Overall it was a subdued day’s trading, not just in London, as midway earnings season comes to a close alongside little noteworthy data/ news. The FTSE made a small amount of progress this morning and managed to hang onto the gains up till the close, finishing +0.27% for the day to remain around 7 week highs. Commodity shares were among the best performers, as Anglo shares topped the index (+3.11%). The strong US dollar weighed on oil prices ahead of an OPEC meeting later in the week, as we write oil sits 1.2% lower at $51.75 p/bbl. Paddy Power Betfair shares on the other hand saw the biggest drop on the FTSE 100, after their CEO Breon Corcoran announced he will step down after 16 years at the company, with some investors believing the move has come earlier than expected, and at less than ideal timing. The group have announced Peter Jackson as the successor.

British consumer spending has now endured the longest decline since 2003. Spending fell for the third month in a row during July, according to Visa, by 0.8% in real terms.

German industrial output saw a shock decline during June, falling for the first time in a year by 1.1%. Despite this, during Q2 Europe’s largest economy did rise 1.8% overall.

In other news, Bitcoin’s value has reached record highs, following a tumultuous couple of months.  For the first time the value of a coin has surpassed the $3,000 mark, and today it reached $3,451. This time last year Bitcoin sat somewhere around the $600 mark…. well check that out.

We’d love to say there’s slightly more to come this week but, well, there isn’t. Summer holiday mode is in full swing and as mentioned earnings news flow is beginning to dry up and politicians are probably all in Ibiza (or at least that’s what we assume they do with their time off). With that we leave as US markets have begun the week following moves in Asian and European shares, with the Dow and S&P both edging slightly higher.