The London stock market powered on to a new all-time high this morning on growing confidence that the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates this summer. The FTSE 100 index of leading company shares jumped to a new intra-day record of 8,076, up 53 points in early trading, before settling back a little. The new benchmark comes hard on the heels of a strong session yesterday when the FTSE 100 ended at a closing high of 8,023, 128 points higher. The mood of optimism was further boosted by strong PMI business survey numbers showing output growing at its fastest rate since May 2023. David Cumming, head of UK Equities at Newton Investment Management, said: “The new market high has been a long time coming but despite the global uncertainty this has the potential for being a new dawn, rather than a short term blip. “The UK is cheap, relative to other markets, while relative trends in commodity prices and interest rates now favour the UK’s company mix as the global tech rally fades. “For the UK consumer, in the nearterm things are looking up — with recent tax cuts, lower inflation figures and rising earnings. Retailers such as...