FTSE100 closed convincingly higher as the market appeared to welcome the Chancellor's Autumn statement in the round, though it may take more time for full details to sink in.
There was also speculation concerning telecoms firm Talk Talk (LON:TALK), whose shares went higher this afternoon.
Themes from Mr Osborne's speech already flagged were definitely there, including the U-turn in tax credits and an increased pace of house construction.
He also said he would deliver both the promised £12bn of welfare savings and a budget surplus by 2019-20. So how did he achieve this apparent conjuring act?
Experts have pointed to the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) and their re-modelled forecasts for likely tax revenues, which shows more coming in than thought over the next few years.
FTSE100 closed around 58 points higher at 6,336, with housbuilders big gainers in the light of the announcements. Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.) added 3.82% to 184.8p and Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) gained 3.57% to 579.5p.
Anglo American (LON:AAl) was the big loser, shedding 7.7% to 417.2p as metal prices continued their steady decline and HSBC put out a downgrade on the shares.
Internet service provider TalkTalk (LON:TALK), shares added just shy of 7% as the superfast broadband in and out London’s dealing rooms appears to have been robust enough to cope with all the buy orders.
Speculation has it that Deutsche Telekom will be on the blower soon to boss Dido Harding with an offer she may find difficult to refuse.
Our man in dark glasses reckons Vodafone (LON:VOD) , up 1.64% to 222.9p, and Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, are also looking at TalkTalk for a potential £4 a share bid, which would value TalkTalk at £3.8bn.
Voda is thought to have been interested in TalkTalk when it was trading at a higher price because it would give it a TV/entertainment business.
But others are interested now the price has gone down following the cyber-security attack, or so the story goes.
Currently the stock is changing hands for £2.37 so a four quid take-out price would be a nice early Christmas present for investors, valuing TalkTalk at £3.8bn, and who have watched 20% wiped from the value of the business in the past year.
Remember this is market speculation, not hard solid fact. We approached media representatives of TalkTalk who declined to comment, while Deutsche Telekom were not available for comment at the time of publishing.
Away from the main index, FTSE250 firm Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) was the big story as the tour operator shrugged off recent terrible geopolitical events to post its first annual profit for five years. Shares flew over 10% higher.
In small caps, tungsten explorer W Resources (LON:WRES) jumped over 23% to 0.635p as it gained development approval for a new mine in Spain.