All that's all we have time for today, thanks for following along. Be sure to join us again tomorrow when we'll be back for more of the latest markets news, and all that's happening across the global economy.

Remember to pick a sharp eye on Nvidia's results this evening after the closing bell.

Until then, have a good evening!

Journalists at The Guardian are to stage a strike for four days next month as anger grows over the planned sale of The Observer.

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) will walk out on Dec 4, 5, 12 and 13 in protest over the proposed deal with Tortoise, a loss-making media start-up.

It comes after the NUJ held a two-week ballot of 644 journalists, with almost 93% of staff voting in favour of a strike.

In its motion published today, the union said:

Almost 400 workers are facing redundancy as part of plans by Morrisons to shutter its Rathbones bakery operation.

Unions have accused Morrisons of throwing “workers on the scrapheap” since its private equity takeover in 2021.

The UK’s fifth-largest supermarket said it has started a consultation over the potential closure of the Rathbones own-label bakery operation in Wakefield following a “thorough review”.

The move will put the jobs of 378 workers at the site at risk of redundancy.

Morrisons snapped up the bakery business from administration in 2005, but said it has struggled to make it profitable in recent years.

A spokesman for Morrisons said:

A surge in borrowing and “sluggish” growth have pushed the eurozone to the brink of debt crisis, the European Central Bank (ECB) has warned.

The Telegraph has the details...

The ECB said investors were becoming increasingly concerned about government borrowing across the single currency bloc, which has barely grown in recent years.

In its latest financial stability review, it said: “Headwinds to economic growth from factors like weak productivity make elevated debt levels and budget deficits more likely to reignite debt sustainability concerns.”

It added that a collapse of trust in politicians over the past three decades had made it more difficult to deal with economic shocks.

Ford has announced that it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, amounting to 14% of the American carmaker’s workforce on the continent.

The layoffs, which will mainly happen in the UK and in Germany, will be made by the end of 2027. Globally, they represent around 2.3% of Ford’s workforce of 174,000.

The company’s UK sites in Dagenham and Halewood will not be affected.

It blamed the move on significant losses in recent years caused by weak demand for electric vehicles, a lack of government support for the shift to EVs, and growing competition.

Sales in Europe plunged by 17.9% in September, far outstripping an industrywide decline of 6.1%.

It comes as Ford Ford already announced 3,800 job cuts in Europe in February 2023.

The pound rose slightly against the dollar in early European trading on Wednesday, up 0.1% to $1.2692, before paring back the gains in the afternoon. This comes after the latest UK inflation data came in hotter than expected, rising to 2.3% in October.

This latest consumer price index (CPI) reading followed a three-year low of 1.7% in September and was back above the Bank of England's 2% target.

While economists had anticipated a rise, warning that it was likely driven by higher energy costs after the energy price cap was raised for households in October, this increase in inflation was still higher than expected.

Shares in Finnish telecommunications company Nokia (NOKIA.HE) rose on Wednesday morning, after operator T-Mobile (TMUS) said it had no plans to stop working with the company, following analyst comments.

Helsinki-listed shares in Nokia were up nearly 3%, while New York-listed shares climbed 4% in pre-market trading.

The US-listed shares closed the previous session down nearly 7%, after Earl Lum, president of EJL Wireless Research suggested in a LinkedIn post that Nokia would be "kicked out" of T-Mobile US.

In response, Nokia and T-Mobile published a statement on Wednesday morning.

T-Mobile said:

Nokia said: "In response to some recent analyst claims, Nokia states that these comments mainly relate to its first generation 5G products designed in 2018.

"Since then, strong investment in R&D (research and development), system on chip technology and new product launches have positioned Nokia as one of the market leaders globally."

See what else is trending today

E.on Next has been fined £14.5m after failing to provide final bills and refund credit balances to almost 250,000 pre-payment meter customers.

According to regulator Ofgem, an error in the energy company’s billing system between February 2021 and September 2023 meant customers who transferred to another supplier or ended their contract did not receive final bills within the required six weeks.

E.on Next, which is part of the E.on Energy Group, failed to give compensation payments of £30 or £60 to affected customers, while 100,000 customers were also not made aware of the remaining credit on their accounts, worth £51 on average. They also did not receive automatic refunds, the energy watchdog said.

Each customer impacted is set to receive £144 on average after E.on agreed to pay out £14.5m in compensation and redress.

This includes £4.7m in credit refunds, £6.6m in compensation payments, and an extra £3.2m in compensation to affected customers.

Here's a look at what's happening in equity markets today...

• Sage Group surged to the top of the FTSE 100 as it posted a 21% rise in full-year underlying operating profit and announced a share buyback of up to £400m.

• Severn Trent advanced as it reported a double-digit increase in first-half profits and said it expects capital investment to hit the top end of guidance this year, putting it in a strong position for the next five-year regulatory cycle, AMP8.

• Genus gained as the animal genetics firm said trading has been encouraging and that full-year adjusted pre-tax profit was set to be in line with market expectations.

• Rotork was also in the black after a trading update.

• On the downside, Crest Nicholson fell after the housebuilder said it expected full-year earnings to be at the lower end of guidance due to a higher proportion of affordable homes being delivered.

• British Land also lost ground as it said half-year underlying profit rose just 1% and that its portfolio valuation ticked up just 0.2%.

Gold prices edged lower in early Wednesday trading, losing the positive momentum seen earlier in the week.

The decline was driven by rising Treasury yields and a strengthening US dollar, which weighed on the non-yielding precious metal. Earlier in the week, geopolitical tensions provided some support for gold prices.

Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades, said:

Today's inflation figures have lifted the UK's consumer price index in line with rates across other G20 countries.

Panmure Liberum chief economist Simon French has the graph:

Sticking with the property market...

Private rentals in the UK increased by 8.7% in the year to October, according to the ONS.

This was up from 8.4% in the year to September, but below the record-high of 9.2% set in March.

Nathan Emerson, chief executive at Propertymark, which represents estate agents, said:

Meanwhile, Sarah Coles, personal finance columnist at Yahoo Finance UK and head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, warned that renters are feeling the strain of continuous cost increases.

“Renters are stuck in an endless cycle of rising costs. “It’s forcing more to consider living somewhere smaller, in a worse area, or further from work, in order to make ends meet.

Average UK house prices increased by 2.9% in the year to September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The annual growth rate accelerated from 2.7% in the year to August, with the average home worth £292,000.

Regionally, house price growth varied...

• In England, the average property price climbed to £309,000, reflecting a 2.5% annual increase.

• Meanwhile, house prices in Wales saw a much smaller increase of 0.4%, bringing the average price to £217,000.

• In Scotland, however, property prices surged by 5.7%, reaching an average of £198,000.

• Northern Ireland saw the most substantial annual rise, with house prices up 6.4%, bringing the average to £185,000 for the period between April and June.

Owner occupiers’ housing costs have surged at the fastest pace in nearly 33 years as homeowners roll off fixed rate mortgage deals and get hit by higher rates.

In the year to October, costs rose by 7.4%, up from 7.2% in September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This was the fastest annual growth rate since February 1992.

The rise was due to higher mortgage rates as more homeowners lost the protection of their fixed rate deals and rolled onto more expensive deals.

Nicky Stevenson, Managing Director at national estate agent group Fine & Country, said:

Shipping giant Maersk has announced it will no longer use the Port of Felixstowe from next year. It said its use of the Suffolk port would end from February following the "Gemini Co-operation" review of its network.

The firm said it had concluded that the London Gateway on the Thames estuary in Essex was "the most optimal port to serve our customers" in the UK.

It said it expected to share further details "over the next couple of weeks".

In a statement on its website, it said:

Nvidia (NVDA) is set to report after the bell in what is likely to be the biggest event of the week. With a market cap of $3.61tn and nearly as big as the entire DAX and CAC combined, it's going to be a big event.

Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank said:

UK shoppers took 35 million more trips to Lidl, the highest annual growth of any British supermarket, new data showed.

Some 60% of households shopped at Lidl as it continues its streak as the fastest growing bricks and mortar supermarket for over a year.

More recently, the discounter secured 326,000 additional shoppers, more than any other supermarket.

It comes as turnover increased by 16.9%, almost reaching £11bn, along with increased profits. The grocer is accelerating its expansion with 18 new stores set to open in the next few months followed by 40 in next financial year.

Its newest store opened in Bristol last week, exactly 30 years since its first 10 stores opened in the UK.

Ryan McDonnell, Lidl UK chief executive, said:

After inflation rose by more than expected last month, chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said:

The return of inflation above the BoE’s 2% target is likely to reduce the already low chances of another base rate cut in December.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey this week said that any reductions should be gradual. He expressed concern that the national insurance hike announced in the autumn budget could add to inflationary pressures.

“The Bank will monitor the policy’s impact,” Bailey said, with analysts suggesting that employers might pass on the increased tax burden to consumers.

Traders are betting there is just a 10% chance of a reduction in borrowing costs next month, down from a 15% chance on Tuesday.

Thomas Pugh, economist at RSM UK, said:

Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter Investors, said:

Inflation in the UK has surged above the Bank of England’s 2% target, according to official figures, with the rise being driven by a sharp increase in energy bills.

The consumer prices index (CPI) rose to 2.3% in October, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed. The jump, which exceeded analysts’ expectations, follows a decline to a three-year low of 1.7% in September.

Economists had anticipated a rise, warning that it was likely driven by higher energy costs after the energy price cap was raised for households in October.

The cap increase saw average household energy bills rise by £149 a year, following a 10% hike by the regulator Ofgem. The new cap for a typical dual-fuel household in England, Scotland, and Wales was set at £1,717, up from £1,568.

Grant Fitzner, chief economist at the ONS, said:

Services inflation rose from 4.9% to 5% in October, after analysts had expected it to remain unchanged.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, also rose unexpectedly from 3.2% to 3.3%.It had been expected to fall to 3.1%.

Stocks in Asia were mixed overnight with the Nikkei (^N225) slipping 0.2% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) rose 0.2% in Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.6% up by the end of the session as China's central bank held benchmark lending rates steady as widely expected.

Across the pond on Wall Street on Tuesday, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.4% to 5,916.98, the Dow Jones (^DJI) fell 0.3pc to 43,268.94, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 1% to 18,987.47.

It came as investors looked ahead to earnings results from artificial intelligence darling Nvidia (NVDA).

The world’s most valuable company will report its third-quarter results after the bell. Shares climbed 4.9% on Tuesday and options imply a move of almost 9% in either direction in the $3.6trn stock often seen as a barometer for the tech sector’s shift to AI.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) last held above $93,000, having broken above $94,000 for the first time overnight on expectations Donald Trump’s administration will be crypto-friendly. Investors are also watching Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, which may come as soon as today.

Meanwhile, in the bond market, the yield on benchmark US 10-year Treasury notes fell to 4.402% from 4.409% late on Monday.

Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog. As usual we will be taking a deep dive into what's moving markets and happening across the global economy.

Here's a quick look at what's on the agenda for today:

• 7am: Trading updates: Sage Group, Argo Blockchain

• 7am: UK Consumer Price Index

• 12:00pm: US MBA Mortgage Applications

• 15:30pm: US Crude Oil Inventories

• 4pm: Bank of England deputy governor Dave Ramsden speaks

• 6pm: European Central Bank vice president Luis de Guindos speaks