Here is a summary of today’s news
At around 3pm, some departing flights at airports across Britain were disrupted, after air traffic control provider NATS experienced a technical issue. As of 630pm, some 625 flights were cancelled to and from UK airports following the issue, flight monitoring website Flightradar24 said.
Around the same time, NATS said it apologised to customers and that its flight system was “starting to recover” after a fix was implemented following a technical issue – but delays have continued with some airports suggesting that disruption could last for the rest of the day.
Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, faced a Treasury select committee, at which he insisted that the Bank of England doesn’t have a “secret plan” to raise interest rates.
Saudi Arabia said operations at several energy facilities in the kingdom’s south were halted after attacks ignited fires in the region bordering Yemen (where the Houthis are based).
The three-month copper contract on the London Metal Exchange hit a record high of $14,617 a ton this morning, surpassing the previous record set on Monday.
Gas prices were rising this morning, putting pressure on European countries who need to stock up their storage levels before the winter. European gas price reached their highest levels since January 2023. The month-ahead UK gas price is now up more than 3% at 188p a therm, over the highs seen yesterday.
The FTSE 100 share index dipped by 0.2%, or 20 points, to 10,801 points, with banks among the big fallers. Energy firms BP (+0.9%) and Shell (+0.35%) are higher, though.