FTSE 100 futures are about flat, in line with their equivalents in the US. European futures are declining around 0.4%. Stay with us for NatWest earnings at 7 a.m., plus everything else that matters to UK markets.

The FTSE 100 has started the year with a bang, hitting its second all-time high of 2025 on Thursday morning, surging past 8,700 points at the open. It had broken its previous record high just last month,

Are investors starting to look for opportunities away from high-flying US shares - and could the UK stock market benefit from that? Simon Lambert and Richard Hunter discuss.

Growth downgrades and the rise in bond yields in recent months have wiped out the £9.9 billion margin that Reeves left in her Budget in October against her “stability rule” that day-to-day spending must be covered by taxes.

US economists are looking for monthly headline CPI at 0.31%, which would keep the year-on-year rate at 2.9%. Core CPI is forecast to come in at 0.28%, with the year-on-year rate ticking down a tenth to 3.1%.

To the extent that we can communicate what we think are the appropriate financial conditions for the UK economy, a larger move is a superior communication device, in my view,” Mann told the FT. Mann is due to give a speech at Leeds Beckett University this morning.