Seven days in the Square Mile

The US stock market hit a new high and shares jumped globally after President Trump struck a new trading deal with Mexico, easing trade war fears. The pressure is now on Canada, which faces exclusion from the former trilateral Nafta trading group, to strike a deal. The pound fell to a one-year low against the euro as traders reacted to PM Theresa May’s observation that a no-deal Brexit “wouldn’t be the end of the world”. Chancellor Philip Hammond said it would wipe 8% off the value of the UK economy and leave public borrowing £80bn a year higher. Business gave a mixed reaction to the Government’s first tranche of 24 technical notices on the consequences of a no-deal scenario. Companies would face a blizzard of red tape and may be required to hire customs brokers. But there was relief that the Government plans to keep VAT procedures as close as possible to existing arrangements. The British Retail Consortium reported that UK shop prices have risen for the first time in five years – increasing by 0.1% in August and ending a cycle of 63 months in which prices fell. The heatwave’s effect on crop yields has pushed food inflation to a seven-month high of 1.9% in August, and there could be further “price shocks” in coming months. Toyota said it would invest $500m in Uber to jointly develop selfdriving cars to run on the taxi app company’s network. Apple boss Tim Cook cashed in more than $120m’s worth of stock options thanks to a soaring share price that has pushed Apple’s valuation above $1trn.