Benchmarks finished in positive territory after JPMorgan reported better-than-expected earnings results and Bank of England hinted at easing monetary policy in August. In a statement the BOE said that "in the absence of a further worsening in the trade-off between supporting growth and returning inflation to target on a sustainable basis" most of the Committee's members "expect monetary policy to be loosened in August." In economic news, the U.S Department of Labor reported that seasonally adjusted initial claims remained unchanged at three-month low level of 254,000 for the week ending July 9.