Good morning from London where the FTSE 100 is up nearly a percent already this morning after some huge news in the fight against inflation.
The ONS says this morning that UK inflation has fallen to two-year lows, with the consumer price index dropping to 4.6% in October, down from 6.7% in September, and below City expectations for a fall to 4.7%. The news follows a similar announcement in the US yesterday, and had the same positive effect on stock markets.
Support is also coming from Asia, where jitters about China’s economy seem to have been calmed by news that the People’s Bank of China has offered up to $200bln in medium term lending.
All these positive signs for the global economy have had the predictable effect this morning of supporting London’s mining giants, but there are some notable performances from credit-checkers Experian who report solid growth in the first half led by Latin America and what it calls a “good” performance in North America. SSE PLC (LSE:SSE) also trading higher today after reporting a modest rise in profits during the first half of the year – it attributes that to a strong performance in renewables and thermal units.
And staying in renewables, small cap AFC Energy PLC (AIM:AFC, OTC:AFGYF) have announced the creation of a new JV this morning with Speedy Hire, to supply hydrogen powered generators. I’ll be speaking to CEO Adam Bond later this morning so look forward to that – all the best til then.