Thanks for joining me. Ofgem has raised its energy price cap meaning that from January households will typically pay an extra £94 a year on their gas and electricity bills.
The maximum average household energy bills will rise from £1,834 to £1,928 from 1 January, the regulator said.
5 things to start your day
1) Szu Ping Chan: The Autumn Statement cannot hide the worrying truth about Britain’s future | Growth expectations in an election year have not been this weak since the early 1990s
2) JEREMY WARNER: Like it or not, the Chancellor played bad well | Under the weight of rising tax burdens, the fall statement has become a masterclass in delusion
3) Should you invest in NatWest if the government offers discounted shares? | The advisor plans to sell new shares “Tell Sid.”
4) The Asda co-owner has been threatened with contempt over claims he “misled” Parliament | The claims against Mohsen Issa relate to evidence he provided to the Business and Trade Commission
5) Sam Altman wins the power struggle at OpenAI when he returns amid a board eviction | The co-founder will be reinstated as CEO after hundreds of employees threatened to quit
What happened overnight
Asian stocks settled in thin trading as US markets were closed for Thanksgiving, while Japanese stock indices were also closed for the holidays.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell on the prospect of smaller-than-expected production cuts by OPEC+.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat in thin trading, with Japan and the United States on holiday.
Investors are looking to Chinese policymakers for clues about potential support for the long-suffering property market, in line with broader growth goals they are working on.
China’s main stock index fell 0.2%, with the real estate sub-index recouping earlier losses to rise 2.1%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading US companies rose 0.5% on Wednesday to 35,273.03.
The Nasdaq Composite Index, seen as an indicator of the US technology sector, rose 0.5% to 14,265.86 points.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.4 percent to 4,556.62 points. The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds rose two basis points to 4.41%.
Back in Blighty, while everyone was focused on the autumn statement on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7,469.51 while the FTSE 250 rose 0.7% to 18,480.17.
Accounting software company Sage Group performed particularly well on the London Stock Exchange, where its stock rose 13.3% after beating analyst estimates as the company’s investments in artificial intelligence attracted customer interest.