london the uk is facing the weakest growth prospects in the g7 and a catalogue of costofliving pressures that are pushing the poorest into crisis and intensely squeezing the budgets of middleincome households at the same time more investor money has never been pumped into the uks biggest companies the ftse 100 index has smashed through three intraday records over the last week starting last friday and hitting new heights in wednesdays and thursdays sessions thats also coming off the back of a year in markets that was dominated by doom and gloom with risk assets selling off and indexes from the paneuropean stoxx 600 to the us sp 500 to shanghais sse composite emerging bruised the most recent uptick for the ftse 100 shows that as well as occurring despite harsh costofliving pressures they are also linked to them energy firms such as shell and bp have reported record profits and promised higher shareholder dividends boosting their share prices with calls for higher windfall taxes to support consumers struggling with higher bills doing little to dampen their appeal thursdays ftse climb to an alltime high of 7944 points at midday in london was boosted by gains at standard chartered  one of many banks that have seen profits jump as a result of higher interest rates meanwhile the strong performance of commodity stocks has also lifted the index higher as they have been boosted by a rise in prices supply constraints and recently the prospect of chinas covid19 reopening the uk ftse 100 is not about the uk domestic economy said janet mui head of market analysis at rbc brewin dolphin noting over 80 of firms corporate revenue exposure is derived from overseas mui told cnbc a confluence of factors had taken the index to a record high including the plunge in sterling helping those overseas revenues collected in dollars its heavy weighting in energy commodities and financials and the relatively strong performance too of defensive staples in consumer products such as unilever and health care such as astrazeneca what the uk stock market has frequently been criticized for a lack of new buzzy tech firms and preponderance of stalwarts of the old economy has been a boon as monetary and financial cycles have turned the wider ftse 250 does have stronger domestic links but still has 50 of revenue exposed to overseas mui added susannah streeter senior investment and markets analyst at hargreaves lansdown said that among other factors the ftses rise could be explained by glimmers of hope in the economic picture such as housebuilder barratt reporting a modest uplift in reservations of new homes she also pointed to forwardlooking signals of europe avoiding a recession and an abating of the energy crisis banks would perform even better if their net income margins improve but bad loans dont come through she noted among the factors weighing on the uk public are interest rate rises increasing borrowing costs grocery price inflation at a record high of 167 and overall inflation above 10 a report published wednesday by the national institute of economic and social research argued the uk was likely to avoid a technical recession this year though growth would be near zero but that one in four households will be unable to fully pay their energy and food bills and middleincome households will face up to a £4000 4873 drop in disposable income and the disjunct between stock market gains and the dire outlook still facing many households jars for many it is a cruel paradox that on the day that the ftse 100 index hit a record high campaigners on behalf of up to 7 million people on lower incomes in the uk were calling for the government to extend the support provided to them with regard to their energy bills richard murphy professor of accounting practice at sheffield university management school told cnbc in march the uk government is set to end a broad household energy bill compensation program that has run through the winter it comes as many governments attempt to wind down fiscal support to rein in public spending with the european central bank recently arguing that maintaining support packages risks maintaining inflation but murphy said that without the support and with bills still elevated many will not be able to make ends meet and will go hungry cold or even homeless as a result the picture that this provides of a country enormously divided by differing incomes and wealth is almost victorian in its starkness said murphy