Ggood morning. All eyes are on the latest UK GDP figure at 7am, which is expected to show the largest quarterly increase in production ever recorded.
The monthly figures for September will end the third quarter, which has seen the UK economy recover from the severe effects of the shutdown – resulting in a 19.8% drop in second-quarter production. Economists expect a 1.5% monthly increase in September, and a 15.8% quarterly increase overall.
Elsewhere, the FTSE 100’s stellar eight-day rally appears to have finally run out, as the index is set to cool down a bit and lower at the open today.
5 things to start your day
1) Christmas gifts are at stake with the online ordering rocket: Retailers brace for chaos as chaos in the supply chain threatens to deprive millions of gifts and ruin hopes for a lucrative Christmas.
2) Don’t count on a quick recovery, as the UBS boss warns: Bank stocks rose this week but UBS President Axel Weber warned that positive vaccine news did not imply a quick recovery.
3) The youth unemployment scheme suffers a slow start amid the second wave: A fraction of the hundreds of thousands of projected hires have been earmarked since the launch of Sunak’s £ 2 billion youth unemployment program.
4) The largest tax increases since the 1990s have been necessary to reform public finances: An economic think tank is warning that increases in the millions of workers earning more than £ 20,000 are needed to fix the collapsing public finances.
5) Competition chief attacks the new foreign takeover system: A former major competition watchdog has attacked a “intrusive” campaign, with dealmakers saying the new rules could push crisis-affected firms to the brink of an abyss.
What happened overnight
Asian markets struggled on Thursday as a weeklong rally erupted, with sentiment split between vaccine hopes and Joe Biden’s election victory on the one hand and concerns over a surge of virus cases threatening any economic recovery.
At the start of the trade, most of the markets were lower as traders seized the opportunity to lock in profits.
Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Jakarta were all in the red, although Tokyo ended the morning slightly higher and Wellington rallied.
Is coming today
Company: 3i, Burberry, National Grid, QinetiQ Group, Young & Co’s Brewery (Interim results); W. Smith (whole year) ; Hill & Smith, ITV, OneSavings Bank, Premier Oil, Spirent Communications, Vesuvius, Vistry (Trading data)
Economics: Gross domestic product (United kingdom); Industrial production (Euro-zone) ; Inflation and unemployment claims (we)
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