 Jeremy Hunt is preparing to announce measures to help the long-term sick back into jobs. The Chancellor is expected to use Thursday's Autumn Statement to warn that labour shortages are fuelling inflation. 2) Cornwall is set to win approval for first UK spaceport, clearing a key hurdle in the way of the maiden satellite launch from the British Isles. 3) Virgin Atlantic drops gender-neutral uniforms on England's World Cup flight to Qatar. Male staff will not be allowed to wear dresses, on safety grounds 4) More than 1 million people may have lost money from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, bankruptcy filings have revealed. 5) Jeremy Hunt's business tax raid will leave UK shareholders worse off than the French What happened overnight Asian stocks dropped and the dollar gained after Ukraine and Polish authorities said a blast that killed two people in Poland was caused by a Russian-made missile. Worries over a potential ratcheting up of geopolitical tensions spurred a drop of 1pc in MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan. Australian shares fell 0.4pc, while Japan's Nikkei stock index dropped 0.1pc. US president Joe Biden has since said the missile was probably not fired from Russia. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 1.1pc and China's CSI 300 fell 0.4oc by the midday break. The struggling property sector weighed on the markets, with China's new home prices falling at their fastest pace in more than seven years in October, weighed down by Covid 19-related curbs and industry-wide problems.){kind=link}
Chosen by us to get you up to speed at a glance
Inflation hit a fresh 40-year high in October of 11.1pc, dealing a fresh blow to families as the cost of living crisis bites.
Surging energy bills and food prices rising at their fastest rate since 1977 were the biggest contributing factors in the surge in the prices people pay for the goods and services they need.
The rate of inflation is the highest since 1981 and higher than forecasters had expected.
The consumer prices index measure of inflation had reached 10.1pc last month, having returned to its previous high set in July after unexpectedly dipping to 9.9pc in August.