Good morning, happy Budget day and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.
At long last, the day has arrived for the Chancellor’s second Autumn Budget and markets are bracing for impact.
All manner of different taxes have been rumoured over recent weeks, as Reeves seeks to raise tens of billions of pounds to plug a huge fiscal hole. We can’t be sure which taxes Reeves will raise – or by how much – until she steps up to the Dispatch box, but head over here for a must-read primer on everything we know so far.
Yesterday, the continued ‘hokey cokey’ of the Budget put banks back on the out of a tax raid, spelling good news for the City.
The FTSE 100 closed the day up 0.8 per cent to 9,609.53p. It came amid a rally from UK banks with Natwest up 3.57 per cent to 603.80p and Lloyds 3.78 per cent to 90.68p.
But investors have also been sending firm warnings over the Budgets impact with fresh data traders were placing bets against the pound.
The bearish view on the pound was revealed through new trading data, which showed the volume of put options – contracts that profit when sterling declines – surpassed call options, those that profit when the currency rises, by a drastic four-to-one ratio in the last week.
The imbalance marks a stark revelation that traders are bracing for a drop in the pound and betting against the currency.
We’ll be bringing you all the top Budget coverage and analysis throughout the day, as well as this morning’s market news and updates.
Today on the cards we have results from Pets at Home as well as a handful of earnings updates from markets small-cap. We’ll also be keeping an eye out for any firms flying under the Budget noise with announcements this morning.
Here’s a few of our top stories from yesterday
Easyjet ‘in the firing line’ for FTSE 100 demotion as economic concerns persist
Domino’s boss quits after shares halve in a year
Confidence in commercial real estate hit by Building Safety Act delays
Asda billionaire quits role at Vinted rival
Would the new Cyber Bill have prevented 2025’s retail chaos?
First residents to move into Bermondsey’s revitalised biscuit factory site