Debt headache
The UK's borrowing headache deepened on Tuesday after official figures showed Britain borrowed £18.3 billion in August, some £3.5 billion more than the fiscal watchdog had pencilled in.
With debt interest payments up at £8.8 billion, the numbers leave Chancellor John Healey precious little room before his 28 October Budget.
Economists reckon he is now boxed in: Capital Economics called the picture "dismal" and expects tax rises or spending cuts of up to £14 billion to rebuild his buffer.
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith jabbed that it took "rare fiscal incontinence" to log record tax receipts yet still watch borrowing climb.
Preview
London's blue-chip index is set to nudge open around 17 points higher on Tuesday, building on Monday's near-80-point advance and keeping the FTSE 100 in a decidedly cheerful frame of mind.
The good mood is being imported wholesale from Asia, where technology stocks did the overnight heavy lifting.
The spark? Meta's Muse AI assistant, popular enough since launch to shrug off last week's wobble over safety warnings from the sector's big beasts. South Korea jumped, Taiwan hit a record, and the AI trade is firmly back in vogue.
Helping the cause, Brent crude slipped back to around $100 a barrel after a 3% tumble, quietening one of the market's nagging worries.
The main event looms on Wednesday, when Xi Jinping lands in Washington to sit down with Donald Trump. Optimists want a trade truce; sceptics are braced for warm words and precious little else.
