Closing post
Time to wrap up
UK borrowing costs have fallen, helped by hints that taxes will rise in the budget to keep the government within its fiscal rules.
Both 10 and 30-year bond yields fell today, after Rachel Reeves told Sky News that “Of course, we’re looking at tax and spending as well,” when asked about plans for her budget on 26 November.
Cautious comments from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey about the weakness in the UK jobs market also boosted UK debt, lifting expectations of further interest rate cuts.
Reeves also announced new sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, during her visit to the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting.
The IMF warned that government debt across the world is on course to hit 100% of global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2029, the highest level since the aftermath of the second world war.
In its Fiscal Monitor report, the IMF said aggregate government debt had risen more rapidly than expected before the Covid pandemic, when policymakers stepped into protect citizens and bail out hard-hit businesses.
It urged governments to switch spending to growth-friendly areas such as infrastructure and education to help bolster the world economy and make debts more sustainable.
President Donald Trump has suggested his administration is considering terminating cooking oil purchases from China, in retaliation for Beijing refusing to buy U.S. soybeans.
UK regulators will speed up bonus payouts for high-earning bankers, watering down another important change introduced after the 2008 financial crisis.
Vets in the UK could be forced to cap prescription prices after an investigation by the markets watchdog found pet owners may be paying twice as much for some common medicines from practices than online.
A farely subdued day’s trading in London ended with the FTSE 100 share index down 28 points, or 0.3%, at 9424 points.
EasyJet (which had been lifted by some flaky takeover speculation earlier this week) was the top faller, down 4%, followed by defence companies Babcock (-3.2%) and BAE Systems (-2.7%).
Advertising firm WPP led the risers (+3.6%) followed by Burberry (+3.4%), which benefitted from strong results from fellow luxury firm LVMH.
