One of those signs was brought by the ONS, which confirmed the UK GDP growth at 0.8% for the first quarter of 2014 and announced a 3% annual GDP growth – one of the fastest in the G-7 nations. Other reports revealed that the amount of money held by private investors in British shares had hit its highest level since the financial crisis (£238.8 billion) and the FTSE 100 had almost reached record highs, yielding around 3.5%.

Britain’s economic leadership did not translate into wins during the World Cup though (contrary to the Olympics, where a strong correlation between the economy and medal totals was unveiled) and the markets felt England’s losses: After England lost to Italy in its first match, the UK stock market fell by 0.34%, when the rest of the world market was flat.

Yet, the ‘World Cup effect’ was not strong enough to alter Britain’s positive economic climate, which remained favourable to the introduction of the New ISA on 1st July. The New ISA allows savers and investors to put up to £15,000 tax-free each year into their ISA and move their money freely between cash and shares. The new flexible rules have been welcome by the industry as the recovery has prompted people to think more about planning for their future.

What was surprising however was the research by TD Direct Investing in June, which showed that 77% of all British adults has little or no understanding of the New ISA – and 63% of them were not planning to use the increased tax wrapper allowance. These findings show the clear need to fill a financial information gap in the British population – otherwise the government’s efforts towards ‘the savers and investors’ and the economic recovery will be palpable to only a few.

Spotlight

• Five oil and gas companies – Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Leni Gas & Oil, Mosman Oil & Gas, Rose Petroleum and Tower Resources – made both our UK Top Ten Buys and Top Ten Sells in June, as violence in Iraq kept oil barrel price above $113 and lifted the demand in oil major shares

• Vodafone lost ground in the UK Top Ten Buys as Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts downgraded the company to “neutral” and told clients that the success of Vodafone’s ambitious £19bn infrastructure investment programme, known as Project Spring, was by no means certain. Vodafone still ranks high in our UK Top Ten Buys though – without appearing in our Top Ten Sells

• Ebay made an introduction into our Top Ten International Buys for the first time since the beginning of the year. Ebay stock is becoming increasingly attractive as a few events – like a loss in the last quarter after taking a big tax charge for repatriating overseas cash and the resignation of PayPal’s chief David Marcus – kept the shares near 52-week lows

Top 10 UK TD client buys and sells for June 2014

Top 10 International TD client buys and sells for June 2014

Richard Brown is head of product at TD Direct Investing.