Business Live: Wall Street follows London shares higher

Wall Street saw solid gains for a second straight day on Wednesday as fears eased about Britain's vote to exit the European Union and its impact on the global economy.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones was stood at 17,691.39 points, up 1.6%. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.7% to 2,070.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq climbed 1.9% to 4,778.84.

"In the near term, the scare factor that we had of the unknown and the Brexit, and the cataclysmic response, has been modulated to a point where we're more in a wait-and-see mode," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities. 

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The first set of receipts from new Scottish property and landfill taxes have exceeded predictions, the Scottish government says.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay told MSPs that £572m was collected in 2015/16 - up about £74m on initial forecasts.

Scotland's Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and the Scottish Landfill Tax were introduced last year.

The LBTT was introduced in April 2015 by the former finance secretary John Swinney.

It replaced the UK-wide stamp duty and raised the threshold at which buyers paid no tax on a property up to £145,000. Read more here.

More on the news we mentioned earlier of the world's largest uncut diamond failing to sell... 

The gems industry is blaming Brexit. The Lesedi La Rona, a 1,109-carat, tennis ball-sized gem found in Botswana, didn't meet its $70m reserve price. Sotheby's failed to persuade bidders to go above $61m.

Tobias Kormind, of online retailer 77 Diamonds, says "the market instability with Brexit may have just caused this to be a case of bad luck or bad timing". 

Shares in Lucara, which owns the stone, fell nearly 14% on the Toronto Stock Exchange. 

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Morrisons supermarket is making a fresh complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about discount chain Aldi. It comes on the day that the ASA upheld a complaint by Morrisons that three Aldi price comparison adverts were misleading.

A Morrisons spokesman says it's clear Aldi has not "changed its ways". But the German discounter says its ads comply with all the rules. 

Over to you, ASA... 

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So what happened at the auction of the world's largest uncut diamond that we mentioned earlier.

Well, it failed to sell, reports BBC World Service.

The Lesedi La Rona diamond was expected to fetch more than $70m (£52m) but when bidding stopped at $61m it was withdrawn from sale. 

The 1,109 carat gem - the size of a tennis ball - was unearthed last November in a mine in Botswana. 

 The government in Botswana would have received 60%. No rough diamond of this scale had ever been offered at a public auction before.  

Earlier we drew your attention to the BBC economics editor's blog on what's behind the FTSE's "relief rally".

Well, here's a take on it from Robert Jenkins, former policy maker with the Bank of England and adjunct professor at London Business School. 

Think back all the way to Monday if you can, when Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the House of Commons. He said he and the Cabinet had agreed to set up a new EU Unit in Whitehall, bringing together expertise to prepare for exit negotiations. 

Inevitably, perhaps, it's being referred to as the "Brexit Unit".

Well, fast-forward to today and this Cabinet Office unit now has a boss.

He's Olly Robbins - who's currently second permanent secretary at the Home Office, responsible for border and immigration services. 

In his new role - which he starts on 4 July - he will become a permanent secretary and will also become the PM's adviser on European and global affairs. 

 "I am delighted to announce that Olly Robbins has agreed to take on this crucial role. He has a wealth of government, international and negotiating experience that makes him ideally suited to this very challenging role," said Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood. 

The unit will also be recruiting experts from other civil service departments - the Cabinet Office, the Treasury, the Foreign Office and Business Department. 

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Here's a follow up to that BHS hearing we reported on earlier...

Now Sir Philip Green has reacted to comments made by Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee.

At the hearing into the collapse of BHS Mr Field expressed his exasperation at pledges that Sir Philip would "fix" the pension problem at BHS, which had a £571m deficit when the retailer collapsed.

"We're fed up of hearing 'I'm about to fix it'. He does not fix it. What's required is a very large cheque from the Green family who have done so well out of the whole of this," he told an Arcadia director.

"The city is furious with your behaviour, the image you put over is that everybody in business is not about creating jobs, about spreading wealth but it's about nicking money off other people," he went on. 

"Sir Philip could fix this today if he was serious," he said.

Quote Message: Mr Field's outrageous outburst today demonstrated yet again his clear prejudice against myself, my wife and my executives, who turned up for a second time. He arrived very late, offered no apology, heard no evidence, clearly just to put on a ten minute show and was extremely rude. Accusing me and my family of theft is totally false and unacceptable on any basis. The committee was yesterday made fully aware of the fact that a solution for the BHS pension funds is being worked on. His behaviour is as far as you can get from being helpful to anyone in this situation. Mr Field needs to apologise for his shocking and offensive behaviour. from Sir Philip Green Former owner of BHS

Mr Field's outrageous outburst today demonstrated yet again his clear prejudice against myself, my wife and my executives, who turned up for a second time. He arrived very late, offered no apology, heard no evidence, clearly just to put on a ten minute show and was extremely rude. Accusing me and my family of theft is totally false and unacceptable on any basis. The committee was yesterday made fully aware of the fact that a solution for the BHS pension funds is being worked on. His behaviour is as far as you can get from being helpful to anyone in this situation. Mr Field needs to apologise for his shocking and offensive behaviour.

Investment management firm  Hargreaves Landown has been analysing what's been going on with shares in London since last Thursday's Brexit vote.

It's calculated that about a third of FTSE 100 stocks have lost more than 10% of their value. About two thirds are in negative territory, and about one in seven have lost more than 20%.

On the other hand, about a third of FTSE 100 stocks have risen in price - though only a handful have risen by more than 10%. 

"What these stocks lack in number and price movement however, they make up for in size, accounting as they do for around 60% of the FTSE 100 by market capitalisation. They include big hitters like Shell, BP, British American Tobacco, Diageo, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline," says Hargreaves Lansdown. 

"The FTSE 250 has also bounced considerably, but hasn’t recovered to the same extent, and stands around 8% down on its closing price last Thursday."

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Quote Message: The last few days have seen a tale of two stock markets playing out on the UK’s trading floors. The share prices of big companies with international revenues have prospered, while those exposed to the UK economy have been severely marked down. However, in the last two days these domestic stocks have bounced significantly. It’s quite remarkable how quickly sentiment can move the price of stocks up and down without so much of a hint of company news. This once again serves to highlight why investors should tune out the short term fluctuations of the stock market, because they often defy rhyme and reason. In the long run, stock prices are more heavily influence by company fundamentals, rather than sentiment, and in particular earnings. While in the short term the economic picture may have been dented by the Brexit vote, the longer term impact is less clear. In the meantime companies will still seek out opportunities for profits and for growth, though there will be winners and losers, so it’s probably a good time to get back to basics and maintain a balanced and diversified portfolio. from Laith Khalaf Senior analyst, investment managers Hargreaves Landsdown

The last few days have seen a tale of two stock markets playing out on the UK’s trading floors. The share prices of big companies with international revenues have prospered, while those exposed to the UK economy have been severely marked down. However, in the last two days these domestic stocks have bounced significantly. It’s quite remarkable how quickly sentiment can move the price of stocks up and down without so much of a hint of company news. This once again serves to highlight why investors should tune out the short term fluctuations of the stock market, because they often defy rhyme and reason. In the long run, stock prices are more heavily influence by company fundamentals, rather than sentiment, and in particular earnings. While in the short term the economic picture may have been dented by the Brexit vote, the longer term impact is less clear. In the meantime companies will still seek out opportunities for profits and for growth, though there will be winners and losers, so it’s probably a good time to get back to basics and maintain a balanced and diversified portfolio.

The pound rose 1.2% against the dollar to about $1.35, although sterling still remains well below levels reached before the referendum.

The pound had risen as high as $1.50 on Thursday as traders anticipated a 'Remain' vote, but by Monday it had plunged to a 31-year low against the dollar.

Sterling rose 0.9% against the euro on Wednesday to €1.2168. Before last week's referendum it had been trading around €1.30.

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The FTSE 100 has ended the day above its pre-EU referendum level for the first time. It closed at  6,360.06 - a rise of 3.58% on the day.

 At the close of trade on Thursday last week, before the referendum vote, the FTSE 100 ended the day at 6,338.10.  

Miners and building companies were among the biggest gainers of the day.

Meanwhile the FTSE 250 - which is more representative of UK companies - rose by 3.22% to close at 16,002.90. 

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On Tuesday the Treasury committee began its inquiry into the UK's future economic relationship with the EU. 

Before the House of Commons breaks up for summer the Committee says it will take further evidence including about "the trade-offs between market access and control that are likely to be involved, and the practical consequences for people and businesses". 

Quote Message: The UK’s negotiating position has yet to be established. Article 50 should not be triggered until it has been. A crucial task is to identify the maximum level of EU market access, consistent with the need for some control on migration. Work must also be done to identify not just the risks of leaving, some of which are becoming apparent, but also the opportunities. The Committee’s first hearing took some evidence on both. from Andrew Tyrie Chairman of the Treasury Committee

The UK’s negotiating position has yet to be established. Article 50 should not be triggered until it has been. A crucial task is to identify the maximum level of EU market access, consistent with the need for some control on migration. Work must also be done to identify not just the risks of leaving, some of which are becoming apparent, but also the opportunities. The Committee’s first hearing took some evidence on both.

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General Electric's finance arm is no longer deemed to be "too big to fail".

On Wednesday,the US government removed its "systemically important" designation, a label which was created during the  financial crisis and was given to institutions with the potential to wreck the economy in the event of distress. 

The Financial Stability Oversight Council, made up of all the heads of the big regulatory agencies, voted unanimously to remove the label it put on the General Electric unit in 2013, said the US Treasury. 

A company's designation as "too big to fail" is removed when it no longer poses risks to US financial stability,

Being named "to big to fail" can mean stricter oversight and requirements to hold more capital.

In March GE Capital formally asked the US government to remove the "too big to fail" label, saying it had shrunk to the point where it would not pose a major threat to the nation's financial stability if it experienced distress. 

Lifting the designation is expected to allow GE Capital to free up cash from its balance sheet and allow parent company GE to put it to other use - in particular share buybacks.