Closing post
Time to wrap up…. and get ready for Christmas! Here’s a quick recap.
American Airlines has lifted an hour-long ground stop of all its flights in the US due to an unspecified technical issue, a notice on the US aviation regulator’s website showed.
The ground stop, ahead of the busy Christmas travel, had threatened the holiday plans of thousands.
AA had told customers:
“A technical issue is affecting American flights this morning. Our teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
Shares have risen in London, on the final trading day before Christmas. Stocks are also rallying on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 is now up 0.6%.
But footfall at UK shopping outlets yesterday was lower than a year earlier, in a worrying sign for the retail sector.
The British car industry has welcomed government proposals that could allow Toyota Prius-style hybrids to continue to be sold in the UK after 2030, as part of a package of measures to ease regulations on carmakers.
UK housebuilder Vistry has issued its third profit warning in three months, in a year-end blow to the construction company that sent its shares to a two-year low.
Very best wishes for Christmas and the festive season!
Bitcoin is enjoying a pre-Christmas rally, towards the record highs seen earlier this month.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency is up 3.75% today at 97,341.
This follows reports that the cryptocurrency industry is pushing President-elect Donald Trump’s team to kick start an overhaul of US crypto policy once he has been sworn in next month.
Industry officials hope this could mean executive orders creating a bitcoin stockpile, ensuring the industry can access banking services, and creating a crypto council, in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term….
