The FTSE 100 is on track for its best month since July as so-called Trump trades fuelled a surge in the index.
Britain’s blue-chip stock market edged lower today but remained on course for a near 2pc gain in November.
It comes after a surge in the value of the dollar after the election of Donald Trump, whose tariff policies are expected to stoke inflation and force the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher.
A strong dollar benefits companies on the FTSE 100, many of which measure their profits in the US currency.
Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the FTSE’s rise was “mostly” due to a stronger dollar.
Jefferies chief Europe financial economist Mohit Kumar added: “US elections have been bullish for equities in general. And for the FTSE, over 40pc of earning are from outside the UK.”
Deutsche Bank’s chief UK economist Sanjay Raja added that the UK “is more shielded from any escalation in trade war – given that we do not run a trade surplus with the US (from a goods perspective)”.
US president-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose 25pc tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods entering the US on his first day in office, with 10pc additional tariffs placed on Chinese products.
Mr Raja added: “Second, UK growth prospects look relatively healthy compared to some of our peers.
“With US exceptionalism in full swing, the UK economy is also expected to see some pick up in growth momentum over the next year.”
Read the latest updates below.
Thanks for joining us on the Markets blog.
We’ll be back on Monday morning before the London Stock Exchange opens, but I’ll leave you with some of our latest business and economics stories:
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed for a second term in charge of the World Trade Organisation, shortly before Donald Trump takes up office again with a protectionist agenda.
Analysts expect the road ahead for the three-decade-old WTO will be challenging, likely characterised by trade wars involving a fresh wave of US tariffs on goods from Mexico and China.
Ms Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian finance minister, announced in September that she would stand again, aiming to complete “unfinished business”.
“We have a full agenda to deliver … and we fully intend to get to work immediately, no stopping, to try and deliver on these results,” Ms Okonjo-Iweala told journalists, citing WTO reforms and fishing negotiations as among her priorities.
Trade sources said the meeting created a means of fast-tracking her appointment process to avoid any risk of it being blocked by Trump, whose teams and allies have criticised both Okonjo-Iweala and the WTO in the past.
The S&P 500 index hit a record high as Wall Street’s main indexes rose in a shortened Black Friday session.
Information technology stocks including Nvidia helped boost the benchmark S&P 500, while the industrial and financial sectors lifted the blue-chip Dow. Nvidia gained about 2.4pc.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7pc hitting 6,040.00. This breached its last record high of 6,025.42 set during trading on Nov 26.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq gained 0.8pc.
The three main indexes were on track for monthly gains, with the S&P 500 set for its biggest one-month rise since November 2023.
Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election earlier this month, along with his Republican Party winning the majority in both houses of Congress, provided the latest boost to stock prices.
Investors were pricing in expectations that Trump’s pro-business policies could spur economic growth and corporate profits. However, concerns prevailed that they could also stoke inflation, slow the pace of the Fed’s rate cuts and weigh on global growth.
One of Labour’s biggest donors has confirmed an interest in buying The Observer if talks with the loss-making start-up Tortoise Media collapse.
The renewable energy tycoon Dale Vince said he had discussed a bid for the Sunday newspaper with its current owner, Guardian Media Group (GMG), saying there needed to be “greater media plurality in Britain”.
The Telegraph revealed earlier this month that Mr Vince, the founder of Ecotricity, was interested in buying the paper.
Tortoise, run by the former BBC News director James Harding, is currently in exclusive discussions to acquire The Observer, but the deal has proved controversial amongst the title’s staff and former editors who have raised concerns that it will not safeguard their future.
Mr Vince said he was prepared to put The Observer in a trust, as GMG currently does.
“I’m a reader and a fan of The Observer and a believer in the need for greater media plurality in Britain,” said Mr Vince, who is believed to be worth around £100m.”
Read the full story…
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.07pc this afternoon.
The largest riser was Anglo America, up 5.4pc, followed by IMI (formerly Imperial Metal Industries), up 3.3pc.
At the other end of the index, BAE Systems fell 4.9pc, while JD Sports droped 1.6pc.
Meanwhile, the mid-cap FTSE 250 rose 0.04pc, with Dr Martens and Direct Line the biggest risers, up 5.1pc and 4.6pc respectively.
Volkswagen has rejected union proposals for cost savings on Friday, just days ahead of planned walkouts meant to avoid unprecedented plant closures.
The carmaker, which is under pressure from high costs and Chinese competition, said the union’s plans “will not lead to any sustainable financial relief for the company in the coming years,” despite some short term benefits.
Germany’s powerful IG Metall union this month proposed €1.5bn (£1.25bn) in cost savings, including forgoing bonuses for 2025 and 2026.
A Volkswagen source dismissed the union’s proposals, saying they were intended to buy time the company does not have.
“New discussions in an even more difficult environment would be necessary by 2026 at the latest,” the source said, adding that some of the proposals were not legally feasible.
Volkswagen has demanded a 10pc wage cut, arguing it needs to slash costs and boost profit to defend market share in the face of cheap competition from China and a drop in European car demand. It is also threatening to close plants in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history.
The union reiterated its cost-cutting proposals in response to the Volkswagen statement.
“IG Metall has taken a huge step towards Volkswagen’s management in the negotiations”, it said, adding the company had failed to provide an answer as to what steps it is prepared to take towards its employees.
The Telegraph has approached Volkswagen and IG Metall for further comment.
European stock are up this afternoon, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 up 0.1pc. However, the FTSE 100 has fallen 0.1pc,
Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at online trading platform IG, said:.
European stock indices had a mixed session on the last day of the month, awaiting Monday’s outcome of France’s political debacle, amid quiet Thanksgiving trading.
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group will be hoping to reveal resilient demand from shoppers next week, as it faces the potential prospect of being demoted from the FTSE 100.
Frasers Group, which owns the Sports Direct, Flannels and Frasers brands, will update investors on its performance over the past six months next Thursday.
Frasers is currently embroiled in a war of words with Boohoo – the online retail giant it owns a 27pc stake in – over its leadership.
Mr Ashley has sought to be appointed as Boohoo’s chief executive, suggesting he can turn around the group’s fortunes after a period of slumping sales in the face of weak demand and fierce competition from Asian rivals Shein and Temu.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “There should also be early insight into how trading’s fared in the run-up to the important Christmas period.
“Frasers, with its high brick-and-mortar exposure, relies heavily on shoppers heading to the high street, so it’s more vulnerable than most if there’s any pullback in footfall.”
Shares in Frasers have dropped back slightly in recent months over wider concerns about the retail sector amid reports of weakness in demand through autumn. This has meant that Frasers is at risk of falling out of the FTSE 100 index of the UK’s biggest publicly-listed firms.
Stocks rose in early trading on Wall Street puts the finishing touches on one of its best months of the year.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5pc while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4pc. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.7pc.
Investors are waiting to see how willing shoppers are to spend on gifts on Black Friday, with Macy’s up 0.5pc, Target up 1.6pc and Abercrombie & Fitch down 1pc.
The Dow is up more than 7pc so far this month, putting it easily on pace for its best month of 2024.
Disney has the biggest percentage gain for November at 22pc, but the price-weighted index also got a boost from Goldman Sachs, up more than 18pc and Salesforce, up more than 13pc for the month.
The S&P 500 has risen more than 5oc this month, boosted by Tesla and other stocks that received a boost from Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election.
In London, the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 were both down about 0.1pc.
With that, I will hand you over to Alex Singleton, who will guide you through to the weekend.
Oil prices inched higher on a day of thin trading.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 0.1pc to stay at more than $73 a barrel, while US-produced West Texas Intermediate rose at a faster 1.1pc to more than $69.
Traders will wait to see if there are any rumours about how a delayed Opec+ meeting will go on December 5, when the group of oil producing nations is scheduled to announce an increase in production.
James Reilly, senior markets economist at Capital Economics, said the weakness in sterling “may be a factor” in the surge in the FTSE 100 over the last month.
However, he said “there is probably more to it than that”.
He said: “The UK stock market has fared better than most this month in both local-currency and US-dollar terms.
“We suspect this is mainly because the UK is less exposed to potential Trump tariffs than many other economies, including the eurozone.
“After all, the UK economy and the stock market have a greater focus on the services/financial sector.
“Indeed, the financial sector has been the biggest contributor to the rally in the FTSE 100 this month.”
Global shares are heading for their biggest monthly gains since May amid hopes for strong US growth.
MSCI’s broad gauge of world stocks traded steady to hold its 3.2pc monthly gain, led by Wall Street’s S&P 500 and US tech shares benefiting from the excitement around artificial intelligence.
Donald Trump’s election victory and pledges of tax cuts, deregulation and import tariffs have also ramped up expectations that Wall Street stocks will keep outperforming other markets.
Wall Street began the day higher after the Thanksgiving holiday as shoppers raced to spend with retailers on Black Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3pc to 44,850.95 at the start of what will be a shortened trading day.
The S&P 500 was up 0.1pc to 6,007.23 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1pc to 19,069.45.
The pound held steady and was on track for its biggest weekly rise since mid-September after the dollar gave up some of its post-election gains following Donald Trump’s choice of treasury secretary.
Sterling was last just under $1.27 after rising to a two-week high of $1.275 in early trading, and was set for a weekly gain of 1.2pc.
However, it is on track to end the month down 1.3pc against the US currency after its surge in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory.
The euro was up 0.1pc against the pound for the week at 83.2p, within the range the currency pair has traded in since mid-September.
The dollar has dropped since bond yields began to fall on Monday after president-elect Donald Trump picked hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as treasury secretary, which reassured some investors that his more radical and inflationary policies may be tempered.
Sterling has held up better than almost all other developed economy currencies this year bar the dollar, as economic growth has ticked along and wage and services inflation has remained strong, limiting the scope for the Bank of England to cut interest rates.
Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the FTSE 100’s rise this month was “mostly” due to a stronger dollar.
Jefferies chief Europe financial economist Mohit Kumar added: “US elections have been bullish for equities in general. And for the FTSE, over 40pc of earning are from outside the UK.”
Deutsche Bank’s chief UK economist Sanjay Raja added that the UK “is more shielded from any escalation in trade war – given that we do not run a trade surplus with the US (from a goods perspective)”.
US president-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose 25pc tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods entering the US on his first day in office, with 10pc additional tariffs placed on Chinese products.
Mr Raja added: “Second, UK growth prospects look relatively healthy compared to some of our peers.
“With US exceptionalism in full swing, the UK economy is also expected to see some pick up in growth momentum over the next year.
“Third, given the Mansion House speech and pension reforms playing in the background, there’s belief that investors will be piling into the UK more so than before.
“Our equity strategists have also been bullish on the FTSE. From a valuation perspective, the FTSE 100 is not only cheap relative to the rest of Europe but also relative to its own history.”
Surging government debts threaten to hammer the British economy and drive up borrowing costs for households, businesses and the Treasury, the Bank of England has warned.
Heavy government borrowing across the world, led by China and the US, threatens to push up interest rates globally, the Bank said in its Financial Stability Report (FSR) published on Friday.
Countries including Britain are increasingly indebted, officials pointed out, leaving the UK highly vulnerable to changes in interest rates.
Read what the Bank said in its FSR and as government debts are expected to surge.
The FTSE 100 is on track for its best month since July as so-called Trump trades fuelled a surge in the index.
Britain’s blue-chip stock market edged lower today but remained on course for a near 2pc gain in November.
It comes after a surge in the value of the dollar after the election of Donald Trump, whose tariff policies are expected to stoke inflation and force the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher.
A strong dollar benefits companies on the FTSE 100, many of which measure their profits in the US currency.
Today, the biggest gainer was Anglo American, which rose 3pc after Jefferies upgraded its rating from “hold” to “buy”.
Meanwhile, the aerospace and defence sector dropped as much as 1.6pc mainly due to 4pc declines in both BAE Systems and Qinetiq shares after BofA Global Research downgraded the defence stocks.
The FTSE 250 was little changed on the day but was also on track for its best performance since July.
On the midcap index, Georgian banks TBC Bank and Bank of Georgia dropped as much as 7.9pc and 6.8pc, respectively, as the Georgian government was poised to suspend talks on European Union accession and refuse budgetary grants until 2028.
Black Friday sales are running higher than the same time during last year’s event, according to Nationwide.
The lender said customers had made 3.59m transactions so far, which is 20pc higher than a typical Friday and 11pc ahead of the same time on the sales day last year. It is up 17pc on Black Friday in 2022.
Mark Nalder, director of payment strategy at Nationwide, said: “We’ve seen a strong morning of sales so far this Black Friday with around 3.59 million transactions, but now we about to enter the lunchtime period we expect things to really ramp up.
“Over the last few years, the lunchtime period has been the busiest point in the day as customers hit the stores or head online to bag a bargain.”
US stock indexes rose ahead of a shortened trading session on Black Friday, with Wall Street set for monthly gains as the holiday shopping season kicked off.
Investors will scrutinise the stocks of retailers expected to attract millions of shoppers with their deep Black Friday discounts.
The National Retail Federation, a US trade group, expects roughly 85.6m shoppers to visit stores this year, up from 76m on Black Friday in 2023.
Shares of Target rose 0.7pc, TJX climbed 0.5pc, Walmart edged up 0.2pc and Nike added 0.5pc in premarket trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 were all up about 0.3pc ahead of the opening bell.
In corporate news, TSB has named former director Marc Armengol as its new chief executive as its owner continues to resist a hostile takeover bid from a Spanish rival.
The bank, which is owned by Spain’s Banco Sabadell, said Mr Armengol would take on the top job from early 2025.
He will replace Robin Bulloch, who announced his retirement after three years in the role and a 45-year career in banking.
Mr Armengol will rejoin TSB having previously been a strategy director for the bank and a member of its board since 2022.
He is currently the chief operating officer for Sabadell, which is the fourth largest bank in Spain.
TSB said it has delivered record financial results under Mr Bulloch’s leadership, who it also credits for transforming customer experience.
The leadership change comes as Sabadell’s board continues to fend off a so-called hostile takeover bid from rival Spanish banking group BBVA.
Sabadell said the bid, which was launched in May, is hostile because BBVA has taken the offer directly to shareholders without the approval of its board of directors.
The offer valued Sabadell at €12.2bn (£10.2bn), but proposals were rejected by its board of directors.
The Bank of England is “more concerned” about cyber threats amid rising geopolitical tensions, a deputy governor has said.
Our deputy economics Tim Wallace asked at the press conference what type of cyber threat was becoming a major concern.
Sam Woods said: “It reasonable for us to even be more concerned about that in a period of rising geopolitical tension.
“The boundary between state and non-state threat actors in this area is not entirely clear.
“We are developing further the penetration testing regime that we have had in place for many years.
“That has to keep evolving to keep pace with changing nature of the threat.”
He said there had been an increase in cyber security in the wake of the CrowdStrike incident, which “illustrates that need for wider operational resilience”.
Govenor Andrew Bailey added: “If you ask me which risk has come fastest up the league table since the global financial crisis in the last 15 years it’s cyber.
“It never goes away. A lot what we doing is mitigating risks… trying to create a situation where over the long run we can be much more comfortable with the risks.
“With cyber, we have to mitigate it… but it is constantly evolving as we speak.”
The press conference has now ended.
Government debt binges are becoming the main worry for the Bank of England as households remain cautious, Andrew Bailey has said.
“We do see if anything a shift in bond markets towards higher levels of borrowing on the sovereign side,” he said in a response to a question about a lurch up in French borrowing costs as the government faces the prospect of collapse.
Speaking about the UK, Mr Bailey added: “If you look at UK households and corporates, they are not showing the same signs in that respect.”
In a thinly-veiled jibe at former prime minister Liz Truss, Bailey added: “We can obviously attest from our own experiences a couple of years ago hat sovereign bond markets can move around very quickly and you do have to be ready to deal with the consequences of that.”
He said it showed why “having the tools to respond is so important”.
He also said that it’s as important that the Bank has the tools to deal with such a fallout as it is to try to impose regulation to try to stop it, adding that this is also part of the Bank’s growth considerations.
Andrew Bailey said the UK faces some “very big headwinds” from “global structural challenges”, which accounts for rising estimates of national debt levels.
He was asked by our deputy economics editor Tim Wallace if we should be worried about the trajectory of UK debt set out by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) alongside the Budget.
The Governor said the indication about rising national debt was as a result of “big structural challenges that are facing big countries”, pointing to ageing populations, the end of the post-Cold War dividend on defence spending and climate change.
He said: “It is right for the OBR to point to these issues over the long term because they really illustrate and bring into relief sharp challenges that we are dealing with.
“It is not about politics in any direct sense. It is about structural challenges that we are facing.”
Andrew Bailey warned the world is more dangerous and fragmented.
The Govenor of the Bank of England said: “We are living in a world that is uncertain on a number of fronts”.
However, he said he was reserving judgement about the impact of a Donald Trump presidency.
He said: “We recognise that it’s the doing that matters”.
Asked about the impact of the Budget and tax raid on corporate Britain, he replied: “We are not at the moment seeing any signs of corporate distress” though he added that he was “watching carefully” how the impact of all the budget measures will “pass through” to markets and the wider economy.
Andrew Bailey said there is no “trade off” between growth and financial stability as he was asked if the Chancellor’s warning that crisis-era regulation has “gone too far” would encourage too much risk-taking.
Rachel Reeves changed the Bank of England’s mandate to make it focus more on growth when policing financial institutions going forward.
Mr Bailey said: “We are obviously very supportive of growth… But it is very important to emphasise that there is no trade off between growth and financial stability.
“Financial stability is the bedrock of having an economy that supports households and businesses in which growth can take place.”
Once that’s in place, he added, there are choices that regulators are able to make in this knowledge, including the Bank’s decision today to switch what used to be an annual “stress test” about their ability to withstand a major financial shock to every two years instead.
“We can only take those decisions in a world of financial stability,” he added.
Andrew Bailey said there had not been signs of increased corporate distress since the Budget.
He told the Financial Stability Report press conference: “We will watch very carefully to see how the effects pass through.”
The Bank of England has estimated that the motor finance misselling scandal could deliver a £25bn blow to lenders.
Deputy Governor Sam Woods said that its estimate was “crude” and “quite conservative”.
He said that there is “plenty of headroom” in Britain’s financial system and that the misselling scandal – which has been described as the next PPI – would not be a threat.
Andrew Bailey said the outlook for UK growth is steady in the Bank of England’s latest Financial Stability Report.
She added that global risk “remain high” and said that the outlook is more uncertain.
Geopolitical risks remain elevated, Andrew Bailey has warned during his press conference for the latest Financial Stability Report.
The Governor of the Bank of England said markets had absorbed shocks so far in an “orderly fashion”.
However, he said that an incoming correction might hamper the supply of credit to households.
Financial markets have been volatile in recent weeks amid rising expectations of higher borrowing in Britain, France and the Trump administration in the US.
Andrew Bailey has begun his press conference on the Bank of England’s November Financial Stability Report.
He said there is “not a trade off between financial stability and growth”.
The value of the pound slipped as the Bank of England warned that the risk of a new trade war led by Donald Trump and rising geopolitical tensions all threaten to drive up borrowing costs.
Sterling was flat having earlier risen as much as 0.5pc against the dollar. It was last worth $1.269.
The Bank of England said in its Financial Stability Report (FSR) that governments across the world, led by China and the US, are borrowing heavily, threatening to push up interest rates globally.
It warned countries including Britain and France are also increasingly indebted.
Advertised mortgage rates fell in October to their lowest level since September 2022 – the eve of Liz Truss’s mini-budget – but have since edged up, as financial markets reacted to heavier borrowing in Rachel Reeves’s Budget last month.
Now the average two-year fix for a mortgage borrower with a 25pc deposit stands at 4.4pc, with a five-year fix typically available for 4.2pc.
Overall households debts as a share of incomes have fallen to 130pc, down from 132pc three months ago and continuing the steady falls since late 2022, as workers’ incomes have risen faster than borrowing.
The share of household incomes which is spent on mortgages is set to rise from 7.2pc in June of this year to 8pc by the end of next year.
That is a smaller rise than previously anticipated and means households will be under less strain from mortgage payments than they were in the financial crisis or the recession of the 1990s, the Bank said.
However, the finances of households without their own home may be worsening.
“Pressures on renters and lower-income households continue,” the Bank said in its Financial Stability Report.
Savings buffers among households with lower incomes have fallen, it said, while surveys indicate “the share of renters who have fallen behind on payments has continued to rise as rents have risen substantially alongside the increase in mortgage borrowing costs.”
“Some renters and lower-income households intend to run down their savings in the next year to deal with the increased cost of living, making these groups less financially resilient,” the Bank said.
Half of all mortgage borrowers are braced to move onto higher interest rates in the next three years, according to the Bank of England.
It means the pain from higher borrowing costs will keep on hitting household finances and the wider economy even as the Monetary Policy Committee cuts the headline base rate.
That is because 4.4m households’ fixed-term loans will expire forcing them to remortgage at a higher cost, according to the Bank’s Financial Stability Report, with an average increase of £146 in their monthly repayments – equivalent to £1,752 a year.
That includes around 1.5m homeowners in the unenviable position of suffering a second rise in rates. These families remortgaged onto a higher rate with a short-term fix since interest rates started going up at the end of 2021 and now face having to move onto a higher rate for a second time.
Some face a far higher hit than the £146 monthly average increase, with 2.7m households, or almost one-third of all mortgage borrowers, set to see their mortgage rate rise above 3pc for the first time.
The most severe hit will go to 420,000 families, or 5pc of all mortgagors, who will suffer an increase in their monthly repayments of more than £500 per month.
However, there are also 2.1m people – almost one-quarter of mortgage borrowers – who can expect to see a fall in their payments, as loans fixed at relatively high rates in recent years expire, allowing them to lock in a lower rate.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is still expected to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point next month after inflation rose as expected.
Money markets have priced in cuts by policymakers at the next three meetings of the ECB Governing Council in December, January and March.
The chances of a heftier half a point cut – known as 50 basis points – next month stands at just 14pc after inflation rose to 2.3pc in November, as economists had forecast.
However, services inflation only fell from 4pc to 3.9pc, raising concerns about “stickiness” of price rises in the sector.
Jack Allen-Reynolds, deputy chief eurozone economist at Capital Economics, said: “The continued strength of eurozone services inflation in November reduces the chance that the ECB will cut interest rates by 50 basis points in December.
“But we still think services inflation will soon start to fall sustainably, prompting the Bank to cut interest rates by more than most expect.”
The ECB deposit rate stands at 3.25pc, having been cut three times this year from record highs of 4pc.
Inflation in the eurozone rebounded above the European Central Bank’s 2pc target this month, according to preliminary official estimates, amid rising energy prices.
The consumer prices index for the single currency bloc rose from 2pc in October to 2.3pc in November, as expected, according to Eurostat.
Core inflation – which strips out volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices and is a key indicator for the bank in deciding whether to interest cut rates – was stable at 2.7pc.
The number of new mortgage approvals hit a two-year high ahead of the Budget as buyers raced to secure deals before the end of stamp duty relief.
Banks and building societies approved 68,300 new home loans in October, which was the highest level since August 2022, according to the Bank of England.
It was up from 66,115 in September and higher than economists’ estimates for a fall to 64,500.
It marks five consecutive months of growth in mortgage approvals.
Similarly, approvals for remortgaging increased by 500 to 31,400.
Meanwhile, mortgage borrowing by individuals rose by £900m to £3.4bn in October.
Richard Merrett, managing director of Alexander Hall, said: “October’s mortgage approval figures demonstrate that, despite the looming uncertainty of the Autumn Budget, buyers continued to enter the market with intent, with a fifth consecutive monthly increase recorded.
“This market strength and consistency is a trend that has been apparent for much of this year and we expect it’s one that is now set to intensify considerably as we approach next April’s stamp duty relief deadline given that no extension was afforded during the Autumn Budget.”
The number of people out of work in Germany rose less than expected in November, official figures showed.
The office said the number of unemployed increased by 7,000 in seasonally adjusted terms to 2.86m. Analysts had expected that figure to rise by 20,000.
The seasonally adjusted job rate remained stable at 6.1pc.
Labour office head Andrea Nahles said: “Economic weakness continues to weigh on the labour market.”
There were 668,000 job openings in November, 65,000 fewer than a year ago, showing a slowdown in labour demand, the federal labour office said.
Amid economic uncertainty, companies in Germany are becoming more cautious in their personnel planning, the Ifo Institute said on Thursday.
The slower rise in unemployment comes despite announcements of mass layoffs at industrial giant Thyssenkrupp and expected job losses as Volkswagen.
Parents with younger children will be forced out of the workforce next year as the Budget tax raid pushes up the cost of childcare, business analysts have warned.
Childcare providers are expected to pass on the cost of the rise in employer National Insurance contributions (Nics) announced in the Budget, which come into force from April, according to Blick Rothenberg.
The Government’s own figures show that over 70pc of parents with children between 0-4 years old are using some form of childcare on a regular basis.
Ele Theochari, a partner at the firm, Blick Rothenberg said the Nics rise would “result in childcare fees dramatically increasing to cover the additional costs nurseries will be facing”.
She said: “As over 35pc of parents already find it difficult to meet existing childcare costs, there is the real risk of a childcare crisis causing wide-reaching consequences for employers and the UK economy.
“Childcare fees can often exceed mortgage or rental costs for a family, and many working parents find that there is already little or nothing left in their disposable finances after tax, Nic and existing childcare costs have been accounted for.
“This will increasingly lead to parents leaving the workforce as the cost of working and sending a child to full or part-time childcare becomes financially unviable.
“Taking any individual out of the workforce for up to four years will lead to a drop in economic productivity and lower tax receipts overall. This will disproportionately affect women as the primary caretakers of children.”
Europe’s markets were also muted on the final day of a turbulent week that saw French borrowing costs surge above those of Greece amid doubts about whether its budget would be passed.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was flat and bracing for its fifth weekly decline in six.
The index was still on track for a modest monthly gain, even though the possibility of Europe being a US tariff target and France’s political woes have dampened investor sentiment towards the bloc.
France’s Cac 40 was also largely flat in early trading and down 1pc for the week. Prime Minister Michel Barnier dropped plans to raise electricity taxes in his 2025 budget, bowing to hard-Right pressure.
Meanwhile, French inflation for November edged up from October, in line with expectations, while German retail sales fell more than expected in October.
Euro zone inflation figures are expected later this morning and could be key in determining by how much the European Central Bank cuts interest rates next month.
Black Friday has arrived and the bumper shopping event is as big as ever.
This year, you can snap up deals on everything from a comfortable new Emma mattress to a PS5 bundle.
Julie Abraham, chief executive of electricals retailer Richer Sounds, said companies were now embracing what she had previously described as a “necessary evil”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is not a day. It’s a month long event so it takes the pressure off a few days in November and spreads it over the entire month, which is better for our colleagues, better for our customers and better for the supply chain. It’s easier to deal with.
“I won’t lie, margins are squeezed this month, but we do make some money out of it.”
To help you shop for the best deals, we’ve collated our pick of the top offers to shop now.
Here are the 28 best deals live today and count yourself lucky that Britain is passed the scenes in Brazil as consumers race to bag a bargain.
A British car parts maker has been bought by a Canadian rival in a £1bn deal.
London-listed TI Fluid Systems will be taken over by ABC Technologies, which is owned by investment giant Apollo, for 200p per share after rejected several previous bids.
The deal represents a 37pc premium on TI Fluid’s share price before the Canadian company’s interest first emerged.
The FTSE 250 company makes fuel carrying and fuel tank systems and is considered a beneficiary of the switch to electric cars, which require additional fluid to manage heat.
Its shares rose as much as 2.4pc in early trading.
UK stock markets lacked direction at the open amid low trading volumes a day after Wall Street was closed for Thanksgiving.
The FTSE 100 was little changed at 8,280.84 while the midcap FTSE 250 was up 0.1pc to 20,775.76.
France said its inflation edged higher last month despite a slowdown in the prices of food.
The consumer prices index in Europe’s second largest economy edged up to 1.3pc in November, up from 1.2pc in October.
Prices rose after an acceleration in prices of services and a less marked fall in prices of energy compared with October.
It comes as benchmark French borrowing costs rose above Greece for the first time on Thursday amid doubts about whether the country’s budget would be passed.
Investment bank Peel Hunt said its sales had jumped by a quarter over the past six months and it had returned to profit on the back of a stronger financial market and more dealmaking.
The London-listed company reported group revenues of £53.8m for the six months to the end of September, about 26pc higher than the same period last year.
It made a pre-tax profit of £1.2m, recovering from a loss of £800,000 the prior year.
Peel Hunt said it was able to “capitalise on improving market conditions”, with a gradual return of companies listing on stock markets – known as IPO (initial public offering) activity – and a pickup in mergers and acquisitions.
However, it warned that recovery slowed over the summer amid concerns among investors over what would be announced in the autumn Budget.
Nando’s has said it will step up its restaurant opening plans after sales lifted further over the past year.
The peri-peri chicken chain said sales surpassed pre-pandemic levels after “strong customer demand”.
Full accounts for the latest financial year also show the business cut its losses despite a “challenging” cost environment.
Rob Papps, group chief executive of Nando’s, said the economic backdrop remains “uncertain” but it is pushing forward with more investment to drive growth.
This will include a raft of new restaurants over the current financial year, including 14 in the UK. These include sites that have already opened in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Doncaster, Taplow, Bognor, Watford, Northampton and Belfast.
In the financial year to February 2024, the hospitality chain opened 17 restaurants, with 11 of these in the UK and Ireland.
Nando’s said the latest growth plans come after a positive first quarter of its 2024-25 financial year, where it was “extremely encouraged by customer demand”.
However, it stressed cost inflation has stayed at “elevated levels”, highlighting it is still seeking to address its costs across the business.
It came as the group reported revenues grew by 7.5pc to £1.4bn for the year to February 25, compared with the previous year.
Nando’s said it made £86.6m of capital investment over the year, as it opened more stores and refurbished a number of restaurants.
Car makers will be allowed to sell hybrid vehicles until 2035 under plans being considered by ministers to water down rules aimed at pushing consumers towards electric models.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds announced this week that the Government would launch a “fast-track” consultation on the sales targets faced by manufacturers under the so-called Zev mandate, under which companies face fines if goals are missed.
In its election manifesto, Labour vowed to scrap the sale of “new cars with internal combustion engines” by 2030 as part of efforts to reach net zero.
The language suggested that new hybrids – such as Nissan’s best-selling Qashqai which uses a petrol or diesel engine in conjunction with a battery – would be covered by the ban.
However, Mr Reynolds told the Commons this week that the review would focus on the switch to “purely” electric vehicles by 2030.
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffiths accused the Government of making a “subtle change” to its plans, “the consequences of which are significant”.
Mr Reynolds said the consultation would look at the controversial rules introduced under the Tories that force manufacturers to ramp up sales of electric cars.
The regulations – known as the zero emission vehicle (Zev) mandate – require 22pc of cars sold by manufacturers to be electric from this year, rising gradually to 80pc by 2030.
In September, the Telegraph first reported that ministers are planning to back away from a total ban on the sale of new petrol-powered cars by allowing hybrid vehicles to remain on the market until 2035.
Car makers could be allowed to keep selling new hybrids up until that year, the Financial Times reported today.
Thanks for joining me. Ministers could allow car makers to keep selling hybrid vehicles for another five years beyond their plans to ban petrol and diesel combustion engines.
The latest reports add weight to a Telegraph report from September that the Government is planning to back away from a total ban on the sale of new petrol-powered cars by allowing hybrid vehicles to remain on the market until 2035.
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Asian shares were mixed after US markets were closed Thursday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4pc to 38,191.93 after the government reported that inflation in Tokyo, considered an indicator for national trends, was 2.6pc in November, up from 1.8pc last month mainly due to a surge in fresh food prices.
Core inflation, which excludes fresh food prices, rose modestly to 2.2pc year-on-year from 1.8pc in October.
Higher inflation tends to reinforce expectations that the Bank of Japan will push ahead with more increases in its benchmark lending rate. That, in turn, pushes up the value of the Japanese yen, which was trading at 149.94 to the US dollar. A week earlier it was trading above 155 yen per dollar.
The central bank’s current policy rate is 0.25pc. It only ended a long spell of negative rates in March on the presumption that Japan had largely achieved its 2% inflation target.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 2pc to 2,454.78 after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate on Thursday to relieve pressure on its slowing economy. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1pc lower to 8,436.20.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained over 1pc in midday trading and increased by 0.1pc to 19,389.12 in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite index surged 1.1pc to 3,332.50.
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