Summary

  • Get in touch: bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

  • US markets slide, Caterpillar slumps

  • European markets close lower

  • Bwin owner GVC falls 6%

  • Italy given three weeks to revise budget

  • Bloomsbury revenues up 4%

  • Sales slide at Wickes

  • Tesla rises after short goes long

Live Reporting

Jill Treanor

  1. Euro area built on trust - EC

    Here’s the link to the European Commission's statement on Italy's budget, which it has rejected.

    "The euro area is built on strong bonds of trust, underpinned by rules that are the same for everybody. It is our job and duty to uphold common interest and mutual commitments taken by the member countries. Italy's debt is among the highest in Europe, and Italian taxpayers spend about the same amount on it as on education. In this spirit, we see no alternative but to request the Italian government to revise its draft budgetary plan for 2019, and we look forward to an open and constructive dialogue in the weeks to come.

    Valdis Dombrovskis, the commission's vice president for the euro.

  2. Europe heading lower

    The major stock markets in Europe are on course to end the day lower as Italy's budget woes, international tensions with Saudi Arabia and disappointing company news out of the US all weigh on markets.

    Germany's Dax stock market index is down more than 2% and the CAC in Paris is off more than 1.5%. Italy's stock market is off more than 1%.

    The FTSE 100 index is 1.2%, or 85 points, lower at 6,957.27.

  3. Saudi prince: 'Great, more people more money'

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin SalmanReuters

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he was satisfied with the Future Investment Initiative conference as he toured the venue.

    "Great, more people more money," he told reporters, according to Reuters.

    The BBC's story on the FII explains that that 150 high-profile speakers from 140 firms were expected to attend.

    But some 40 participants are understood to have pulled out amid allegations the country was behind Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing.

    The FII is a three-day event from 23 to 25 October organised by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

  4. Caterpillar weighs on US market

    A caterpillar diggerGetty Images

    Among the big fallers on the US stock market is Caterpillar, the heavy machinery maker, which is down 8% after it did not upgrade its expectations for future profits.

    The company has raised its outlook for profits twice this year but disappointed investors by not increasing its expectations again.

    The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices are now both down 2%.

  5. Wall Street joins in sell-off

    NYSE tradersGetty Images

    US stocks have fallen sharply in early trade as the global sell-off in equities continues.

    Shortly after opening the Dow Jones is down 309.27 points, or 1.2%, at 25,008.14.

    The S&P 500 index has fallen 36.59 points, or 1.3%, to 2,719.29, while the Nasdaq index is down 127.04 points, or 1.7%, at 7,341.59.

  6. Italy: three weeks to revise budget

    More on Italy, mentioned earlier.

    The European Commission has rejected Italy's budget for 2019.

    Valdis Dombrovskis, the commission's vice president for the euro, said: "Today, for the first time, the commission is obliged to request a euro area country to revise its draft budget plan".

    "But we see no alternative than to request the Italian government to do so. We have adopted an opinion giving Italy a maximum of three weeks to provide a revised draft budgetary plan for 2019".

  7. Lloyds links with Schroders

    Lloyds BankReuters

    Lloyds Banking Group has confirmed that fund manager Schroders will look after £80bn of investments.

    The bank had announced in February that it planned to remove £109bn from Standard Life Aberdeen.

    Some £30bn has already been awarded to American-based asset managing giant BlackRock. At the time it had been expected that the remainder would be placed with Schroders.

    Lloyds and Schroders said they will also set up a new joint venture for "affluent customers" with the ambition of being in the top three for financial planning within five years.

  8. McDonald's shares rise

    McDonald's storeGetty Images

    Shares in McDonald's are up 3% in pre-market trading in the US after the fast food giant reported a larger than expected rise in sales.

    Global sales were up 4.2% as international growth outpaced its home market in the US where sales rose 2.4%.

    Steve Easterbrook, the chief executive, said: "We have made substantial progress modernising restaurants around the world, enhancing hospitality and elevating the experience for the millions of customers we serve every day".

    Net income was down 13% at $1.6bn.

  9. All ladies, all day...

    The i's Adam Sherwin tweets about the launch of Jack, a new digital station from Absolute Radio with a twist:

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy and privacy policy before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

  10. Which British brands do you love or loathe?

    Aldi storeVector

    Which British brand do you love the most? MoneySavingExpert asked its users that question and the most popular brand, as it was in 2016, was budget supermarket Aldi.

    The most loathed? It was Sports Direct, a company that wasn't even among the 10 most loathed in 2016.

    Amazon was the only company to appear in both the 10 most-loved and 10 most-loathed lists.

    The top 10 most-loved brands according to the poll were:

    1. Aldi (1st in 2016)
    2. Amazon (2nd in 2016)
    3. John Lewis (3rd in 2016)
    4. M&S (4th in 2016)
    5. Lidl (5th in 2016)
    6. Ikea (7th in 2016)
    7. Home Bargains (did not feature in 2016 poll)
    8. eBay (9th in 2016)
    9. Waitrose (6th in 2016)
    10. Wilko (8th in 2016)

    The top 10 most-loathed brands were:

    1. Sports Direct (did not feature in the 2016 poll)
    2. Apple (4th in 2016)
    3. Currys/PC World (3rd in 2016)
    4. House of Fraser (31st in 2016)
    5. Primark (1st in 2016)
    6. Amazon (13th in 2016)
    7. WH Smith (7th in 2016)
    8. Tesco (2nd in 2016)
    9. Asda (6th in 2016)
    10. Debenhams (26th in 2016)

    Agree with the lists? Let us know your view at bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk

  11. Amazon’s latest cashier-less store opens today

    Amazon storeReuters

    Internet giant Amazon is opening its sixth checkout-free Go store in San Francisco today.

    It has previously opened similar shops in Chicago and Seattle which mainly serve prepared food, snacks, and drinks.

    But instead of standing in line and paying a cashier, cameras and sensors track your movements through the store after you’ve scanned your Amazon account at the front and monitors when you take items off shelves.

    When you leave, you’re charged for what you’ve taken and given a digital receipt through Amazon’s standalone Go app.

    There's no indication if one of the the experimental shops will ever hit the UK.

  12. Pound recovers against dollar and euro

    Pound graph

    How's the pound done this morning? Quite nicely, thank you. It's been up against the dollar most of the day and topped 1.300 at one stage but is currently up 0.13% at $1.2983.

    Against the euro it's up 0.12% at €1.1322, after topping €1.33 earlier.

  13. Smoking out the share winners

    CigarettesPA

    Are there any winners in the FTSE 100 today? There are a few, led by British American Tobacco, which has climbed 4.12% to 3,501.50.

    Meanwhile Imperial Brands is up 3.66% at 2,705 and the only other share climbing more than 3% is Fresnillo, up 3.17% at 924.40.

  14. A fistful of losers

    Red stock market pricesGetty Images

    Which FTSE 100 shares fared the worst in morning trading?

    GVC Holdings leads the losers after falling 6.29% to 878.75.

    But five other companies in the blue-chip index saw their share price fall by more than 4%.

    They were Melrose Industries (-4.68%), St James's Place (-4.36%), Smith (-4.28%), Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (-4.27%) and Ocado (-4.14%).

  15. Uber to add clean air fee to London trips

    Woman on mobile phoneGetty Images

    Uber is to add a clean air fee to each London trip.

    The fee, expected to be 15p per mile, will be introduced "early" in 2019.

    Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi also said every car on its taxi app will be fully electronic by 2025.

    Asked about reports that Uber was looking into buying British food courier Deliveroo, he said the firm was very happy with its Uber Eats equivalent but is talking to many players around the world.

    "Is something going to happen with Deliveroo? Who knows," he said.

  16. FTSE continues its gloom

    Finger pointing at market graphGetty Images

    How are stock markets doing? The FTSE 100 remains depressed, although it has climbed back above 7000.

    It's currently down 0.51%, or 34,82, on the day at 7,007.17.

    The FTSE 250 is not doing so well and is now down 1.59%, or 299.04 points, at 18,460.02.

  17. Is it the end for the VR revival?

    Man wearing VR headsetGetty Images

    There's more tech that may have had its day, although virtual reality is still really waiting for its day.

    Eurogamer reports that Facebook has cancelled its in-development "next generation" Oculus Rift 2 virtual reality headset for PC, despite the company's assurances that it's "planning for a future version of Rift".

    The news follows the departure of Oculus co-founder and former CEO Brendan Iribe.

    Facebook acquired Oculus for $2bn in 2014.

    Hands-on with Facebook's new VR headset

    Household items we miss the most

  18. Is it finally the end for DVDs?

    DVD playerGetty Images

    The DVD's days appear to be numbered after John Lewis said it would stop selling the players.

    The department store said it would not put more players on shelves when stocks run out.

    Sales are down 40% as more people watch movies and shows on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon.

    However, John Lewis will continue to sell Blu-ray players, which can also be used for standard DVDs.

    Read more here

  19. BMW recalls 1.6 million vehicles

    BMW logo being polishedGetty Images

    Motor giant BMW has recalled more of its diesel-power cars on fears of a leaky exhaust cooler.

    It has recalled 1.6 million in total - included 480,000 recalled in August - and some 268,000 UK vehicles are affected.

    There are 12 models hit by by the fault, which BMW says can result in fire in “extremely rare cases”.

    The recall only applies to diesel-engined cars, and affects examples of the 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, X3, X4, X5 and X6 with four-cylinder units produced between December 2014 and August 2016.

    The same cars produced between July 2012 and June 2015 and fitted with a six-cylinder diesel engines are also affected.

    In a statement, BMW said: “The technical campaigns initially decided for European and Asian countries in mid-August 2018 involved around 480,000 BMW diesel vehicles. During further examination of engines with a similar technical setup, the BMW Group analysed individual cases that were not included in the original technical campaigns.

    “These individual cases posed no significant risk to our customers. Nonetheless, the BMW Group decided to further reduce even this minor risk by expanding the country-specific technical campaigns."

  20. Landmark Monsanto cancer verdict upheld

    Pesticide sprayed on cropsGetty Images

    A court in the US has upheld a verdict that found a weed-killer product made by chemical firm Monsanto was responsible for a school groundskeeper's cancer, but slashed the amount of damages.

    The judge denied the company's bid for a retrial but cut the total damages award from $289m to $78m.

    Monsanto - which has repeatedly insisted that its products are safe - welcomed the reduced damages but signalled its intention to appeal again.