FTSE 100 on track for best month since first US attacks on Iran five months ago – as it happened

Live, rolling coverage as London’s biggest companies defy Middle East disruption and UK petrol prices rise to around £1.60 per litre, the highest since Donald Trump ordered renewed strikes

BTS are back: return of K-pop superstars sparks US economic boom

Cities in North America hosting 14 concerts in August and September – and economic impact is set to be significant

Sainsbury’s to sell Argos to three retail veterans in £120m deal

Trio set up Swift Partners for the acquisition, allowing supermarket to focus on core food business

New solar panels in Great Britain at 15-year high as fossil fuel costs soar

Boom in solar farms and home installations in first half of 2026 began shortly after start of US-Israel war against Iran

UK house prices up just 0.1% in July as buyers remain cautious on interest rates

Price of average home now £277,542, up from £277,484 the previous month but lower than in May, says Nationwide

HSBC to close all branches and pull out of Australian retail banking market

London-based company to sell local loan portfolio to Blackstone but will continue private and institutional banking services

New survey reveals fears of US farm workers amid Trump’s immigration raids

Vast majority of farm workers say raids and deportations have affected their jobs and 61% report shopping less

The outlook gets better and better at Rolls-Royce

With fingers in various highly lucrative pies, maybe the firm becoming LSE’s most valuable isn’t as fanciful as it seems

The Guardian view on ‘kidulthood’: Britain prices young adults out of independent life

Editorial: More young people live with parents as low wages, insecure work and unaffordable housing turn family support into another source of inequality

Bank of England holds interest rates at 3.75% as inflation fears mount

Split vote comes as Iran war is rekindled and oil price climbs close to $90 a barrel

Profits boost for UK defence firms as governments increase spending

Shares in Rolls-Royce jump by 5% after it lifts earnings guidance, while BAE Systems also upgrades profit forecasts

‘It’s a peptide wild west’: how RFK Jr is clearing way for a market of untested drugs

A century ago, compounding pharmacies helped people get bespoke drugs. Now these less-regulated businesses are fueling the peptide boom

Bank of England holds interest rates despite Iran war inflation threat – as it happened

Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as three members of monetary policy committee vote to raise rates

Raids across UK in crackdown on nuisance car finance texts

Laptops, phones and documents seized as information commissioner acts on messages about mis-selling scandal

US economy grows sluggish 1.5% in second quarter as inflation tops Fed target

Consumer spending remained resilient even as policymakers kept interest rates on hold