The FTSE 100 has come off its session lows, but is still 0.94% down at 6,958 points. Miners are the big losers, with Rio Tinto, Anglo American and BHP Billiton each down close to 5% after weak economic data from China.

Tesco's slight recovery in afternoon trading looks to have fizzled out. The shares are down 2.9%. Unilever is 3.5% off.

Image source, tesco

An interesting angle on the Tesco-Unilever spat comes from Dr Muhammad Amjad, of Salford University's business school. 

“This gives an opportunity for supermarkets to push their own brands, the ones that are competing with products from the likes of Unilever. These stores have huge power, which smaller retailers will not be able to compete with. 

“This is a serious throw of the dice from Tesco, they don’t know what then outcome will be and this is a process that we will see a lot more of,” he says.

US stocks are trading near one-month lows as investors fret about China's weak economic data and the prospects of an interest rate hike by the end of the year.

The S&P 500 fell 15.37 points, or 0.72%, to 2,123.81, and the Nasdaq was down 39.80 points, or 0.76%, at 5,199.22. The Dow Jones was down 97.1 points, or 0.54%, at 18,047.1.

Ten of the 11 major S&P indexes were lower. Bank's were among the main fallers. Wells Fargo was down 1.5% as embattled chief executive John Stumpf resigned following a bogus-accounts scandal.

JPMorgan Chase shed 1.6%, Bank of America 2.3%, and Goldman Sachs 2%.

Image source, Dodo-Pad

Amid the blizzard of news about the impact of sterling's fall on big business, here's what it means further down the corporate food chain. Dodo-Pad is a 50-year-old specialist producer of stationery that moved some manufacturing abroad to compete. After hearing an item on the Today programme, Dodo's boss wrote to the BBC with a plea. It's long, but certainly worth a read.

One markets analyst detects an element of spin in Tesco withdrawing stocks over a reported price rise from Unilever.

Image source, Reuters

Deutsche Bank is introducing a global hiring freeze as it attempts to negotiate a multi-billion dollar fine levied by US authorities. It follows announcements made by the German bank last year which said it would cut 9,000 jobs by 2020 as part of a global efficiency drive.

Deutsche Bank has met with Department of Justice officials in a bid to renegotiate a $14bn settlement deal following a probe into the German lender's sale of mortgage-backed securities during the financial crisis.

Kamal Ahmed
Economics editor

As the good people of Britain start stockpiling their supplies of Marmite and Pot Noodle, one of the effects of the fall in the value of sterling has become clear.

For companies such as Unilever that import food from abroad to be sold in Britain, prices are going to go up because the pound buys less abroad.

To protect their profits, suppliers are telling retailers they are putting up their prices, by 10% in Unilever's case.

And retailers will either say yes. Or, as in Tesco's case, no.

Or, at least not at the moment.

Kamal spoke to business leaders about the effect on retailers. Read more of his blog here.

Evening Standard reporter Jamie Nimmo has more comments from the - light hearted - fretting in parliament on supplies of Marmite and PG Tips.

Image source, PA

No surprise here - the government has declined to intervene in Marmitegate, saying it's a commercial dispute. 

David Lidington, the Leader of the House of Commons, said earlier "it is not for the government" to step in, adding there were other types of "own brand yeast extracts" available. 

He was commenting after Scottish Nationalist MP Pete Wishart suggested the spread was the "first casualty of hard Brexit".

Mr Wishart said it was time for the government to reconsider its plans for a "full English Brexit" and opt for a "more palatable continental Brexit instead". 

Image source, Getty Images

The FTSE 100 is still kicking around below the 7,000 point mark after it was dragged lower by shares in Tesco, Unilever and mining companies. 

The blue chip index is at about 6,960 points following a fall of nearly 1% in morning trade.

Shares in Unilever are 3.3% lower and Tesco is down 2.2% amid their price dispute.

The biggest fallers, though, are miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton - both down about 4% - and insurer and asset manager Standard Life. 

The firm is down 4.8% after it was downgraded by analysts at Barclays due to poor performance and withdrawals from its flagship fund.

Image source, YouGov

Ever wondered what your preferred Unilever brand says about your views on membership of the European Union?

Actually we hadn't, but just in case you had polling organisation YouGov has put together this nifty little graph showing that if you're a fan of Ben and Jerry's, Marmite or Knorr, then you're more likely to have voted to remain in the EU.

However, if Flora, Hellman's, Colman's, Dove and PG Tips make it into your shopping basket then you're far more likely to have voted to leave.

The man tasked with reviewing the state pension age has just published his interim report on ensuring it remains "affordable and fair for all beyond 2028". 

John Cridland - the former CBI chief who was tasked with the review back in March - is due to publish his final recommendations in 2017 and he's now asking for comment and input to help inform his enquiries.  

Meanwhile, though, the BBC personal finance correspondent has filleted out some key points from the interim report. 

Business Live reader Matt Faraday from London is wondering why currency fluctuations don't work both ways.

"My local supermarket in New Malden still has stock of all the usual brands including the Unilever ones. However, for some reason people were rushing to buy Marmite this morning," he says.  

"What I wonder is, if the pound strengthens, will the manufacturers then reduce the price? I sincerely doubt it."

Meanwhile Bloomberg reporter Thomas Penny tweets ...

Marmitegate is the first big example of how a weaker pound might affect prices on the high street. So far a lower pound has helped some exporters and inflated the UK stock market to record levels. 

But the dark side of a weaker currency is that it leads to more expensive imports, and hence rising inflation, says Laith Khalaf from Hargreaves Lansdown. 

"If we do get rising inflation, that will also have a negative impact on cash savers, who will find the measly crumbs of interest they are currently picking up aren’t sufficient to protect them from price rises, and the buying power of their savings will actually start going backwards," he adds.

Image source, AFP

Most stock markets in Asia ended lower on Thursday, with sentiment being hit by weaker-than-expected trade data from China. Exports from China fell 10% in September from a year earlier.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index closed 0.4% lower at 16,774.24. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.6% to 23,031.30, but the Shanghai Composite bucked the downward trend, edging up 0.1% to 3,061.35.

The sell-off has continued in Europe. It's a sea of red, with the UK's FTSE 100 falling 0.7% to 6,973.47, and Paris and Frankfurt both down more than 1%.

Image source, West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce

Stepping away from all-things Marmite temporarily, the British Chambers of Commerce says it has appointed Adam Marshall (above) as its new director general.

Mr Marshall has been the BCC's acting DG since March, when his predecessor John Longworth resigned after comments he made ahead of the EU referendum caused controversy.

Mr Longworth said the UK's long-term prospects could be "brighter" outside the EU, but the BCC said his comments breached the group's official position of neutrality on the referendum.