Monday, 14^th August: Following the nuclear battle of words that commenced last week between North Korea and the US, which caused the FTSE to plummet by 250 points by the end of last week, this week has started off demonstrating slow signs of recovery as the index opened around 0.28% higher. Stock markets across Asia followed this trend, and were seen showing a more positive start to the week as officials started to take a more toned down approach to the crisis. At the top end of the index was multinational travel & tourism group, TUI, carrying on gains from last week after a Q3 trading update which revealed turnover growth that was above previous expectations. The airline conglomerate was up around 5.16% in the afternoon at £12.95.

Back in 2005, the French government intervened to prevent the acquisition of its beloved dairy-manufacturer Danone from the soft drink giant Pepsi, as they have typically acted against foreign rivals taking over their leading companies. Today however, news emerged that Danone are once again a target for a takeover, but this time by the likes of Kraft, or maybe even Coke. Danone’s shares rose 1.9% amongst the speculation, placing them at the top spectrum of the CAC-40 market index during the early hours of trading.

Following Snapchats’ disaster on Friday, the social media tycoon continued to tumble today as news surfaced of funds entirely dissolving their stakes in the stock. Facebook and Instagram both adopted Snapchats’ popular features, which at first many were sceptical over, but recent statistics have demonstrated that the social media moguls have still got it, as Snapchat reported fewer daily active supporters than Wall Street had anticipated, and both Facebook and Instagram have continued to increase.

Towards the end of the day, all remained as calm as it started, and the FTSE continued to make gains, closing around 0.60% higher at 7354.