Closing summary Investors seem to be unperturbed by the first drop in McDonald’s sales since 2020, having sent its NYSE-listed shares higher by more than 3% in early trading. The fast food chain said sales fell 1% in the second quarter, with consumers having been deterred by double digit price hits for some of its menu staples like Big Macs, since the pandemic. The company is now rolling out discounts to try lure back cash-conscious customers. Elsewhere, the price of Bitcoin has been on the rise, and is currently up 2.7%, at $69,237 after Trump said he would fire the crypto-sceptic boss of the SEC regulator, and end the “persecution” of the industry. It will have won him fans among some deep pocketed tech moguls keen for stripped back regulation. In the UK, markets are poised for an address by UK chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is set to reveal a £20bn gap in the public finances – which one economic think tank noted was the exact size of the Tories’ National Insurance tax cut. Reeves is expected to speak after 3:30pm today. A further jump for McDonald’s shares, which are now up a whopper-ing (sorry) 3.3% at $260.30, despite the drop in second quarter sales and profits. The founder of JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, has sold almost £10m worth of shares in the pub chain. Martin, who also chairs the hospitality company, sold 1.361m shares in the business on 26 July, according to a London Stock Exchange announcement. Shares in the business dropped in early trading on Monday as a result, 0.9% lower at 743p. They are now trading down 0.6% at 745p. The famously outspoken Wetherspoons boss sold the shares at a price of 739p apiece, securing himself a £9.58m windfall. The sale has reduced his stake in the company from 25.68% to 24.58%, or 30.38m shares. The company did not disclose a reason for the sale. Martin founded the firm in 1979 with one venue, Martin’s Free House, and has since grown the business to 801 sites across the UK, employing 43,000 staff. JD Wetherspoon revealed another recent improvement in sales earlier in July as it continued to sell off some venues. It reported that like-for-like sales had increased by 5.8% in the 10 weeks to 7 July despite unseasonably wet weather. McDonald’s NYSE-listed shares have started the session slightly higher, up 0.5% at $253.42, suggesting that investors are seeing the dip in sales as a temporary blip. US stocks rise at market open Major indexes are on the rise as US markets opens for trading: S&P 500 is up 0.29% at 5,475 points Dow is up 0.2% at 40,668 points Nasdaq is up 0.49% at 17,442 points European stocks have had a mixed session, with the FTSE 100 making the biggest gains with a 0.6% rise. The FTSE 250 is also up 0.13%. However, Germany’s Dax is flat, while Italy’s FTSE MIB is down 0.15% and France’s CAC 40 is down 0.65%. HS2 has revealed more than £2bn in costs linked to Rishi Sunak’s decision to downgrade the high-speed rail line. In the annual report of HS2 Ltd, the company revealed that it had written off £1.1bn in costs incurred during “phase two” of the project, which was due to link Birmingham to Manchester, only for the leg to be abandoned last year. The company also disclosed a further £1bn in accounting charges relating to the project’s reduced ambitions, which will lower its expected future income. In total, the business announced £2.17bn in one-off costs associated with scaling back the infrastructure project. Sunak axed the second leg of the HS2 project in October last year at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, provoking dismay in a city that was due to benefit from the new rapid link. The decision followed a series of long delays and rising estimated costs that had caused the high-speed line’s price tag to balloon to £71bn. While the decision met with anger in regions that were due to benefit from the project, Labour has said it would not reverse the previous government’s decision. The worse-than-expected results from McDonald’s come just months after the president of its US operations, Joe Erlinger, was forced to address “viral social media posts and poorly sourced reports” that McDonald’s has raised prices significantly beyond inflationary rates. In an open letter written on 29 May, Erlinger was addressing allegations after people starting posting about a location that was selling Big Mac Meals for $18. He said it was worrying that people thought this was the “rule and not the exception.” He went on to say that the average cost of a Big Mac Meal had risen 27% since 2019, from $7.29 to $9.29 over that period, not 104% as some social media posts had claimed. Erlinger said: Inflationary pressures have affected all sectors of the economy, including ours. Our franchisees (who own and operate more than 95% of all restaurants in the US) set menu prices for their restaurants, which account for the increased costs of running their businesses. In doing so, they work hard to minimize the impact of price increases on our fans. This includes the everyday prices on our restaurant menu boards to special limited-time offers. That’s why prices for many of our menu items have risen less than the rate of inflation – and remain well within the range of other quick service restaurants. It’s also why more than 90% of U.S. franchisees are offering meal bundles for $4 or less. I fully expect the prices at your local McDonald’s to be an area of conversation and focus in the coming months. As it does, I hope you’ll see the programs we’re launching nationally and locally as meaningful to you. McDonald"s sales drop for first time since 2020 as consumers reined in spending McDonald’s has reported a surprise drop in global sales in the second quarter, marking the fast food chain’s first quarterly fall since 2020. CEO Chris Kempczinski said that consumers had been “more discriminating with their spend”, as the US food giant said global sales dropped 1% in the three months to the end of June to $6.49bn. It contributed to a 12% drop in profits to $2bn. The decline comes as consumers negotiate their spending habits after years of surging inflation that has pushed up the price of restaurant meals and fast food. McDonald’s is now trying to use discounts to lure back customers and boost footfall, particularly in the US, which accounted for about 41% of its revenue last year. Reports suggest that has included deals like a $5 bundle for a sandwich, chicken nuggets, fries and a drink. Some crypto enthusiasts believe that Trump’s stance could put pressure on Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party, particularly when it comes to deep-pocketed donors. Trump is the first major party candidate to accept donations in cryptocurrencies — and claimed on Saturday his campaign had raised $25m in crypto donations. Nigel Green, CEO of financial advisors deVere Group, says: The crypto ecosystem represents a rapidly growing and influential voting bloc. Ignoring this demographic – 40 % of Americans - could be politically detrimental, as millions of crypto enthusiasts and investors and seek supportive leadership. In addition, the influence of wealthy donors in the tech and crypto industries cannot be understated. These individuals and organizations have the financial power to significantly impact election campaigns. The Trump campaign is gaining deep-pocketed support from the crypto industry’s wealth execs Junior doctors offered 20% pay deal byministers – The Times BREAKING: Ministers have offered pay deal to junior doctors that would see their earnings rise by 20% over two years, the Times is reporting (paywall). The Times says the British Medical Association junior medical doctors is recommending an offer that would include: A backdated pay rise of 4.05% for 2023-24 (on top of an existing increase of between 8.8% and 10.3%) A further 6% for 2024-25 A consolidated £1,000 payment While junior doctors has been pushing for a 35% pay rise, the BMA has agreed to put the offer to members, which would help end strikes. the paper reports. UK consumers cut back on credit card borrowing in June, according to official figures from the Bank of England, as cold weather and the cost of living crisis deterred households from spending. The latest snapshot from Threadneedle Street showed net consumer credit borrowing dipped in June to £1.2bn, from £1.5bn in May, below the expectations of City economists. Karim Haji, global and UK head of financial services at the accountancy firm KPMG, said the figures showed recent stronger levels of economic growth and lower inflation were yet to be felt by consumers. What is clear is that despite two straight months of inflation remaining on-target, households aren’t necessarily feeling better off for it – indeed, wage growth has slowed in recent months, which may go some way to explaining this. The UK economy exited recession in the first quarter at a faster pace than anticipated, while inflation has cooled from a peak of 11.1% in October 2022 to hold steady at 2% for a second consecutive month in June. It comes as financial markets predict the Bank of England’s interest rate decision on Thursday will be on a knife edge, as the monetary policy committee considers whether to launch the first cut in interest rates since the Covid pandemic. Separate figures from the Bank showed net mortgage approvals - which indicate future levels of borrowing - remained largely unchanged in June from a month earlier, in a sign of the property market treading water ahead of the general election and Thursday’s rate decision. Anthony Codling, European housebuilding analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said: Stability is good, but in our view, the UK housing market appears to be treading water, waiting for, hoping for the first Bank Rate cut. There is a small chance that cut could come on Thursday, but we believe the first cut is more likely in September. Once mortgage rates start to fall, we expect housing market activity to pick up. Horizon scandal: Post Office was ‘badly run and messy’, says former chair The Post Office inquiry continues today, with former chair of the Post Office having described the business as “badly run and messy”. Neil McCausland, a senior independent director and interim chair of the Post Office between 2011 and 2016, heavily criticised the state of the business and its IT set-up at the public inquiry into the Horizon scandal on Monday. McCausland said: The Post Office I went into was a very badly run and messy business. The IT infrastructure we knew was old, underinvested and creaky. The Horizon system we knew was near end of life. McCausland, whose role was in part looking at how to put in place a new system to replace the Fujitsu-developed Horizon accounting software in the future, said it was at least 15 years old by then, when usual practice is to replace IT systems after about a decade. He added: We knew we had clanky, underinvested IT infrastructure, Horizon was a clunky, creaky, not particularly intuitive system. However, McCausland said he was given no indication that the integrity of the data and the accounting software was anything other than “sound”.