British Pound Jumps as Brexit Deal Hopes Rise – Live Updates

Ggood morning. It’s economic news day for the UK, with the latest figures on public sector net borrowing and inflation for September due at 7am.

Borrowing is expected to continue to rise, while consumer prices are believed to have risen again after the ‘Eat Out’ slump in August to help the offshoring push back.

Elsewhere, there are a few FTSE 350 companies that report.

5 things to start your day

1) Goldman decided to pay $ 2 billion after achieving 1MDB: Understandably, Goldman Sachs is days away from announcing a deal with the US Department of Justice to pay more than $ 2 billion (£ 1.5 billion) after a widespread fraud in Malaysia.

2) Sunak warned of the tax raid on the self-employed: Rishi Sunak has been warned that the tax raid on the self-employed will be “hard to bear” as he draws up plans to close a black hole in public finances.

3) Godzilla from Big Oil is keeping the pipe dream alive: As Western oil giants like BP and Shell agonize over how to reinvent themselves in the face of a warm climate, some of the other major producers in the world are taking a very different approach.

4) The supermarket price war wipes out closing gains: Grocery bills have plummeted after an initial spike at the height of the Covid-19 crisis with the outbreak of the supermarket price war.

5) The next accused of destroying equal pay documents: Next has been accused of destroying important records as it scrambles to resist a legal case over pay equity.

What happened overnight

Asian stocks and US equity futures rose on Wednesday as hopes renewed for a new round of US stimulus attracting money into equities from government debt.

European stocks seemed to follow. Euro Stoxx 50 futures are up 0.25%, German DAX futures are up 0.28%, and FTSE futures are up 0.18%. US equity futures rose 0.71 pieces.

The White House and Democrats in the US Congress came close to agreeing on a new coronavirus relief package on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump said he was ready to accept a large aid bill despite his Republican party’s opposition.

US Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi said negotiations would continue on Wednesday.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index outside of Japan rose 0.51%, while Tokyo stocks rose 0.42%.

Australian shares rose 0.09%, but shares in China were down 0.33%.

The yuan rose to its strongest level against the dollar in more than two years, with growing optimism about the Chinese economy and speculation that the victory of US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden next month will lead to improved Sino-US relations.

Is coming today

Interim results:

Antofagasta, Centamin, Fresnelo, Manchester United, Metro Bank, Quilter

Trading data:

Avast, Sigrow, and William Hill

Economics:

Inflation, public sector net borrowing (UK)