Astrazeneca was the leading pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom as of March 7, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars. GlaxoSmithKline followed as the second largest pharma company in the country, with market capitalization of nearly **** billion U.S. dollars. Examining the development of the FTSE 100 Index, which was launched in January 1984 with a base level of 1,000, increased by more than sevenfold to date. What is the FTSE 100 index? The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, commonly known as the "Footsie", is the most widely recognized stock market index in the United Kingdom. It is made up of the 100 largest blue-chip companies on the London Stock Exchange. Companies from various sectors, such as healthcare, consumer goods, and energy, are included in the index, as are leading banks of the United Kingdom, such as HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and Barclays. Moreover, it can be seen as a reflection of the investment climate in the United Kingdom. What is not included in the FTSE 100 Index? Most notably, the FTSE 100 Index, like most indices, is not adjusted for inflation. While inflation in the United Kingdom has gone down dramatically since 2023, it might be useful to adjust the historic figures on the index when comparing historic data to current levels. This is especially important when the index seems to have increased by a few percentage points because inflation may have increased at a faster rate than stock prices.

As of May 2025, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was the leading company listed on the London Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 159 billion British pounds. This made them the largest of all companies listed on the LSE. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second-largest stock market in Europe and ranks eighth globally. Key information The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is among the largest stock market operators globally and ranks 11th in terms of the oldest stock exchanges in existence, with 224 years of operation as of 2025. Performance after Covid The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the global economy, causing considerable volatility on the stock market. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw a notable decline in the market capitalization value of its listed companies, reaching its lowest value in March 2020 at approximately three trillion British pounds in correlation with a surge in the average daily number of trades, which peaked at over two billion. Following this initial reaction, the LSE observed a decrease in the average daily active traders, alongside a gradual recovery in the market capitalization of the listed companies.

As of January 29, 2025, the FTSE index stood at ******** points - well above its average value of around ***** points in the past few years.On the 12th of March 2020, amid the escalating crisis surrounding the coronavirus and fears of a global recession, the FTSE 100 suffered the second largest one day crash in its history and the biggest since the 1987 market crash. On the 23rd of March, the FTSE index saw its lowest value this year to date at ******** but has since began a tentative recovery. With the continuation of the pandemic, the FTSE 100 index was making a tentative recovery between late March 2020 and early June 2020. Since then the FSTE 100 index had plateaued towards the end of July, before starting a tentative upward trend in November. FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, otherwise known as the FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 largest companies trading on the London Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. At the end of March 2024, the largest company trading on the LSE was Shell. The largest ever initial public offering (IPO) on the LSE was Glencore International plc. European stock exchanges While nearly every country in Europe has a stock exchange, only five are considered major, and have a market capital of over one trillion U.S dollars. European stock exchanges make up two of the top ten major stock markets in the world. Europe’s biggest stock exchange is the Euronext which combines seven markets based in Belgium, France, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

This report analyses the movements of the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index. The FTSE 100 is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with the highest market capitalisation (i.e. the market value of a publicly-traded company's outstanding shares). Constituents listed in the FTSE 100 are subject to change, whereby a publicly-traded entity can be demoted or promoted to or from the FTSE 250 index - this consists of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the LSE by market capitalisation - when a quarterly reshuffle occurs in March, June, September and December of each calendar year. Movements in the FTSE 100 index are responsive to the weighted average movements of the constituents' stocks, which are ranked according to market capitalisation value. The data is sourced from Yahoo Finance, which ultimately derives from the LSE, and represents the closing price of the FTSE 100 index on the last day of each financial year (i.e. the close price on 31 March).

As of February 2025, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc was the leading company in the industrial goods and services sector on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of ** billion British pounds. Second on the list was CRH Plc, with a value of **** billion British pounds.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of almost ** trillion U.S. dollars as of June 2025. The following three exchanges were the NASDAQ, PINK Exchange, and the Frankfurt Exchange. What is a stock exchange? A stock exchange is a marketplace where stockbrokers, traders, buyers, and sellers can trade in equities products. The largest exchanges have thousands of listed companies. These companies sell shares of their business, giving the general public the opportunity to invest in them. The oldest stock exchange worldwide is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, founded in the late sixteenth century. Other functions of a stock exchange Since these are publicly traded companies, every firm listed on a stock exchange has had an initial public offering (IPO). The largest IPOs can raise billions of dollars in equity for the firm involved. Related to stock exchanges are derivatives exchanges, where stock options, futures contracts, and other derivatives can be traded.

The statistic shows the highs and lows of the FTSE 100 Index between 2000 and 2024. The FTSE 100 Index is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization. It remains one of the most widely used stock indices and is regarded as a gauge of business prosperity in the United Kingdom. In 2024, the FTSE reached a yearly high of ******* and a low of ********. London Stock Exchange As of May 2024, the number of companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at *****. These companies had a combined market capitalization of approximately *** trillion British pounds and ******* daily average trades. Largest companies on the LSE As of March 2023, Shell Plc was the leading company listed on the London Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. This made them the largest of all companies trading shares on the LSE in 2023 from more than ** countries globally. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest stock market in Europe and ranks seventh globally.

Context

Time Series Analysis is an important part in Data science toolkit. This dataset was created from Yahoo Finance with the help of their official API yfinance.

Content

This dataset contains closing price of Top 4 indexes recorded over daily frame from 1994 to 2021 October (27 years).

As of February 2025, ************************************************ was the leading technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), in terms of market capitalization. The corporation was valued at around ** billion British pounds. It was followed in the ranking by ********** and *****************, which reached market values of ** and ***** billion British pounds, respectively.

Indexes included in the Russell U.S. Index Series Russell 3000®: The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the largest 3,000 U.S. companies representing approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market. Russell 1000®: The Russell 1000 Index measures the performance of the large-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. It is a subset of the Russell 3000 Index and includes approximately 1,000 of the largest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. The Russell 1000 represents approximately 91% of the U.S. market. Russell 2000®: The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the small-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. The Russell 2000 Index is a subset of the Russell 3000 Index representing approximately 9% of the total market capitalization of that index. It includes approximately 2,000 of the smallest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. Index Inception Dates Russell 1000® Index (1/1979) Russell 1000® Growth Index (1/1979) Russell 1000® Value Index (1/1979) Russell 2000® Index (1/1979) Russell 2000® Growth Index (1/1979) Russell 2000® Value Index (1/1979) Russell 2500™ Index (4/2003) Russell 2500™ Growth Index (4/2003) Russell 2500™ Value Index (4/2003) Russell 3000® Index (1/1979) Russell 3000® Growth Index (1/1979) Russell 3000® Value Index (1/1979) Russell Midcap® Index (1/1986) Russell Midcap® Growth Index (1/1987) Russell Midcap® Value Index (1/1987) Russell Small Cap Completeness Index (4/2003) Russell Small Cap Completeness Growth Index (4/2003) Russell Small Cap Completeness Value Index (4/2003) Russell Top 200® Index (7/1996) Russell Top 200® Growth Index (7/2001) Russell Top 200® Value Index (7/2001) Monthly Files included in the Russell U.S. Index Series Monthly Closing Files – RGS These holdings files reflect the official closing positions for all constituents of the 21 U.S. Russell Indexes at month-end back to December 1986 and at quarter-end from September 1986 back to December 1978. Security level information such as returns, market values, sector and industry classifications, and security weights are included in the file. Files are fixed-width text files and have a naming convention of H_yyyymmdd_RGS.txt. Monthly Closing Files – ICB These holdings files reflect the official closing positions for all constituents of the 21 U.S. Russell Indexes at month-end back to January 2010. Security level information such as returns, market values, sector and industry classifications, and security weights are included in the file. Files are comma delimited text files and have a naming convention of H_yyyymmdd.csv. Monthly Contribution to Return by RGS Files These files provide contribution to return using RGS as of the end of the month for each of the 21 U.S. Russell Indexes back to August 2008. Files are tab delimited text files and have a naming convention of CTR_MONTHLY_RGS_yyyymmdd.txt.. Monthly Contribution to Return by ICB Files These files provide contribution to return using ICB as of the end of the month for each of the 21 U.S. Russell Indexes back to August 2020. Files are comma delimited text files and have a naming convention of CTR_MONTHLY_yyyymmdd.csv. Monthly RGS Sector Weights Files These files provide monthly Russell Global Sector (RGS) weights for all 21 US Indexes at month-end back to November 2009. Files are comma delimited text files and have a naming convention of SWH_RGS_ALL_yyyymmdd.txt. Monthly ICB Sector Weights Files These files provide monthly Industrial Classification Benchmark (ICB) weights for all 21 US Indexes at month-end back to March 2020. Files are comma delimited text files and have a naming convention of SWH_ALL_yyyymmdd.csv. Note: In August 2020 FTSE Russell transitioned to ICB classification from the RGS classification. All data from September, 2020 is only available using ICB Classification. Data is current to April 28, 2023.

Shell had the highest annual revenue of all companies based in the United Kingdom in 2025, at approximately 284 billion U.S. dollars. BP had the second-highest annual revenue at over 189 billion dollars, followed by HSBC Holdings, which had a revenue of around 142 billion U.S. dollars. In terms of global employee numbers, however, Compass Group had the highest number among UK-based businesses, at approximately half a million in 2024, followed by Tesco at 336,400 and HSBC at almost 211,000. Big Oil, a banking giant, and Britain's top supermarket chain The two companies listed as having the most revenue in the UK this year are also two of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, alongside Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies. After a huge surge in energy prices in 2022, these companies saw their profits recede slightly in 2023, but clearly remain in strong financial positions as of 2024. HSBC Holdings, meanwhile, was the largest bank in Europe in terms of market capitalization, and was estimated to have the second-highest number of UK-based customers in 2024. The company with the fourth-highest revenue in this year, Tesco has by some distance the largest grocery-market share in Great Britain, a position it has maintained despite growing competition from discounters like Lidl and Aldi. UK economy health check In the first quarter of 2025, the UK economy grew by 0.7 percent, emerging from a brief slowdown in growth towards the end of 2024. Consumer Price inflation, has, however, started to increase, with the inflation rate reaching 3.5 percent in April, the highest rate since January 2024. Furthermore, the UK labor market is showing signs of weakness, with quite a high number of job losses since the start of the year. Alongside these generally negative signs, business confidence in the UK has been falling, with the main concern of UK firms being that of taxation, as of early 2025.

As of February 2025, Unilever Plc was the leading company among consumer staples companies on the London Stock Exchange in terms of its market capitalization, with a total value of over *** billion British pounds. This was followed by British American Tobacco Plc and Diageo PLC, with values of over ** billion and ** billion British pounds, respectively.

The total market capitalization of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) took a large hit during the early months of 2020, due mostly part to a mass sell-off of shares caused by the fears surrounding the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Between December 2019 and March 2020, the total value of market capitalization decreased by more than *** billion British pounds (GBP). The overall number of companies currently trading has also been falling. The number of daily trades spiked in March 2020 and then decreased as well. As of February 2025, the total market value of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at over **** trillion British pounds. European stock exchanges While almost every country has a stock Exchange, in Europe only five exchanges are considered major, with total market capital amounting to over *** trillion euros. The London Stock Exchange is the second largest in Europe and tenth largest worldwide. As of January 2025, Europe’s largest stock exchange, Euronext had a total market capital of listed companies valued at approximately **** trillion U.S. dollars.

The British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto was the second-largest company in the basic resources industry listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as of February 2025, in terms of market capitalization, with a value of over ** billion British pounds. The most valuable basic resources company on the LSE was BHP Group, with a market cap of over ** billion British pounds.

As of February 2025, the France-incorporated company Saint-Gobain was the second-largest construction company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a market capitalization of approximately 40 billion British pounds. The leading construction company on the LSE was the Irish CRH, with a market cap of over 52 billion British pounds. Construction and materials companies on the exchange had a combined market capital value of 147 billion British pounds as of December 2024. CRH largest Irish company CRH, is an international group of enterprises which cover the construction process from materials and products, to distribution. CRH not only topped the London Stock exchange for construction companies, they are also the second largest company headquartered in Ireland in terms of turnover. London Stock Exchange As of February 2025, the London Stock Exchange had approximately 1,600 companies trading from more than 50 countries globally with a combined market capital of approximately 4.6 trillion British pounds (GBP). Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second largest market in Europe and ranks eighth globally.

As of February 2025, AstraZeneca Plc was by far the leading healthcare company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of *** billion British pounds. This was followed by GSK Plc and Haleon Plc, with a value of over ** billion and ** billion British pounds, respectively.

As of February 2025, Shell Plc was the leading company in the energy sector listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with a total market capitalization value of over 159 billion British pounds. This was followed by Reliance Industries Limited and TotalEnergies, with values of over 148 billion and 108 billion British pounds, respectively.

Linde was the leading chemical company in the United Kingdom (UK) as of October 15, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to just over *** billion U.S. dollars. Croda International, the second-largest chemical company in the country, had a market cap of approximately **** billion U.S. dollars.

As of February 2025, British holding bank HSBC Holdings Plc was the leading finance company listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a total market capitalization of almost *** billion British pounds. Second in the ranking was Spanish bank Banco Santander S.A., with a market cap of nearly **** billion U.S. dollars.

Compass Group had by far the highest number of global employees among companies based in the United Kingdom as of 2025, at approximately 500,000 employees. Tesco had the second-highest number of employees at around 336,400, followed by HSBC Holdings which had 211,000 employees. In the same year, HSBC Holdings had an annual revenue of 142.3 billion U.S. dollars, the third-highest among UK-based companies. The oil and gas giant Shell had the highest annual revenue at over 283 billion dollars, ahead of BP at 189 billion dollars. How many businesses are there in the UK? In 2024, there were approximately 5.5 million business enterprises in the UK, down from a peak of 5.98 million in 2020. Although there were just 1,930 large firms that employed 1,000 people or more, these firms employed more than a quarter of the UK's private sector workforce, and made a combined turnover of approximately 1.69 trillion British pounds. As of this year, the construction industry had the highest number of enterprises by sector, at over 870,000. The sector with the most workers was that of wholesale and retail, which collectively employed just under 4.9 million people in 2024, and also had the highest turnover compared to other sectors, at over 1.8 trillion pounds. Current UK economic climate Although the UK economy is expected to grow in 2025, growth has been downgraded from earlier forecasts, while inflation and unemployment are expected to be higher than initially thought. According to the business confidence index, sentiment among businesses at the end of 2024 was lower than it has been since early 2021. Furthermore, since the start of 2025, businesses have been shedding jobs at an accelerating rate, possibly due to recent tax rises, which was seen as the main external concern of businesses in early 2025. The precarious state of the UK's government finances, and potential tax rises in the next budget, are also likely feeding into this pessimistic mood.