S&P 500 and Dow hit record highs as Santa rally reaches Wall Street – as it happened

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as stocks rise in New York’s shortened Christmas Eve session

Farage criticised for £400,000 job promoting physical gold as pension investment

Exclusive: Reform leader promotes Direct Bullion – but experts say commodity is not for everyday investors

Other lives: Banker who began work at 16 and became a director of Harrods Bank in the 1980s

Tashkent Supermarket’s new West Village location offers staples like plov and samsas hot and fresh – a taste of Central Asia for everyone

Stonepeak will acquire 65% of lubricants business as part of wider plans for the oil company to pay down its debt

TG Jones took over stores six months ago but consumers have noticed little change or investment

US lifestyle entrepreneur joins Snoop Dogg and Luka Modric by making minority investment in the Welsh club

RAC says traffic expected to reach highest level since pandemic, while Heathrow predicts busiest festive season

Big brands such as Sainsbury’s and M&S also selling directly in app through links in videos and livestreams

Going into 2026, the economy has little forward momentum and things may get worse before they get better, says Guardian columnist Larry Elliott

Advertising regulator said operators and a ticket seller could not prove bookings were cheapest

Blackstone says it has agreed to buy popular Whitsundays island from Australian winemaking family

Gold is up 70% while the cryptocurrency is down 6% after it failed to bounce back from a rapid October sell-off

Denise Coates’s gambling empire reports turnover of £4bn in year to March 2025, up from £3.7bn

Former Barclays boss and ex-US Treasury secretary named in versions of will of convicted child sex offender