

Max Knoblauch14h

United beats Q1 earnings and revenue estimates, lowers full-year profit guidance amid surging jet fuel prices

United Airlines reported its first-quarter earnings results after the bell on Tuesday. The carrier’s shares ticked down in after-hours trading.

For Q1, United reported:

Adjusted earnings of $1.19 per share, compared to the Wall Street estimate of $1.08 per share compiled by FactSet.
$14.6 billion in revenue, compared to the $14.39 billion consensus estimate.

In the first quarter, United’s fuel expense grew 12.6% from the same period last year to $3.04 billion.

For the second quarter, United expects adjusted earnings per share of between $1 and $2, shy of Wall Street expectations of $2.08. For the full year ahead, United said it expects earnings between $7 and $11 per share, compared to its prior guidance of between $12 and $14 per share.

“Guidance assumes United’s revenue recovers 40% to 50% of the fuel price increases in the second quarter, 70% to 80% of the fuel price increases in the third quarter and 85% to 100% of the fuel price increases in the fourth quarter 2026,” read the company’s investor update.

Earlier this month, United was among the first major US airlines to hike its bag fees amid higher fuel costs. Its shares have fallen more than 15% from a February high days before the war in Iran began.

United has also made waves this month following reports that CEO Scott Kirby had floated the idea of a merger with American Airlines to President Trump. A merger between two of the big four airlines would create a true US behemoth, controlling more than a third of the American market. American Air last week said it wasn’t interested in merging with United and hadn’t held talks on the idea. On Tuesday, Trump told CNBC that he doesn’t like the idea either.

Tasha Matsumoto

14h

Stocks slip as peace prospects dim

Stocks swung from positive to negative as Vice President Vance’s trip to Pakistan for Iran peace talks was canceled.

Luke Kawa17h

Hedge funds are following retail traders into the Magnificent 7

Hedge funds are following retail traders into the stocks the masses never stopped buying.

“As we kick off earnings for megacap tech stocks, this stood out: [hedge funds] have started buying Mag7 stocks again this month though positioning remains well below the peak levels seen in early 2016,” wrote Goldman Sachs’ Cullen Morgan.

Goldman PB Mag 7 — Source: Goldman Sachs

In early April, JPMorgan strategist Arun Jain noted that retail investors had basically been selling everything but the Magnificent 7 stocks as part of a more cautious stance due to the Iran war.

(Apple has been a long-standing exception to this trend, presumably because retail traders aren’t fond of its hands-off approach to AI.)

Last August, Jain discussed how retail activity tended to “crowd in” institutional buyers in meme stocks, while Goldman’s John Marshall advised clients to piggyback on stocks beloved by retail traders. Speculative, retail-geared assets proceeded to go on a tremendous run that soured in October.

But there are some early indications that a similar bout of speculative fervor is bubbling up once more.

Luke Kawa18h

POET Technologies surges above $10 for first time in 4 years amid explosion in call volumes

POET Technologies is up nearly 40% this week as options market activity goes haywire in a faint echo of what got the stock on retail traders’ radars in October.

As of 11:12 a.m. ET, more than 10 calls have changed hands for every put traded. This bullish impulse has propelled the stock above the $10 threshold for the first time since March 2022.

Shares of the optical communications firm briefly dipped last week after Wolfpack Research said it was short the company because its investors would be exposed to an “IRS tax nightmare.”

The company responded that day saying it was taking measures for US shareholders that “should mitigate certain potential adverse US federal income tax consequences to it that could otherwise result from the Company’s status as a passive foreign investment company.”