Seven days in the Square Mile

Markets globally celebrated news of the Pfizer- led Covid vaccine. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices – buoyed by the US election result – hit new all-time highs, as did the MSCI All-Country World Index on hopes this would mark a sea change for the global economy. The FTSE 100 enjoyed its best day since March. Brent crude jumped by 10%, its biggest intraday rise since May, as traders bet on a rebound in global demand. Prices of safe havens dropped: gold fell by 5% and yields on UK and US treasuries rose as investors sold safe government debt to move into riskier assets.

In Britain, Chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the jobs furlough scheme until the end of March in response to the second national lockdown. The UK’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8% in the quarter to September, according to ONS figures. Analysts said the extension had come too late to save many jobs.

The City was preparing for a second wave of fundraising as companies with fragile balance sheets seek to tap shareholders before a relaxation of rules ends on 30 November. Wetherspoon’s chairman, Tim Martin, expressed the frustration of many in business at the UK’s “baffling” Covid-19 restrictions. Shares in estate agency group Countrywide rose by over 40% on news that it had received a takeover offer from rival Connells. Dominic Chappell, the businessman who bought the nowdefunct retailer BHS for £1 in 2015, was jailed for six years for tax evasion.