Pound hits two-month low after shock inflation drop – newest updates
Thanks for joining me. We begin the day with a look at the pace of price rises, after the Office for Naitonal Statistics released its consumer prices index for September.
It showed that UK inflation fell to 1.7pc last month, down from 2.2pc in July and August.
The figures will be welcome reading for Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares to raise taxes in the Budget on October 30.
5 things to start your day
1) Reeves’s tax rises not enough to fix public finances, IMF suggests | Analysts argue increased public sector spending while hiking taxes undermines aim to lower debt
2) Crackdown on petrol cars will trigger ‘massive shrinking of industry’, warns BMW chief | Oliver Zipse says Europe’s new green rules threaten to give Chinese carmakers the upper hand
3) John Lewis to offer customers personal loans | Retailer strikes deal with digital bank Zopa as it pushes further into finance
4) BBC News cuts 155 jobs to ‘balance the books’ | Corporation hopes move will save £24m, according to internal memo
5) Incapacity benefits more lucrative than part-time work, says IFS | High taxes on workers discouraging long-term sick to find jobs
What happened overnight
Asian markets mostly fell after a tech-led sell-off on Wall Street fuelled by worries about the sustainability of the AI rally.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.8pc to 39,210.61, leading the declines, as tech stocks fell after Dutch computer chip equipment supplier ASML warned of a slower recovery in demand for semiconductors outside of the AI boom.
Chip maker Tokyo Electron sank 9.8pc and Lasertec Corp., which makes equipment to inspect chips, lost 13.4pc.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2pc to 8,301.80.
In Seoul, the Kospi shed 0.4pc to 2,622.27, while Taiwan’s Taiex slipped 0.5pc. India’s Sensex lost 0.2pc.
Chinese shares mostly advanced, rebounding after recent losses.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 0.9pc to 20,501.77, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.4pc to 3,214.01.
Wall Street stocks closed lower on Tuesday. The Dow slumped 0.8pc to 42,740.29, as did the broad-based S&P 500 to 5,815.26.
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 1pc to 18,315.59.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.03pc from 4.1pc late Friday after the US bond market was closed on Monday.
