Thanks for joining us. We begin the day with a look at pensions, which savers are raiding for their tax-free lump sum ahead of the Budget, according to investment platform AJ Bell.
Chief executive Michael Summersgill said the company had seen a “noticeable change” in tax-free cash withdrawals, as well as contributions.
5 things to start your day
1) Ryanair threatens to axe hundreds of UK flights if Reeves raises taxes | Michael O’Leary fires warning shot over fears of higher air passenger duty in Budget
2) London-listed Splenda maker surges on talk of £2.8bn takeover | Tate & Lyle threatens to become the latest big business to quit the London stock market
3) How the drop in inflation ‘caught the Bank of England off guard’ | Back-to-back rate cuts on the table as CPI falls below 2pc target
4) Most companies are hiring rapists and abusers, claims minister | Jess Phillips says employers can play a bigger role than the Government in tackling domestic violence
5) Amazon to power electric vans with mini-nuclear reactors | Retail giant says SMR technology will also provide energy for artificial intelligence and data centres
What happened overnight
Asian markets rose Thursday as Chinese investors were buoyed by a Beijing briefing that promised a boost for the ailing housing sector.
Chinese markets gained after officials in Beijing announced the government was expanding financing for housing projects to try to turn around a slump in the property market triggered by a crackdown on excessive borrowing by developers.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 0.9pc to 20,460.86, while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.1pc at 3,205.95.
China is due to announce its economic growth data for the third quarter on Friday. Economists are forecasting annual growth at about 4.5pc, short of the government’s target of about 5pc.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index lost 0.6pc to 38,950.18 after the government reported Japan’s exports fell 1.7pc from a year earlier in September, widening the country’s trade deficit.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2pc to 2,606.23 and in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.6pc to 8,337.60.
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.3pc and India’s Sensex was down 0.3pc. In Thailand, the SET gained 0.7pc a day after the central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 2.25pc.
Wall Street stocks surged after better-than-expected profit reports from Morgan Stanley and United Airlines offset a retreat in tech stocks.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.47pc to 5,842.47 points. The Nasdaq Composite rose or 0.28pc to 18,367.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.79pc to a record high of 43,077.70.
Source: telegraph.co.uk