FTSE 100 was marking time ahead of the Budget even with some huge numbers being churned out by the US tech titans. London’s blue-chip index was down 4 at 7,273.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been given a wigging by the speaker of the Commons for leaking too much of the Budget. The chancellor is up at 12.30pm but every paper this morning has a checklist of up to 10 items that will in this speech.
One of those leaks is that the National Living Wage would rise to £9.50 per hour in April for those over 23 years old. That would mean the price of a pint of beer will have to rise by as much as 30p, said the boss of City Pub Group.
Away from the Budget, it is tech earnings week in the US. Microsoft surpassed expectations due to soaring demand for its cloud computing products. Revenue rose 22% to US$45.3bn. Google owner Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) also beat expectations for revenues and earnings as advertising around its search and YouTube continued to flourish.
Among the UK small caps, Accesso tweaked higher its revenue guidance once again following a strong performance in September and October. Revenues for the year will be ‘no less than’ US$124mln, US$7mln higher it estimated at the start of the month.
Union Jack Oil said the £1mln in net revenues it generated from the Wressle field in North Lincolnshire since mid-August was "financially transformational". Revenue in 2021 is "guaranteed to eclipse" the previous year, it added.