Well that's all from us today, thank you for following along as always. Be sure to join us again on Monday when we'll be back to bring you all of the latest markets news and all that's happening across the global economy.

Until then, have a great weekend!

Read more: Stocks to watch next week: Palo Alto Networks, Analog Devices, Marks & Spencer, Greggs and easyJet

Reuters reports:

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UK households are always looking for ways to make their money go further amid the cost of living crisis, and savings accounts can help.

After years of low rates, high-yield savings accounts are still having a moment even after the Bank of England (BoE) cut interest rates to 4.25%. While homeowners face lofty mortgage rates compared to a few years ago, there is a silver lining in higher borrowing costs, and consumers can find UK savings accounts offering rates above inflation.

Experts urge savers to shop around for the best deals and review their accounts regularly, as many may still be sitting on products that fail to beat inflation.

Victor Trokoudes, CEO and founder of smart money app Plum, said: "It’s important savers shop around and make sure that their savings are working as hard as possible. Don’t assume your high street bank will give you a good deal, you have to do your research to find the highest interest rates!

"Look for a competitive interest rate, currently that’s anything above at least 4.5%. But you’ll have to act quickly as the decrease in interest rates will affect current rates on offer."

Alice Haine, personal finance analyst at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners, warned that for savers, a rate cut is less of a boon. She said:

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Thames Water bosses could see their bonuses blocked as soon as next month under new powers for Ofwat.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill gave regulator Ofwat powers to ban bonuses when water companies fail to meet high environmental standards.

These will come into force from June, meaning Thames Water’s bosses could have their bonuses blocked next month, as well as having to return any paid for the last financial year, a Government source said.

Thames Water has been at the centre of growing public outrage over the extent of pollution, rising bills, high dividends, and executive pay and bonuses at the UK’s privatised water firms.

It also has about £19 billion of debt, and was recently allowed to take another high-cost loan which could reach £3 billion to stave off imminent collapse.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “Water companies got away with dumping a tidal wave of sewage into our rivers while pocketing millions of pounds of bonuses.

“That ends now. The Government will ban the payment of unfair bonuses for polluting water bosses. The days of profiting from failure are over.”

Thames Water is England’s biggest water firm and supplies about 16 million households across London and the South East.

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Europe’s trade surplus with the US has surged higher, data provider Eurostat revealed on Friday, despite Trump’s trade war tariffs.

It said the EU’s trade balance with the US swelled to €40.7bn in March, up from €16.7bn a year earlier.

Meanwhile, exports to the US jumped by 59.5%.

Overall, the EU posted a €35.3bn surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in March 2025, compared with €22.3 bn in March 2024.

This increase was driven by a jump in chemicals and related products.

Japan’s economy has shrunk for the first time in a year, new data has shown, with real gross domestic product (GDP) contracting by 0.7% in annualised terms.

This was 0.2% down during the quarter, a larger fall than expected and the first quarterly contraction since January-March 2024.

The decline was due to stagnant private consumption and falling exports, suggesting the economy was losing support from overseas demand even before Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs.

Sam Jochim, economist at EFG Asset Management, said:

Shares in Netflix (NFLX) rose in pre-market trading on Friday after the streaming giant said its advertising-supported tier had reached 94 million users, up from 70 million in November, reflecting momentum across its business despite broader economic uncertainty.

With more than 300 million global subscribers, Netflix said spending across all tiers remains strong. In April, the company noted it had seen no significant signs of consumers pulling back, despite shifting US trade policies and concerns about discretionary spending.

The update helped ease investor fears that economic headwinds could lead to a slowdown in subscriptions. Netflix also reported that its ad-supported offering accounted for 55% of new sign-ups in markets where the tier is available.

Netflix’s global content strategy continues to underpin its growth. Many of its most-watched titles, including the South Korean thriller Squid Game and Spanish crime drama Money Heist, are produced outside the US.

Investor sentiment was further supporter by commentary from Steve Weiss, chief investment officer and managing partner at Short Hills Capital Partners, who told CNBC that he had increased his holdings in Netflix.

Weiss, a noted bear on the broader US economic outlook, said he expects Netflix to “do well in a recession,” describing the company as his “largest position by a wide margin".

Nissan has said it is looking to open to sharing factories around the world with its Chinese state-owned partner Dongfeng.

The Japanese carmaker, which employs thousands of people in the UK, told the BBC it could bring Dongfeng "into the Nissan production eco-system globally."

It comes as Nissan said this week it would lay off 11,000 workers, and close seven factories — although it did not say where the cuts would be made.

Speaking about Nissan's UK plant on Thursday at a conference organised by the Financial Times, boss Ivan Espinosa said: "We have announced that we are launching new cars in Sunderland... In the very short term, there's no intention to go around Sunderland."

Nissan employs around 133,500 people globally, with about 6,000 workers in Sunderland.

Gold prices fell in early European trading on Friday, as investor concerns over tariffs continued to ease, denting the precious metal's appeal as a safe-haven asset.

Gold futures (GC=F) declined 0.4% to $3,213.50 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price fell nearly 1% to $3,208.59 per ounce.

The precious metal had surged in the wake of "Liberation Day" on 2 April, when US president Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs. Investors flocked to gold, as it is considered to act as a hedge in times of economic and political uncertainty.

However, gold prices declined this week, on the back of news that the US and China had agreed to slash tariffs on each other's imports by 115% for 90 days, marking a de-escalation in trade tensions.

In a note on Thursday, Capital Economics climate and commodities economist Hamad Hussain said:

He said that "while gold prices could feasibly fall further in the near term, we are comfortable with our forecast for prices to end this year at $3,300 per ounce – about 4% higher than the current level. Looking further ahead, we expect gold prices to rise to a record high of $3,600 by the end of 2026, which is well above the consensus."

Despite concerns about tariffs weighing on sentiment towards the travel sector, there are still stocks that are highly rated by analysts.

Travel is among the sectors that has been impacted by fears that US president Donald Trump's trade war will lead to a recession, with concerns that an economic slowdown could see consumers spend less on holidays.

However, the UK's trade deal with the US, announced last Thursday, and Washington's agreement with China to slash tariffs on each other's imports by 115% for 90 days, announced on Monday, have offered some relief to investors.

That said, the nature of a longer-term trade agreement with China is still unclear, keeping an element of uncertainty looming over markets.

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Fears that US tariffs could squeeze consumers and cause a global economic slowdown have been weighing on sentiment in the travel sector. But with first-quarter earnings season drawing to a close, it's become clear that overall demand for travel and leisure has held up well."

With that in mind, here are five stocks in the travel sector that analysts have given a "buy" rating.

The FTSE 100 is looking a bit livelier after Thursday’s rally, posting modest gains early Friday.

Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, said:

The UK government has been urged to delay announcing its final agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) reforms until October 2026, to come into effect in April 2027.

A report by MPs on the cross-party environment, food and rural affairs (EFRA) committee has said that a pause in the implementation of these reforms “would allow for better formulation of tax policy and provide the government with an opportunity to convey a positive long-term vision for farming".

It would also protect vulnerable farmers who would have “more time to seek appropriate professional advice", they said.

MPs praised the government’s commitments to backing British produce and supporting farmers, but are concerned that “high-profile policies have been announced prior to the completion and publication of the strategies and reviews that Defra says will inform and guide its vision”.

They have raised concerns that changes announced in the autumn budget last year were made without adequate consultation, impact assessment or affordability assessment. This means that the impact of the changes “on family farms, land values, tenant farmers, food security and farmers in the devolved administrations” is “disputed and unclear” with a risk of producing unintended consequences.

The report added that the reforms threaten to affect the most vulnerable and that the government should consider alternative measures.

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American Axle & Manufacturing is eyeing plans for a secondary share listing in London after buying FTSE 250 car parts maker Dowlais for £1.2bn.

The Detroit-based car parts maker said the move would open the door for more investors to hop on board, and provide better chances in a tough EV market against Chinese rivals.

It comes as over in the US, Trump’s 25% auto import tariffs are getting a two-year grace period to boost homegrown car parts.

King Charles’s wealth has reportedly soared over the last year to £640m, matching former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, who have moved in the opposite direction.

The Guardian writes...

Today’s Rich List shows that the King’s personal wealth has jumped by £30m to £640m in the last year. That lifts him to joint 238th in the list of the UK’s 350 wealthiest people and families, up 20 places from 258th in 2024.

The Sunday Times concedes that the magnitude of the King’s wealth divides opinion, as assets – such as the £15.5bn Crown Estate – are owned “in the right of the Crown”, and are not the King’s private property.

But as they explain, Charles built up his wealth over the years by saving the profits he received from the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall – both now passed onto his son William.

Charles also inherited a large investment portfolio from Queen Elizabeth, which the Rich List says is worth about £125m, as well as valuable assets such as Sandringham and Balmoral.

But his wealth exceeds £640m, by some measures. Back in 2023, the Guardian reported that King Charles’s private fortune was estimated at £1.8bn.

At £640m, the King is now tied with Sunak and Murty, whose wealth has slipped to £640m from £651m, That’s due to a drop in the value of Murty’s stake in Infosys – the tech company founded by her father, which was hit by worries over US tariffs.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday that the US may be entering a period of more frequent supply shocks and volatile inflation, warranting more transparent communication practices from the central bank.

The comments came in a speech as Powell kicks off a five-year review of the central bank's monetary policy framework.

"A critical question is how to foster a broader understanding of the uncertainty that the economy generally faces," Powell said in his speech in Washington, DC, predicting that "we may be entering a period of more frequent, and potentially more persistent, supply shocks".

That, he said, will be a "difficult challenge for the economy and for central banks".

He said higher interest rates adjusted for inflation may reflect the possibility that inflation could be more volatile going forward than in the inter-crisis period of the 2010s.

"In periods with larger, more frequent, or more disparate shocks, effective communication requires that we convey the uncertainty that surrounds our understanding of the economy and the outlook. We will examine ways to improve along that dimension as we move forward."

He noted that while the Fed's benchmark policy rate is currently well above zero — currently in the range of 4.25% to 4.5% — in recent decades, the Fed has cut the rate by about 500 basis points when the economy is in a recession.

Powell stressed the critical need to maintain inflation expectations at 2%, which has also been a hallmark of past assessments.

Oli Creasey, head of property research at Quilter Cheviot, said:

“After a positive first half, Landsec’s full year results are a little disappointing. While the company’s net asset value grew 1.7% over the year, the vast majority of this occurred in the first half, with only 0.3% increase in the second half, resulting in a 1% miss compared to expectations.

UK property benchmark indices have continued to see capital growth, around 2% in six months to March, so it is disappointing that Landsec has not been able to keep pace with that. It appears that specific factors may be to blame, notably a sharp fall in value of one Central London property (soon to be vacated) and goodwill write down, plus devaluation of ongoing and soon to be started development projects.

“Rental growth continues to be strong, though, with rents up 5% like-for-like during the year. However, earnings are largely unchanged, primarily due to property disposals, with nearly £500m sold in the year."

Commercial property giant Land Securities has returned to an annual profit after benefiting from rising rents and retail chains investing in their biggest shops.

The company shrugged off any impact of US tariffs on business investment.

Land Securities (Landsec) reported a pre-tax profit of £393m for the year to the end of March, rebounding from a loss of £341m the year prior.

The total value of its property portfolio jumped to £10.88bn, from £9.96bn this time last year.

Landsec’s portfolio includes office space, retail destinations and landmarks such as the White Rose shopping centre in Leeds, the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, and the Piccadilly Lights in London.

The London-listed company said demand for “modern, sustainable office space” in London remained strong, and that brands continue to focus on “fewer, but bigger and better stores in key locations”.

“As supply of both is constrained, rents in our portfolio continue to grow,” it told investors on Friday.

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The number of British billionaires has fallen thanks to recent stock market turmoil and the end of tax breaks for non-doms.

According to the Sunday Times' list of Britain’s richest people, the number of billionaires tumbled to 156 this year, down from 165 in 2024. It was the sharpest decline in the Rich List’s 37-year-history.

The Sunday Times reported that “falling fortunes” have led many to drop off the list, while others are no longer eligible, having “fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown”.

Robert Watts, compiler of the Rich List, said:

The Sunday Times has calculated that the combined wealth of the 350 entries on the Rich List has dropped by 3% over the last year, to £772.8bn, the third consecutive drop in collective value.

The entry level flatlines at £350m.

One in 10 UK adults have no money in savings it has been reported, leaving many exposed to economic shocks and rising bills.

According to the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Financial Lives survey, some 3 million people - a quarter of the UK adult population - have low financial resilience. That means they have debts that are hard to manage, low savings, and have missed a series of bill payments.

This was unchanged when compared with the previous Financial Lives survey, published in 2022, despite the pressure caused by inflation and rising essential bills on personal finances.

Some 10% of those asked had no cash saved at all. Another 21% had less than £1,000 tucked away.

In addition to this, anxiety and stress levels were relatively high, particularly among those burdened by debt.

But the regulator said the situation had not worsened since the start of the cost of living squeeze and free help was available for those facing trouble.

Stocks in Asia were lower overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) ending flat on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) fell 0.5% in Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.4% down by the end of the session.

Japan’s first quarter GDP reading showed a larger-than-expected contraction, with the economy shrinking at an annualised 0.7% pace during the three months, compared to an expected 0.3% fall.

Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.4%, its fourth consecutive gain, which now brings its advance since the April low to 18.75%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) slipped 0.2% and the Dow Jones (^DJI) also gained 0.7% as weak US inflation data and lower oil prices raised expectations that the Fed would still cut rates this year.

It came as US PPI data for April showed inflation pressures were much softer than expected, with headline PPI down 0.5% on the month, compared to the 0.2% rise expected.

This marked the biggest monthly decline in producer prices since April 2020 and the COVID lockdowns, and it pushed the year-on-year reading down to 2.4% (verses 2.5% expected).

Core inflation was also softer than expected, with the measure excluding food energy and trade down-0.1% on the month, which was the first negative print since April 2020.

It also helped broader inflation expectations to move lower, and the US 10yr inflation swap fell 4.7bps on the day to 2.50%, marking its biggest decline in over a month.