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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Graeme Wearden

Christmas rail travel chaos as Euston services cancelled and Eurostar hit by strike – as it happened

Paramount Warner Bros Discovery United Kingdom Interest Rates United States David Zaslav Inflation Axios Bob Bakish Bank of England
Passengers wait at the bottom of the stairway leading to the Eurostar platform at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris, today, as a wildcat strike by workers operating the Channel tunnel blocks train travel between France and Britain.
Passengers wait at the bottom of the stairway leading to the Eurostar platform at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris, today, as a wildcat strike by workers operating the Channel tunnel blocks train travel between France and Britain. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images

Closing post

Time to wrap up…..

Christmas getaway journeys have been ruined for tens of thousands of people today after cross-Channel rail services were suspended due to an unexpected strike in France, while technical problems hit the West Coast main line from Euston.

The industrial action is affecting Eurostar – which operates passenger services to and from London St Pancras – and Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, which runs vehicle-carrying trains to and from Folkestone.

At least 24 Eurostar trains have been cancelled.

Eurostar said in a statement:

“Due to unexpected strike action by Eurotunnel staff, services are currently not able to proceed through the Channel Tunnel until mid-afternoon at earliest.”

Four trains were forced to return to their starting point.

Eurostar cancelled all services before 7pm.

Passengers booked on the three trains due to operate after that time were warned that “we cannot exclude additional last-minute cancellations, which may include your train”.

Getlink, which owns the Channel Tunnel and operates Eurotunnel Le Shuttle services, said:

“Today’s call for strike action by representatives of Eurotunnel’s French site staff unions has resulted in the complete interruption of service and the closure of our terminals in France and the UK.”

The company reportedly added that trade unions had rejected an offer of a bonus worth €1,000 (£867) per employee, demanding a payment worth three times as much.

Strong winds were also disrupting the Christmas getaway on Britain’s domestic railway.

Damage to the overhead electric wires between Milton Keynes and Watford meant all lines between those stations were blocked.

This was affecting Avanti West Coast services between London Euston and Scotland, leading to delays and cancellations to many towns and cities on the west.

Here’s the rest of today’s news:

Further afield, Ikea has warned that the disruption to global trade caused by Yemeni rebel attacks in the Red Sea could delay its deliveries and affect availability of some products.

UK drivers were warned today to be “very cautious” on Britain’s roads after forecasts of strong winds and rain that threaten to cause long delays at the start of the Christmas getaway.

The worst of the weather will occur this afternoon, shortly after term time finished for many schools in the south of England, with traffic on the roads expected to increase and peak on Friday.

According to motoring organisations road congestion could be worse than last year. The RAC expected 13.5m “leisure” journeys to be made by car between Friday and Christmas Eve. The AA said that more than two in five motorists are expected to be on the roads on Friday.

More here:

Updated

A board at St Pancras International station showing Eurostar cancellations.
A board at St Pancras International station showing Eurostar cancellations. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Jeremy Hunt signs financial services deal with Switzerland

Over in Bern, Switzerland, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signed a financial services deal which is aimed at easing UK firms’ access to the Swiss market, and vice versa.

The UK will work with the Swiss financial authorities to strengthen international financial standards, Hunt says.

The tie-up with Switzerland will also help level the playing field for smaller firms, “who will no longer have to invest time and money in navigating unfamiliar Swiss rules,” Hunt said.

The outline of a deal was announced yesterday, but Hunt gave some more details at a press conference in Berne with his Swiss counterpart, Karin Keller-Sutter.

The chancellor said financial advisors will also benefit, as British financial advisers to high-net-worth individuals will no longer need to be registered by Swiss registration bodies to serve Swiss clients.

Hunt explains:

“This will remove requirements to sit Swiss examinations or provide documentation evidencing suitability, cutting red tape for the UK’s financial advisory industry.”

Between 2016 and 2022, UK trade in financial and insurance services with Switzerland grew by 53% – reaching £3.28 billion in 2022, according to Treasury figures.

Hunt said the Berne Financial Services Agreement is “only possible due to new freedoms granted to the UK following its exit from the European Union”.

Updated

There are some replacement buses running to help passengers, including from Northampton to Milton Keynes, and Milton Keynes to Watford Junction:

The strong wind that brought down trees onto UK rail lines today, and blew that bag into the overhead power lines on the West Coast line, has also helped the UK’s wind turbines generated a record amount of electricity.

Between 8am and 8.30am wind farms across Great Britain generated 21.8 gigawatts of electricity and supplied 56% of all the power that was being used from the grid.

Winds of over 80mph have been battering the UK with weather warnings in place for large parts of the country.

It beats the previous 21.6 GW record which was set in January this year.

Hundreds of passengers were left stranded outside Euston station after the gates were drawn shut to stop them from entering, after the overhead powerline problems caused trains to be delayed or cancelled.

All trains from London Euston station cancelled due to fault on the line. Trains from Euston cancelled, London, UK. - 21 Dec 2023.

Updated

Avanti are warning that services from Euston could be hit by delays for the rest of the day.

That adds to the misery for passengers looking to travel on the West Coast mainline today, after the damage to overhead power lines.

Updated

Fitch Downgrades Kemble to 'CCC'

Away from the chaos on the railways, credit rating agency Fitch has downgraded one of Thames Water’s holding companies.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded company Kemble Water Finance Limited’s debt rating to ‘CCC’ from ‘B’.

CCC is a low credit rating, applied to debt which is seen as highly speculative and at a high risk of default.

Fitch says the downgrade reflects the risk that Kemble will need to renegotiate the terms of a £190m loan which must be refinanced in April 2024, at terms that “could be viewed as a distressed debt exchange”.

Fitch also points to “rising liquidity pressure” due to increased regulatory and political scrutiny of the dividend distribution from Thames Water Utilities Limited up to Kemble.

Watchdog Ofwat is already considering whether to investigate Thames for a potential breach of its licence when it paid a £37.5m dividend in October.

Under Thames’ convoluted corporate structure (see details here), Kemble Water Finance Limited is the UK incorporated company set up to raise debt to buy Thames Water in 2006. It can receive dividends from Thames Water, to service those debts.

Fitch also warns that Kemble faces “material challenges beyond the next few months”, and that a strong operational turnaround at Thames Water would be needed “to improve profitability and the prospects for future dividend distribution to Kemble”.

Many passengers are now waiting at the Eurostar entrance in St Pancras International station, after cross-Channel rail services were disrupted due to an unexpected strike.

Passengers wait at the Eurostar entrance in St Pancras International station, London. Christmas getaway journeys were ruined for tens of thousands of people on Thursday after cross-Channel rail services were suspended due to an unexpected strike in France
Christmas travel 2023British Transport Police officers watch as passengers wait at the Eurostar entrance in St Pancras International station, London. Christmas getaway journeys were ruined for tens of thousands of people on Thursday after cross-Channel rail services were suspended due to an unexpected strike in France.Picture date: Thursday December 21, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story TRANSPORT Getaway. Photo credit should read: James Manning/PA Wire

High winds are also causing disruption to rail services today, bringing down trees onto railway lines.

West Midlands Railways has reported that several services are suspended:

But happily, they’ve just posted that services between Hednesford and Rugely TV have resumed:

Avanti, who run services on the West Coast main line out of Euston, have reported that the damage to the overhead electric wires between Milton Keynes Central and Watford Junction means that all lines are blocked.

Passengers can use their tickets to travel on other routes from London to Birmingham:

Baroness Claire Fox reports that she is on a train from Euston that is now making its way back to London, due to the damage to overhead power lines.

X (Twitter) user Neil Hassall is posting from Euston:

A sign board shows cancelled trains to London at the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord train station in Paris
A sign board shows cancelled trains to London at the Eurostar terminal at Gare du Nord train station in Paris Photograph: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

More rail chaos as most Euston trains cancelled

More rail disruption has struck passengers in the UK, with trains out of London Euston are being cancelled and delayed due to a fault on the line.

Engineers have been assessing the damage after a serious fault was detected on the overhead wires at Watford Junction, seemingly caused by a bag caught in the overhead power line between Stoke and Crewe.

Network Rail have tweeted a photo of the bag, and say they are using drones to assess the damage.

This is leading to trains from London to Chester, Birmingham, Crewe, Edinburgh, Manchester and Liverpool to be cancelled or delayed (see more details here).

Only services to Watford Junction (which is south of the disruption) are running, it seems.

Reuters economics reporter (and friend of the liveblog) Andy Bruce reports that he may be on the train that caused the damage:

Updated

More London to Paris trains have been cancelled, on top of the four we flagged earlier.

The 16.31, 17.31 and 18.01 departures from St Pancras are now marked as cancelled, as well as the 10.31am, 12.31pm, 14.31 and 15.31 which have already been scrapped.

As things stand, the 19.01 and 20.01 departures are still marked as running ‘on time’ , but unless the strike affecting the Channel Tunnel ends this afternoon, it’s hard to see how they can.

Bloomberg are reporting that Getlink SE, which operates the Channel Tunnel, said in a statement that today’s strike prompted the “complete” interruption of services as well as the closing of its terminals in France and the UK.

Getlink says:

“Trade unions rejected the exceptional bonus of €1,000 announced by management at the end of the year.”

Unions called a strike to demand that the bonus be tripled. Getlink said it’s working with the unions to find a solution, Bloomberg adds.

More Eurostar passengers are reporting the disruption, and criticising the company for a lack of information about what’s happening.

Just in: the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefit remains low.

There were 205,000 initial claims filed last week, new data shows, which is a 2,000 increase from the previous week’s revised level.

But, it’s lower than the 215,000 initial claims which economists expected.

Eurostar are also advising customers with bookings for later today to postpone their trip, following the unexpected strike that is stopping trains run through the Channel Tunnel.

Back in the UK economy, alose to 4,500 retailers are in a critical situation as the run-up to Christmas has not provided the boost that they might have hoped, a new report has suggested.

Begbies Traynor said that the companies were facing tough trading which has pushed an extra 500-odd retailers into “critical financial distress” since the third quarter of the year.

Manchester-headquartered Begbies, which provides insolvency services for bust companies, said that the rise had been particularly pronounced among food and drug retailers and general retailers, with the number of those in a critical situation up around 10% and 14% respectively.

It said that nearly 46,000 retailers were in the less severe “significant financial distress” category in the fourth quarter, a little under 8% up from the previous three-month period.

Eurostar: Unexpected staff strike disrupts train traffic

Eurostar has confirmed that an unexpected strike by staff has led to cross-Channel rail traffic being disrupted (as flagged a few minutes ago).

Several services will “return to their starting point” as they have been cancelled, it has posted.

Eurostar adds that trains cannot proceed through the Channel Tunnel until mid-afternoon at the earliest, which will mean travel disruption for many passengers as they try to get home for Christmas.

Updated

Eurostar’s live departure page shows that four trains from St Pancras, from 10.31am to 15.31pm, have been cancelled, confirming the disruption flagged in the previous post.

The 16.31 train from London is still set to leave (at pixel time).

Eurostar's live departure page

Three coming the other way, from Gare du Nord, have also been cancelled.

Eurostar passengers report delays and disruption

Some passengers on the Eurostar are reporting disruption today, putting Christmas plans in some peril.

Several are reporting on Twitter (now called X) that trains have been delayed, or cancelled, which is being blamed on last-minute strike action.

Eurostar has told passengers that:

We’re very sorry for the delay to your journey today.

We’re awaiting an update about the current situation at the moment and will let everyone know once we have more information.

Here are some of the reports:

Updated

The CBI’s retail healthcheck chimes with a report this morning that sales of toys and games have dropped this year.

Toy retailers are having a nightmare before Christmas with more than 5m fewer games and dolls sold than at the same point a year ago as struggling households cut the number of presents under the tree, my colleague Zoe Wood wrote.

The final three months of the year make up the “golden quarter” when retailers bank the bulk of annual profits. But after a difficult year a hoped-for pickup has not materialised, for toy retailers anyway, with sales down by 8% in value terms on 2022 in the 10 weeks to 10 December.

Over the same period, the quantity of items sold has slumped by 10%, according to the data company Circana, which equates to about 5.2m toys.

More here.

The CBI’s latest distributive trades survey also shows that retailers have been cutting back on ordering goods, as unsold goods pile up in their warehouses.

The report shows:

  • Retailers cut back on orders placed upon suppliers in the year to December at the fastest pace since May 2020 (with a net balance of -54%, from -22% in November). The reduction in orders is expected to soften next month (-29%).

  • Retailers judged stock volumes to be “too high” relative to expected sales in December (+10% from +13% in November). Stock positions are expected to remain broadly unchanged next month (+11%).

UK retailers report weak December sales as cost of living squeeze bites

Newsflash: British retailers have reported a downturn in sales this month as consumers feel the squeeze from high borrowing costs and inflation.

UK retailers are also gloomier about the start of 2024, according to the CBI’s latest distributive trades survey.

The CBI’s monthly retail sales balance has dropped to -32 from -11 in November, showing that sales volumes fell at a fast pace in the year to December.

This will heighten concerns that retailers face a tough Christmas, as struggling households cut back on their festive spending.

More companies reported that their sales were below average for the time of year in December, than above normal.

Expected sales for the next month also fell sharply to -41 - the weakest since a record low of -62 in March 2021 - down from -6 a month ago.

Martin Sartorius, CBI Principal Economist, says:

“The retail sector ended 2023 on a glum note, with the ongoing downturn in sales volumes deepening during the crucial holiday trading period.

Looking ahead, retailers are bracing themselves for a New Year’s chill, as sales are set to fall at an even quicker pace next month.

“Strained household finances and higher interest rates continue to take a toll on consumer spending, suggesting that retailers will have to navigate a tough demand environment in the months to come. In this context, a hike in business rates for many retailers, alongside a rise in the National Living Wage, will heap more pressure on the sector in the new year.”

Here are more charts showing the data in further detail:

Turkey plumps for Christmas interest rate rise

Over in Istanbul, Turkey’s central bank has lifted its key interest rate by 250 basis points to 42.5%.

This is the seventh increase in a row, and comes as the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye battles inflation, which soared following interest rate cuts in recent years.

The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee explains that headline inflation edged up in November, while domestic demand, stickiness in services inflation, and geopolitical risks are keeping inflation pressures alive.

Policymakers add that they expect to complete the tightening cycle as soon as possible, suggesting rates may rise higher (but not, perhaps, much higher).

Updated

The average cost of a five-year fixed term mortgage has ticked lower today, as lenders anticipate falls in UK interest rates.

Data provider Moneyfacts reports:

  • The average 2-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.95%. This is unchanged from the previous working day.

  • The average 5-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.55%. This is down from an average rate of 5.57% on the previous working day.

This may lift hopes that homeowers will face a smaller-than-feared increase in borrowing costs if they remortgage in 2024.

Yesterday, mortgage lender Generation Home released a 3.94% five-year fixed deal, The Times reports, the first time that such rates had been on offer since May.

Alongside November’s higher-than-expected borrowing, the Office for National Statistics has revised up its borrowing estimates for each of the previous seven months by £3.7bn in total, Reuters points out.

That also narrows the wiggle-room for Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, if they want to cut taxes next year without breaking their fiscal rules.

Updated

Bloomberg are reporting that Europe’s biggest asset manager is shorting the pound on the conviction that the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates in the first half of 2024.

Amundi SA anticipates that the UK currency will tumble more than 4% against the dollar as inflation slows and the economy shows the pain of policy tightening, according to Federico Cesarini, head of developed FX at Amundi Investment Institute, the asset management company’s research arm.

Cesarini said:

“We expect the pound to fall apart.”

More here:

New figures from HMRC this morning confirm that the government has pulled in more tax this financial year (although not enough to prevent the national debt rising).

UK tax receipts from income tax, capital gains tax and national insurance contributions have risen by £12.1bn year-on-year since April, to £280.3bn.

VAT receipts for April 2023 to November 2023 are now £116bn, which is £8.2bn higher than the same period last year.

And there’s also an increase in tax raked in through inheritance tax – it’s up £400m year-on-year for April-November, to £5.2bn.

The freeze on inheritance tax thresholds means more estates are qualifying, following decades of house price increases and high inflation.

Nicholas Hyett, Investment Manager at Wealth Club says:

While just 4% of estates pay inheritance tax at the moment, freezing the nil-rate and residence nil-rate bands for years means people who would not have been considered wealthy in the past will end up getting caught out by this most hated of taxes.

For those that are picking up the ‘death tax-tab’, Wealth Club calculations suggest the average bill could increase to £233,000 this 2023/24 tax year, with over 30,000 families having to hand over part of their inheritance to the taxman.

This is a steep 9% increase from the £214,000 average paid just three years ago and a 12% rise in the number of estates paying the tax.

UK job vacancies fall

The strength of the UK’s labour market will be a key factor determining when the Bank of England feels confident enough to start cutting interest rates.

And new data just released shows a fall in job openings last week.

The total number of online job adverts fell by 5% on 15 December 2023, compared to a week before, the Office for National Statistics reports.

Vacancies were 15% lower than in the equivalent period in 2022; the largest year-on-year decreases were seen in “domestic help” and “HR and recruitment”, both falling by 42%.

The ONS also reports that credit and debit card spending decreased by 1% in the latest week, coinciding with a 5% decrease in “work-related” spending (as some lucky workers clocked off for a Christmas break).

UK government bonds are rallying again today, as investors bet that falling inflation will led to cuts in interest rates by the Bank of England next year.

The yield (or interest rate) on UK 10-year bonds is on track to end the day at the lowest level sice April. It’s down four basis points at 3.496%. Yields fall when prices rise.

Co-operative Bank in exclusive talks with Coventry Building Society over possible merger

Just in: Coventry Building Society has entered an exclusivity agreement with the Co-operative Bank over a possible takeover offer.

Coventry says the agreement will allow it to carry out due diligence ahead of a possible offer, and to continue engagement with Co-op Bank.

Back in November, Co-op Bank said it was exploring “strategic opportunities“, amid reports that several suiters were considering bids.

Today, Co-op Bank says:

The Bank confirms that, following receipt of non-binding proposals from potential acquirers, it has entered a period of exclusive discussions with Coventry Building Society (the “Society”).

This period of exclusivity will enable the Society and the Bank to better evaluate the merits of a combination. There is no certainty that these exclusive discussions will result in a transaction.

A further update will be provided in due course.

Updated

November’s higher-than-expected UK borrowing figures may show that the government has less room for pre-election giveaways next year than it hoped.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, say:

“UK markets are unlikely to take any comfort from the news that November’s UK budget deficit of £14.3bn was £1.4bn ahead of consensus.

This may also limit messrs Sunak and Hunt’s wiggle room to hand out further sweetners ahead of elections expected next year.

So far this financial year (since April), the UK central government has received £618.1bn in taxes and other payments, an increase of £26.3bn compared with the same period a year ago.

But, that is exceeded by a £70.8bn increase in total expenditure, which rose to £754.9bn over the same period (requiring more borrowing to cover the gap).

This additional spending included increases in:

  • net investment of £40.1bn, of which £32.4bn was an increase in payments to the Bank of England’s Asset Purchase Facility (which has been selling bonds bought through its QE programme, at a loss).

  • inflation-linked uprated benefits and cost-of-living payments of £21.6bn

  • spending on goods and services (largely pay and procurement) of £22.4bn

  • grants to local government of £5.1bn (these reduce local government borrowing)

Updated

Interest payable on central government debt hits £7.7bn, a November record

The cost of servicing the UK’s national debt hit a record high for a November last month, helping to push up monthly borrowing to over £14bn.

Debt interest payments last month rose to £7.7bn, the ONS reports in this morning’s public finances (see earlier post).

That surpasses all monthly November figures on record since 1997, but is slightly lower than October’s £8.1bn interest bill.

The cost was driven up by inflation, as the interest rate on some UK debt is linked to inflation – specifically the Retail Prices Index.

A chart showing UK government interest payments on the national debt

Divya Sridhar, economist at PwC UK, explains:

“High debt interest payments reflect the fiscal implications of swings in the Retail Prices Index (RPI). The latest inflation data released yesterday brings a welcome surprise as headline annual inflation fell faster than expected to 3.9% last month.

Due to lagged index-linked gilts, the fiscal benefits of this fall in inflation rates will be reflected in borrowing figures early next year.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Laura Trott, has responded to November’s UK borrowing figures, saying:

“It was right to spend billions protecting people during the pandemic and the energy shock triggered by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but we cannot leave our children and grandchildren to pick up the tab.

“That’s why the Prime Minister has made reducing debt a top priority. We are taking difficult decisions in the national interest to control our borrowing needs and improve productivity, so that we deliver the public services people need while keeping inflation down.”

Earlier this week, Rishi Sunak was criticised by the UK’s statistics watchdog over his claims to have reduced public debt.

Under the latest forecasts from the independent Office of Budget Responsibility, UK borrowing is forecast to fall from 5.0% of GDP this year to 1.1% of GDP by 2028-29.

UK borrowing forecasts

That would mean debt would fall, as a share of GDP, in 2027-28 and 2028-29.

Updated

UK borrowed £14.3bn in November, more than expected

The UK government borrowed more than expected last month, which may dampen the mood in the Treasury after Wednesday’s drop in inflation.

Public sector net borrowing (excluding the impact of public sector banks) has just come in at £14.3bn.

That’s the fourth highest November borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, and higher than the £12.9bn which economists forecast.

But it is a little lower (-£900m) than in November 2022, when the government was funding support programmes to lower energy bills.

Subsidies paid by central government were £2.2bn in November 2023, £3.1bn less than a year ago, the Office for National Statistics says.

So far this financial year (since April), the UK has borrowed £116.4bn. That’s £24.4bn more than in the same eight-month period last year and the second highest financial year-to-November borrowing on record.

November’s borrowing means the UK national debt is now estimated at around 97.5% of UK GDP, at £2,671.4bn.

That’s 1.8 percentage points higher than in November 2022, the highest since the early 1960s.

Updated

Investors bet on Bank of England interest rate cuts early next year

UK interest rates could start to be cut as early as March, some City investors believe, after Wednesday’s welcome drop in inflation.

The money markets are pricing in a sharp fall in UK borrowing costs, after the UK inflation rate dropped to 3.9% in November, a bigger fall than expected.

Bank rate is currently 5.25%, a 15-year high. Investors now see a 40% chance that rates will be cut in March 2024, to 5%, with a cut by May 2024 now priced in.

UK interest rates are seen falling below 4% by the end of 2024, with the money markets now pricing in almost 1.4 percentage points over the course of next year.

The drop in inflation is putting pressure on the Bank of England to rethink its position that it’s too early to consider cutting interest rates.

Having been criticised for not reacting quicker to the inflationary upsurge in 2021, critics now warn the BoE could be too tardy in responding to the drop in inflation in recent months.

Sanjay Raja, Deutsche Bank’s chief UK economist, called yesterday’s inflation report a welcome Christmas surprise, adding that it:

….raises further downside risks to the Bank of England’s inflation projections – raising the likelihood of a more dovish pivot in February.

Introduction: Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount CEOs in merger talks

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.

Hollywood loves a romantic Christmas movie. But this year, the spotlight is on a possible coupling between two of the largest US media companies.

Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global are in early talks over a potential merger, according to multiple reports this morning.

News website Axios reported overnight that Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO, David Zaslav, met with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish on Tuesday in New York City to discuss a possible deal that would bring together two of Hollywood’s “Big Five” studios.

The talks come as media groups struggle to improve their profitability as they battle Netflix in the “streaming war” to win eyeballs.

A merger could bring Warner’s Max streaming service together with current rival Paramount+, to better rival Netflix and Disney+.

Axios reports:

Zaslav also has spoken to Shari Redstone, who owns Paramount’s parent company, about a deal.

WBD’s market value was around $29 billion as of Wednesday, while Paramount’s was just over $10 billion, so any merger would not be of equals.

Axios says the pair discussed ways their companies could complement one another.

As well as a streaming tie-up, CBS News could be combined with CNN to create “a global news powerhouse” while CBS Sports’ footprint could be combined with WBD’s.

But….the talks between Zaslav and Bakish were “at an early stage”, the Financial Times says, meaning a deal might not materialise.

The FT adds:

The conversation was more of an expression of interest by Zaslav than an offer, according to one of the people familiar with the meeting between the two executives.

Also coming up today

There’s still time for a few important data releases before the markets shut down for Christmas, with the latest UK borrowing figures being released this morning.

We also find out how many Americans filed new unemployment claims this afternoon – a gauge of the health of the US labor market.

The agenda

  • 7am GMT: UK public finances for November

  • 11am GMT: CBI distributive trades report on UK retail sector

  • 1.30pm GMT: US weekly jobless claims figures

Updated

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