Thanks for joining me. Ofgem has raised its energy price cap meaning that from January households will typically pay an extra £94 a year on their gas and electricity bills.
The regulator said the limit on average household energy bills would rise from £1,834 to £1,928 from January 1.
5 things to start your day
1) Szu Ping Chan: Autumn Statement can’t conceal the worrying truth about Britain’s future | Growth prospects in an election year have not been this weak since the early 1990s
2) Jeremy Warner: Like it or not, the Chancellor played a bad hand well | Under the weight of a rising tax burden, the Autumn Statement became a masterclass in illusion
3) Should you invest in NatWest if the Government offers cut-price shares? | The Chancellor plans a new ‘tell Sid’ share sale
4) Asda co-owner threatened with contempt charge over claims he ‘misled’ Parliament | Claims against Mohsin Issa concern evidence he submitted to Business and Trade Committee
5) Sam Altman wins power struggle at OpenAI as he returns amid board clearout | Co-founder to be reinstated as chief executive after hundreds of staff threatened to quit
What happened overnight
Asian shares were flat in thin trading as US markets close for Thanksgiving, while Japan’s stock indexes were also shut for holidays.
Meanwhile oil prices fell on the prospects for smaller-than-expected output cuts by Opec+.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat in thin trading, with Japan and the United States on holiday.
Investors are looking to Chinese policymakers for clues on possible support for the long-suffering property market, in line with broader growth targets they are hammering out.
China’s benchmark share index fell 0.2pc, with the real estate sub-index retrieved earlier losses to gain 2.1pc.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading American companies rose 0.5pc on Wednesday to 35,273.03.
The Nasdaq Composite index, seen as a bellwether of the US technology sector, rose 0.5pc to 14,265.86.
The broader S&P 500 index rose 0.4pc to 4,556.62. The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds rose two basis points to 4.41pc.
Back in Blighty, while everyone was focused on the Autumn Statement on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.2pc to 7,469.51 while the FTSE 250 rose 0.7pc to 18,480.17.
Accountancy software firm Sage Group did especially well on the London Stock Exchange, rising 13.3pc after beating analyst estimates as the firm’s investments in artificial intelligence attracted interest from customers.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
