Thanks for joining us. Rail strikes and rain dealt a blow to the high street last month, as shoppers opted to stay at home rather than venture into city centres.
Retailers face further pain as consumers grapple with the impact of rising interest rates, which the Bank of England is expected to raise for a 14th consecutive meeting today.
5 things to start your day
1) Fitch blames pro-Trump Capitol riots for US credit downgrade | The Capitol riots that saw Donald Trump supporters storm Congress have been blamed by Fitch for its decision to strip the US of its gold-plated credit rating.
2) French air traffic control chaos fuels spike in delays | Disruption threatens the aviation industry’s fragile recovery
3) What Rishi Sunak’s climbdown over the CE safety mark means | Brexiteers fear backtracking on symbolic standard sets a precedent for maintaining EU rules
4) Ferrari enjoys sales boom as super-rich pay extra for logos and coloured wheels | Cashmere and corduroy interiors and kevlar and carbon fibre trims popular among buyers
5) Soaring mortgage rates hit South East hardest as house prices collapse | Rising rates see more homeowners selling at a discount
What happened overnight
Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower on Thursday after Fitch Ratings cut the United States government’s credit rating.
Tokyo’s market benchmark fell almost 1.5%. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul declined. Oil prices edged higher.
Wall Street turned in its biggest one-day decline in months after Fitch Ratings downgraded the top-level US government credit rating on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 closed down 1.4pc to 4,513.39 for its sharpest tumble since April, marking its second straight loss after reaching a 16-month high on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1pc lower, while the Nasdaq Composite finished down 2.2pc.
In the bond market, the benchmark yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.07pc from 4.04pc late Tuesday. The policy sensitive two-year Treasury yield slipped to 4.89pc from 4.91pc as its price rose.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo tumbled 1.4pc to 32,244.08 and the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2pc to 3,254.37. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 0.5pc to 19,429.17.
The Kospi in Seoul gave up 0.8pc to 2,597.36 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 declined 0.5pc to 7,318.20. Jakarta gained while New Zealand and other Southeast Asian markets declined.