- FTSE 100 falls 104 points
- Bitcoin keeps surging, touching $90k
- AstraZeneca and Vodafone fall despite solid results
- UK unemployment rises, vacancies continue to fall #
4.13pm: Stocks in the red around the world
Stocks markets are in the red in the UK, Europe and the US currently.
The FTSE 100 is down 104 points or 1.3% at 8,021, only a handful of points away from its early August six-month lows, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 index has dropped 227 points or 1.1% to 20,497.
In Europe, Germany's DAX is down 1.8% and France's CAC 40 has plummeted 2.2%.
The main Wall Street stock benchmarks are also now lower, with the Dow Jones falling 0.3%, the S&P 500 losing 0.2% and the Nasdaq down less than 0.1%, while the small cap Russell 2000 has retreated 0.6%.
The MSCI World index is down 0.5%, having hit an all-time high yesterday.
London's two big fallers are Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES), down 7.8% as it looks to renegotiate a key long-term agreement; and Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD), which lost 7.2% after its German arm saw revenues worsen in the past quarter,
Vistry Group PLC (LSE:VTY) fell 5.3% as more analysts took their red pens out to mark down forecasts, Citi for example saying the trading update last week "offered clarity" on the build cost issues, but "raised further growth concerns pointing to slowdown in partner activity ahead of the budget and competitive pricing".
Miners Anglo American, Glencore and Antofagasta fell as copper and some other metal prices fell, with China reasons cited by traders.
"The FTSE in London is down more than 1%. Concerns about the expansion of the Chinese economy are hurting miners and luxury companies, which are both down around 2%," says Patrick Munnelly, at Tickmill. "The only industry in the green is defence."
Disappointing German sentiment and US tariff concerns triggered the sell-off in European shares, says Axel Rudolph at IG.
Miners and Asian stocks were under pressure due to China's stimulus package providing underwhelming, while oil prices have begun to level out, following several days of steep losses amid ample supply and an appreciating US dollar.
Market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation flags the "dark cloud approaching as bond yields continue to hold at elevated levels"
He adds: "The Federal Reserve may have got the short end covered, to some extent, but investors decide what goes on further out.
"The recent pick-up in yields can suggest many things, including a strengthening economy which has no need of aggressive rate cuts, or fears of a renewed bout of inflation, given Trump’s promised tax cuts and tariffs, along with the prospect of trillions being added to the national debt."
3.35pm: Weather report
A cold snap is set to hit the UK from next weekend after a milder and windless period has hampered renewable energy production.
UK Met Office forecasts show northerly winds bringing colder Arctic air and more unsettled conditions over the weekend and into next week.
This comes as windless conditions have seen renewable energy generation hit recently, with fossil fuels producing 50.6% of the UK’s power over the past week, against a share of 28.3% over the past year, according to National Grid figures.
Gas prices have surged as the UK and Europe race to acquire limited supplies of gas, climbing by 12.5% since the start of the month to 111.81p per therm as of Tuesday.
We have been paying much higher prices for natural gas than the EU in recent weeks, it was reported last week, as the UK tries to outbid its near neighbours for limited supplies heading into the winter, exacerbated by the UK’s gas system's high transmission costs and lack of storage.
Coupled with a shortage of available liquefied natural gas around the world, it means the UK is having to offer a much higher price to try to secure supplies.
3.20pm: FTSE and pounds spiral lower
The FTSE 100 and GBP/USD are both at new multi-week lows.
Down almost 100 points or 1.1% today, the blue-chip benchmark has dropped below 8,030 for the first time since 6 August, and before that it's the lowest since mid-April.
European indices are also feeling the brunt of market moves, with the DAX falling 1.6% and the pan-European Stoxx 600 down 1.6%.
France's CAC 40 is down 2.2%, dragged down by its raft of luxury giants.
And the pound is down another 0.7% against the dollar to 1.2777, around lows seen in mid-August, while the EUR/USD is down 0.4% at 1.0609, around April lows.
"Most investors and traders are still adjusting their bets on just how much protectionism may come up with tariffs and other proposals from incoming Trump officials," say analysts at Monex.
"There are growing doubts that the Fed will get a chance to be very loose with monetary policy as inflationary pressures may arrive from new trade proposals. The current chances of a 25-basis-points cut for the Fed December 18th meeting are just at 65.0%.
"We feel more clarity will come in the upcoming weeks as the cabinet for the administration is staffed and there is more discussion about plans. Throughout the shortened week, we will hear from some Fed officials, and get inflation figures tomorrow while we wait to chew on some data Friday in the form of U.S. Retail Sales and Industrial Production."
3.01pm: Santander hikes mortgage rates
Santander is the latest lender to hike mortgage rates, less than a week after the Bank of England cut the base rate of interest.
With BoE chief economist Huw Pill warning rate-setters are worried about "sticky inflation" (see below), the Spanish-owned bank upped its fixed rates for new buyers and remortgage customers by up to 0.29% from today.
Variable tracker borrowers, however, will see their rates drop after last week’s base rate cut to 4.75%.
Santander, which says most customers are on fixed deals, joins TSB, Virgin Money and Nationwide in raising rates following a jump in swaps or wholesale rates that are the basis of mortgage pricing.
2.54pm: US stocks mixed
It's been a mixed start on Wall Street so far.
The Dow Jones is flat, the Russell 2000 is down 0.3%, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both up a tad, around 0.1%.
Tech giants are mostly higher, including Nvidia up 1% and Meta Platforms 2%, but Apple and Tesla are in the red, down 0.2% and 2.4% respectively.
2.31pm: LSEG launches clean bond platform
A new scheme to funnel £58 billion of private money towards clean energy projects in poorer countries has been launched by the London Stock Exchange Group PLC.
The platform, set up by green finance body the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), will see investment-grade bonds listed on the London market with money earmarked for wind or solar farms in countries struggling to raise enough cash to build them.
Coming alongside the PM's emissions announcement (see below), the new Capital Market Mechanism will issue investment-grade bonds, listed on the London market, then distribute funding to help pay for new projects such as wind or solar farms in countries struggling to raise enough cash to build them.
The government said the CIF tool would be launched on the LSE, with the deal announced following a meeting between Starmer and World Bank president Ajay Banga at the Cop29 climate summit.
Sir Keir said it was “high time the private sector played their part in this”.
1.54pm: UK sets new emissions target
Britain has pledged an 81% cut in carbon emissions by 2035, prime minister Keir Starmer said at the Cop29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The 81% cut compared to 1990 levels is in line with the recommendation of the UK's Climate Change Committee last month.
It was welcomed as a "step in the right direction" by Friends of the Earth.
RenewableUK’s chief executive Dan McGrail says: "By setting this ambitious target, the Prime Minister is positioning the UK at the forefront of the global race for clean power which is ultimately better for billpayers and strengthens our energy security."
McGrail said the target has been "warmly received by the UK energy sector, which sees it as credible and deliverable".
He said there is a "huge" pipeline of new energy infrastructure to be delivered between now and 2035 to enable the UK to reach the target, and "investors stand ready to make this happen as we’re now seen as one of the most attractive countries for private investment in new projects".
The upcoming new industrial strategy announcement from the government is should contain a "holistic package of measures to encourage more investors to the UK, ensuring that we have the necessary grants and regulatory frameworks in place to be competitive with other countries", McGrail says.
1.20pm: AstraZeneca in talks with UK govt about incentives for investment
Alongside its results this morning, AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN) announced $3.5 billion of US capital investment to expand its R&D and manufacturing footprint over the next two years, it has meanwhile paused a previously mooted £650 million investment in Britain as it battles to extract potential incentives from ministers.
The FTSE 100 company giant told the Daily Telegraph it has put proposed laboratory investments in Liverpool and Cambridge "on hold".
Finance chief Aradhana Sarin told the paper that AZ is "still in discussions with the government to figure out what type of incentives there may be. So we don’t have anything new to report at this time."
12.53pm: US stocks set to dip
US stocks are set to join Europe and Asia in the red on Tuesday.
However, falls on Wall Street are not expected to be large, according to the futures market.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures are both down 0.1%, with Dow Jones futures currently just the wrong side of flat.
Futures contracts for the super soaraway Russell 2000 are down 0.5%.
Futures are in the red as bond traders return from their Veterans Day holiday and, says market analyst Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets, "question the momentum behind this post-election rally".
With the S&P 500 having topped 6,000 for the first time last week, and hit a new intraday high yesterday, "we are seeing some profit taking ahead of tomorrow’s critical inflation report", says Mahony.
"The perception that Donald Trump will spark a fresh wave of inflation through a combination of tariffs and increased spending has pushed treasury yields higher, and we are seeing them push higher once again after a recent pullback.
The US CPI inflation is expected to push higher tomorrow, but Mahny says traders and investors "should be careful to draw any conclusions given the fact that this is largely down to base effects. The disinflationary pressures should resume next time around".
12.21pm: Companies have a responsibility to reduce their emissions
After the Dutch court of appeal ruled that the oil and gas giant does have a responsibility to reduce its emissions, but has not imposed a concrete reduction obligation, the Netherlands arm of Friends of the Earth, Milieudefensie, and their lawyers say they see a number of important points of reference to build on in their legal battle against large polluting companies.
After an initial analysis of the ruling, MilieudefensielLawyer Roger Cox said: "This is a ruling for the entire business community and not just for Shell.
"The court makes it abundantly clear that not only countries, but also companies have a responsibility to reduce their emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement."
The court emphasised that "protection from climate change is a human right and that companies like Shell also have a duty to protect human rights", Milieudefensie noted in its statement, with the judges also finding that Shell has a responsibility to reduce its CO2 emissions to limit dangerous climate change and that its nearly 800 new oil and gas fields are contrary to the goals in the Paris Climate Agreement.
11.50am: FTSE at lowest since early August
The FTSE 100 is down 83 points or over 1% to 8,049, the lowest levels since the correction in early August.
Vodafone down 5.9%, Fresnillo and Vistry both down 5.8%, and a group of miners down between 2% and 4% (Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore) is doing a lot of the damage.
Only 10 blue-chips in London are seeing their shares rise this morning.
Topping that list is ConvaTec, up 20% on its reassuring update, and DCC, up 15% on a strategy update.
Melrose is up 2.3% with no news out today. But analysts at Citi say they attended an investor site visit at the factory where A350 wings are manufactured, as well as one of the company's technology centres where a presentation was given on additive manufacturing.
Analyst Sam Burgess said he was "incrementally reassured" on the Structures business and remains "high conviction on the mid-term cash flow and believe this will be the main share price driver, but today's visit was encouraging in highlighting the underappreciated strengths of the Structures business, as well as the market opportunities the company is positioning itself to capitalise on, in particular within additive manufacturing".
11.24am: Germany calls election as confidence falls
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced this morning that Germany will hold national elections in February.
This comes after he ejected a key member of the governing three-party coalition in a dispute over how to turn around the country's ailing economy.
Scholz is expected to hold a vote of confidence before Christmas, which will set the country on course for a snap election on 23 February.
Figures out this morning show German economic sentiment fell last month.
The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment fell to 7.4 points from 13.1 points the month before, with economists expecting a small increase to 13.2.
"Economic expectations for Germany have been overshadowed by Trump’s victory and the collapse of the German government coalition,” said ZEW president Achim Wambach.
"Overall, what we’re currently observing is a very dynamic development of economic expectations."
Wambach said the outcome of the US presidential election was "likely to be the main reason" for the decline in confidence, with not one single German company surveyed in the week following Donald Trump’s election victory in the US rated the country's current economic situation as "good".
One company in 12 described the situation as "normal" while the 90%-plus majority said the situation was "bad".
11.07am: BoE economist worries about 'sticky' inflation
The Bank of England is still concerned about “underlying inflationary pressures”, chief economist Huw Pill said at a conference in London today.
This followed the release of the unemployment and wage data from ONS earlier in the morning.
"As we saw in the labour market data that was released this morning, pay growth remains quite sticky at elevated levels and levels that, given the outlook for productivity growth in the UK, are hard to reconcile with the UK inflation target," Pill said during a discussion at the UBS conference.
This also followed the BoE reducing the base rate to 4.75% last week.
Pill said further easing was likely to be a “gradual process” even though the reduction in UK inflation over the past year had been substantial.
10.52am: Fresnillo a big faller
Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) shares dropped 6% as the Mexican gold and silver miner warned that its partner in the Silverstream agreement was having production trouble at the Sabinas mine.
In its statement today, the FTSE 100 company said it has started discussions with Peñoles to assess the extent of these operational difficulties and any associated impact on the 2007 agreement.
“Although it is too early to reach any specific conclusions, at this time Fresnillo considers that there is a reasonable likelihood that the process may lead to significant adjustments to the Silverstream agreement”...read more
10.36am: Shell and Vodafone
Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) shares are down 0.5% despite it winning on appeal in its big Dutch legal case.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision, which we believe is the right one for the global energy transition, the Netherlands and our company,” Shell boss Wael Sawan said.
The FTSE 100 giant reiterated its previous statement that a court ruling "would not reduce overall customer demand for products such as petrol and diesel for cars, or for gas to heat and power homes and businesses" and "would do little to reduce emissions, as customers would take their business elsewhere".
Judges acknowledged Shell had a non-legal responsibility to reduce emissions to limit climate change, saying protection from climate change was a “fundamental human right” and that new oil exploration was “at odds” with the Paris Agreement.
Elsewhere, Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) is down 4.5% after its earnings earlier, as although the telecoms giant is writing off the current financial year as another transition period "it’s a message shareholders have received a lot in recent years and patience is wearing thin", says analyst Russ Mould at AJ Bell.
Quarterly performance was marred by a weak showing for its German business, its biggest market, though this is down to a law change barring housing associations from bundling TV with rent.
While CEO Margherita Della Valle’s turnaround plan is close to fruition with the sale of its Italian business expected to follow on from May’s divestment of its Spanish operations early next year and the merger with Three in the UK looking close to clearing regulatory hurdles, once this is complete, "the market is likely to be less forgiving of poor performance", says Mould.
"This places a lot of emphasis on the company fixing its problems in Germany and achieving a level of wider consistency which has escaped the business for years.
"Dialling up growth won’t be easy for Vodafone but it is what’s required after years of the shares drifting lower."
10.15am: More trips to supermarkets
Supermarkets enjoyed their best month of the year so far, according to the latest Kantar update.
Over the four weeks to 3 November, take-home sales at the grocers increased 2.3% to £11.6 billion over the four weeks to 3 November – the biggest sales period of the year so far.
This coincided with a jump in the number of shopping trips made by households, hitting a four-year high at 480 million.
Kantar's Fraser McKevitt said: “October 2024 was the busiest month for the supermarkets since March 2020, when people were preparing for the first national lockdown.
"Trip numbers have been going up gradually for some time, but this steady march hasn’t reached pre-covid levels of shopping frequency just yet. The average for each household is slightly over four trips per week."
9.56am: Why are stock markets down?
The FTSE and DAX are down 0.8% and 0.6%, the pound and euro are down another 0.3% against the dollar to 1.2824 (below 1.28 earlier) and 1.0626 respectively.
Bitcoin keeps rising, up to $88,010.65 and having kissed $90k in recent hours, up almost 8% over the past 24 hours and 28% over the past week.
Why?
The "downbeat flavour from the Asian session" is feeding into the decline for the major European bourses, says market analyst Neil Wilson at Finalto.
"I think the problem for Europe is partly tariff threats, partly terrible growth, partly France and Germany having non-functioning government and partly just that investors don’t want to miss out on the US story right now and need to allocate accordingly."
Or the bond markets, see earlier.
Crude oil is flattish at $72, gold is down to below $2,600 for the first time since mid-September.
Kathleen Brooks at XTB points out that the pound is the weakest currency in the G10 this morning, while the dollar is higher across the board.
"The Trump trade is still on, although this is mostly felt in dollar strength and in Bitcoin," she says, noting that the largest cryptocurrency has risen by $22,000 since the US election.
"It appears like there is a mission to push crypto higher, and $100,000 is possible if it continues to rise at this pace."
However, she wonders if crypto bulls will be disappointed with Trump.
"The risk is that the President backs away from a strategic Bitcoin reserve once he realizes he will need to sell dollars to create one. So, in the coming weeks, it could be a battle between the dollar and Bitcoin, to see which one reigns supreme under Trump, as we don’t think that they can both do so together."
The rise in bitcoin has been at the expense of gold, which Brooks says "could be because bitcoin represents the privatization of money, which suits the libertarian and small state world of Trump, whereas gold is reliant on central banks to keep buying it for its value to increase. Thus, for now, crypto is king."
9.25am: Burberry out of puff, Drax demands clarity
Burberry Group PLC (LSE:BRBY) is the biggest faller on the FTSE 350, down 7% after reports overnight that put the rumours about a bid from Italy's Moncler to bed.
The puffer-jacket maker said it is not in talks to take over the UK rival, with Reiters quoting four sources close to the matter.
Shares in the luxury brand had risen on speculative reports in the past couple of weeks, topped off by another over the weekend that had lifted the shares yesterday, saying Moncler was preparing a bid.
Burberry's interim results are due on Thursday, with new boss Joshua Schulman expected to announce a strategy update.
Top riser on the FTSE 250 is Drax Group (LSE:DRX), up 6.4% on the back of a trading update, where it said profits this year will top one billion pounds.
The Yorkshire-based power station group said it wants clarity on the government’s plans before investing further in the UK.
Drax confirmed it has set up a US-based bionenergy and carbon capture company, Elimini, to focus on overseas carbon capture projects.
9.16am: European stocks all selling off
The FTSE 100 is now down 0.8% at 8,061.5, and the FTSE 250 is down 0.85%, which are similar to losses seen in continental Europe this morning.
In Frankfurt, the DAX has fallen 0.8% and in Paris, the CAC 40 has dropped 0.85%.
The IBEX 35 is down 0.4% in Madrid and the FTSE MIB is down 0.6% in Milan.
Led by falls for German chemicals behemoths Bayer and Brenntag - both on the back of earnings downgrades - the Euro Stoxx 600 index is down 0.9%.
9.03am: Unemployment data won't move dial for BoE
This morning's ONS data shows "some cracks appearing in the labour market", says Deutsche Bank economist Sanjay Raja, showing more of the steady loosening in labour market conditions as wage growth slows and employment falls.
These were in place "even before Budget measures start to bite," he says, with vacancies down for a 30th consecutive month and the Labour Force Survey – "as unreliable as it may be" – showing a near 100k increase in the unemployment level over the three months to September.
The more real-time HMRC payroll data showed a third consecutive month of falling payrolls – putting the cumulative drop between August and October at -42k.
Raja said the data "won’t move the dial too much" for the Bank of England heading into the December rates meeting, as wage growth was broadly in line with expectations.
Paul Dales at Capital Economics agrees that there is "little here to suggest the Bank needs to worry that the loosening in the labour market and the easing in underlying wage growth are coming to an end".
"Even though the rise in pay growth in September will probably be followed by a bigger gain in October, as the new public sector pay deals start, the easing in private sector regular pay suggests that the Bank of England will continue to cut interest rates gradually," Dales says.
He continues to think the Bank's monetary policy committee will stand pat at the December meeting and then cut rates at the following February get-together.
Public sector pay will probably jump again in October as the 5-6% pay deals agreed in recent months start to take effect, he notes, but "most important" for the MPC was that private sector earnings ex-bonuses were stable and exactly in line with the rate the Bank forecast last week.
"What’s more, the Bank can take some solace from a further loosening in the labour market," Dales says, with the issues with the Labour Force Survey meaning it "won’t read too much" into the rise in the unemployment rate, which was due to a 270k rise in the labour force outstripping a 220k rise in employment and instead will put more weight on fifth fall in seven months in the PAYE measure of employment in October and the further fall in the number of job vacancies, just 2% above the pre-pandemic level.
8.44am: BAE Systems a rare source of gains
BAE Systems PLC (LSE:BA.) shares are up 1.3%, the only source of green in the Footsie's top 30 stocks now, as the defence group doubled down on previously upgraded full-year guidance thanks to supporting global demand.
“Our operational and financial performance so far in 2024 reaffirms our confidence in achieving the upgraded full-year guidance,” chief executive Charles Woodburn said.
Defence spending across major markets was said to have remained supportive, with BAE highlighting commitments to strengthen the armed forces by the UK’s new government, “bipartisan” support for security in the US and higher expected defence spending across key markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Around £25 billion worth of orders had been secured so far in 2024, with shareholder returns set to sit around £1.4 billion for the whole year.
Analyst Jamie Murray at Shore Capital says: "Financial information about YTD trading was limited and the full year outlook was unchanged. Looking to outer years, the defence market remains supportive, however, BAE’s order intake of £25bn looks a little light".
8.35am: FTSE leaders ConvaTec and DCC
ConvaTec Group PLC (LSE:CTEC) is the top riser on the FTSE 100, up 19%, as the colostomy bag and wound-care specialist hiked guidance for the full year as revenue growth so far this year was stronger than expected.
Organic revenue growth of 7.7% was reported for the first 10 months to end-October, ahead of its prior full-year guidance for 5-7%.
Prior guidance for double-digit growth in earnings per share and free cash flow has been reiterated, which is better than City analysts had been predicting.
Analysts at Stifel said that after a flat first half for earnings expansion, "Convatec had a lot of ground to make up in [the second half], which believe has weighed on the shares".
"As such, confirmation of FY guidance (putting the business a nudge ahead of current consensus) and continued minimal impact from potential changes from the proposed LCDs (and confirmation of no expected impact to overall group guidance for FY25) will likely prompt a relief rally."
As for DCC PLC (LSE:DCC), the Irish distributor has announced a strategy update to focus on its energy division, with the expected disposal of DCC Healthcare in 2025, and a strategic review of DCC Technology over the next 24 months.
"Given the performance of these two divisions, we believe this will be taken well by the market, with the potential to provide significant cash, which the group anticipates will be returned to shareholders," says Stifel.
8.12am: FTSE drops sharply at the open
The FTSE 100 has dropped 41 points to 8,084 in early trading, down 0.5%.
Only three among the top 40 largest stocks are in the green in this early stage.
Vodafone is one of the big early fallers, down 4.9%, despite results that broadly looked in line with expectations.
Miners are a weight, particularly precious metals group Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES).
7.56am: Metro Bank fined
Metro Bank Holdings PLC (LSE:MTRO) has been fined £16.7 million by the UK financial watchdog over its failure to manage money laundering risks.
The Financial Conduct Authority issued the fine over the inadequacies of the challenger bank's systems and controls over four years to December 2020 to monitor more than 60 million transactions, with a value of over £51 billion, that took place in that time.
Metro automated its monitoring of customer transactions for potential financial crime in June 2016 but the FCA noted that this system "did not work as intended" and while junior staff raised concerns, these did not result in the issue being identified and fixed.
FCA enforcement director Therese Chambers said these failings "risked a gap being left in our defence against the criminal misuse of our financial system".
7.51am: Vodafone backs outlook
Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) has kept its full-year outlook unchanged but halved its interim dividend as the approval processes for major transactions in the UK and Italy near a conclusion.
The telecoms giant grew service revenue 1.7% to €15.1 billion, or 4.8% on an organic basis in the first half of the year.
Service revenue in the second quarter of €7.64 billion was in line with expectations.
Adjusted earnings (EBITDAaL) grew 3.8% to €5.4 billion. The interim dividend was cut to 2.25 euro cents, down from 4.5 cents a year ago, while the second €500 million tranche of its last buyback is "almost complete".
7.39am: AstraZeneca ups guidance
A quick look at one of the big results releases this morning.
AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN) has nudged up its guidance and said it will invest $3.5 billion in R&D and manufacturing in the US.
The FTSE 100's largest company reported core earnings of $2.08, up 20% on a year ago, and slightly above the average analyst estimate of $2.06.
This was on revenue that jumped 18% to $13.57 billion, above the $13.08 billion consensus estimate.
The drugmaker raised its full-year revenue and core EPS outlook at constant exchange rates to "high teens percentage growth".
7.26am: UK unemployment and wages rise
The UK ILO unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in the three months to the end of September, from 4.0% in the reading a month ago, and higher than the 4.1% that economists expected.
Employment levels rose by 220K over the three months, the Office for National Statistics also revealed, less than expected.
Average weekly earnings grew 4.3%, which was higher than a month ago, where pay growth was revised up to 3.9% from 3.8%, and higher than the 3.9% average forecast.
Excluding bonuses, wages were up 4.8%, down from 4.9% a month ago but not as much as the market expected.
In more timely data from the ONS, the claimant count rate for October remained at 4.7%, with a jobless claims change of 26.7K, versus last the month's data which was revised down from 27.9K to 10.1K.
7.21am: Pressure on stocks as bond yields rise
Yesterday saw investors dial back their expectations for US Federal Reserve rate cuts yet again, points out Deutsche Bank macro strategist Jim Reid, which while US bond markets were closed yesterday, is seeing the results in higher bond yields across the futures market this morning.
Higher bond yields generally put pressure on stock markets.
The rate priced in by the December 2025 meeting had climbed back up to 3.82% yesterday, meaning that investors are only pricing in three more quarter-point rate cuts by the end of 2025.
"Bear in mind that’s risen by almost 100bps in just over six weeks, thanks to positive US data and the election result," says Reid.
"So this is a significant reassessment of the Fed’s outlook, and with investors pricing in fewer rate cuts, the dollar index strengthened another +0.52%, reaching its highest level since early July."
As it was Veterans Day yesterday, cash trading in US Treasuries was closed, but Reid notes that futures markets showed them losing ground across the curve, with 2yr, 5yr and 10yr futures all pointing towards higher yields.
"This morning in Asia they've crystallised this," he says, with 2yr and 10yr yields up, ahead of the US CPI inflation release tomorrow, where Reid says there’s been some concern about price data picking up again.
7.16am: FTSE 100 set to lose 40 points
The FTSE 100 is set to lose most of its gains from yesterday, with Asian stocks pointing the ay down on what will be a busy morning of corporate reporting news in London.
Futures predict the Square Mile's blue-chip index will fall around 40 points on Tuesday, the bulk of the 53 added at the start of the week where it closed 8,125.2 overnight.
US blue-chip stocks gained slightly overnight, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both inching up 0.1%, the Dow Jones adding 0.7% and the small cap Russell 2000 jumping another 1.5% to continue its strong post-election rally.
Asian stocks are mostly in the red this morning, with the Hang Seng plummeting 3%, the Shanghai Composite tumbling 1.5%, the Nikkei down 0.4% and India's Sensex dipping 0.1%.
This morning's UK results announcements include AstraZeneca, Vodafone, BAE Systems, Segro and Flutter.