Thanks for joining me. House prices fell 4.6% in the year to August in their biggest decline since 2009, according to the Halifax House Price Index.
Property values fell to an average of £279,569, down from £285,044 in July.
5 things to start your day with
1) The Governor of the Bank of England said that inflation will fall “significantly” by the end of the year | Andrew Bailey noted that interest rate hikes are nearing their peak
2) Tech companies claim victory as ministers admit scanning private messages is not possible | The Online Safety Bill gives Ofcom powers to require apps to search for images of child abuse
3) NatWest appoints a new boss dubbed ‘Slick Rick’ in the wake of the Farage scandal | Rick Haythornthwaite will take over from Sir Howard Davies in April next year
4) BBC Good Food bans ChatGPT from online recipes amid ‘robot chef’ fears. | The restrictions come as cooking publishers struggle to survive in the wake of the launch of a chatbot
5) Waitrose staff have warned jobs are at risk in the overhaul | Grocer says employees will need to make ‘sacrifices and compromises’
What happened overnight
Asian stocks sank in an extension of the declines in global stocks, amid new indications of continued inflationary pressures in the United States.
The US dollar was stuck near its highest levels since mid-March against its major counterparts, and touched a new 10-month high against the yen.
Brent crude remained above $90 amid shrinking supplies, adding to inflation fears.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares fell 0.5%, following declines on Wall Street and Europe.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell nearly 1%. Leading stocks on the Chinese mainland fell 0.8%. The Australian index lost 1.1%.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2%, although that risked snapping an eight-session winning streak.
Wall Street stocks fell on Wednesday, while Treasury yields rose after new data showed that US sector services grew faster than expected last month.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.7% to 4,465.48 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 34,443.19 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.1% to 13,872.47 points.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which affects interest rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 4.3% from about 4.25% just before the report.