Wall of worry scaled: Wall Street ended the quarter at a record high for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, as investors looked through any concerns about, well, anything. I get a sense now that we are in grind up mode. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed on Monday at all-time highs, both are up about 5% year to date. The FTSE ended the quarter more than 2% higher, up 7% YTD, albeit we saw a small pullback yesterday. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 climbed 6.7%, whilst most major Asian markets are higher.

This morning, European stock markets ticked down a bit with the momentum from the US fading a touch in the futures markets, while Asian markets generally were firmer overnight, though Tokyo fell on a stronger yen. Gold firmed up, oil lower on expectations for OPEC+ production increases and the dollar weaker.

The FTSE 100 held flat while Standard Chartered shares fell on a $2.7bn lawsuit in relation to Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal. Miners offered a boost to the blue chip index after China's manufacturing PMI rebounded in June.

Now the focus is on the tax bill passing through the Senate, with Republicans trying to get enough votes to get it over the line by Trump’s arbitrary July 4th deadline. Fiscal hawks are worried about the debt load-up, others concerned by slashing Medicaid spending...even if it passes the Senate it has to back to the House and several members there have expressed alarm at the version that they’ll be expected to vote on.

Elon Musk resumed his criticism of the bill and Trump suggested his companies should have subsidies cut. The spat may weigh on the minds of a couple of the more fiscally conservative Republicans - Musk called the bill "debt slavery" and vowed to unseat Republicans who backed it. It may also be on the minds of Tesla shareholders as shares are falling. Resumption of the Musk-Trump feud would have consequences for the stock in the near term at least though it's unclear about the longer term.

Elsewhere, German inflation cooled to 2% but the euro pushed up briefly to 1.18 against the dollar.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was on Bloomberg saying there is no inflation from tariffs, only a one-time price adjustment, Fed should be cutting rates and expects a flurry of trade deals in the final week before the July 9th deadline.

Finally, a quick check on our top performers YTD in London.

Fresnillo – gold and silver prices have rocketed and the miner has enjoyed the boon.

Babcock – record order book and big increase in UK defence budget, particularly likely to benefit from expansion of submarine fleet.

ITM Power – shares in the green hydrogen company have soared on a series of contract wins that’s seen management raise guidance this year.

Alphawave IP – takeover from Qualcomm sent the UK semiconductor firm racing higher.

Chemring , Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems – defence spending boost and contract wins aplenty.