US stock futures were lower on Wednesday morning, setting Wall Street up to take a breather from a solid advance in the previous session.

Cannabis producer Tilray is eyeing a third consecutive day of gains — and how — with shares up more than 40 per cent in pre-market trading on Wednesday morning in the wake of US regulators’ approval of its plans to import one of its marijuana products for medical research.

The UK pound fell to its low of the day on Wednesday, erasing the gains it had made earlier, following a report the prime minister plans to reject a revised offer from the EU on the Irish border issue.

The South African rand rallied on Wednesday, after new inflation data showed consumer price growth easing to lower than expected levels and amid a broad rise among emerging market currencies.

The global anti-money laundering task force has said it is close to establishing a worldwide set of standards to apply to virtual currencies.

Aveva, the UK engineering software developer, saw its share price perk up on Wednesday as investors reacted to new medium-term targets that were stronger than markets had expected.

A court in Islamabad has ordered the release from jail of Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s former prime minister, who was sentenced earlier this year to ten years imprisonment on corruption charges.

Brussels has decided that arrangement between McDonald’s and Luxembourg, which allowed the fast food group to pay almost no tax on its European royalties in both the EU and US, did not break the bloc’s laws.

UK inflation jumped above expectations to a six-month high in August, but analysts agreed the surprise rise to 2.7 per cent was largely driven by “noise” and unlikely to persist in the long term.

Royal Mail’s chairman has resigned after concluding the role was not compatible with his other commitments, a decision that follows criticism of taking on too many jobs and a chastening shareholder revolt over executive pay at the company.

When Ken MacKenzie was named chairman of BHP Billiton last year, one of the first things he did was hit the road and meet with more than 100 shareholders of the world’s biggest mining company on a “listening tour”.

Bond yields in leading sovereign debt markets are experiencing a concerted upward shift as investors’ trade fears ease, boosting their expectations for the economic outlook.

UK authorities are renewing their efforts to get markets off the tarnished Libor interest rate benchmark, asking chief executives of major banks and insurers supervised in the UK to detail their preparations to move to alternative rates.

KPMG, the big four audit group, has admitted “misconduct” related to reports it prepared regarding BNY Mellon’s compliance with record-keeping rules, the UK’s accounting watchdog said on Wednesday.

Scotland’s economy grew 0.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2018, slightly faster than the UK’s 0.4 per cent, Scottish government data showed on Wednesday.

Since June, copper and other industrial metals such as nickel and zinc have been hammered by the US/China trade spat and fears of a slowdown in global growth.

Britain’s largest supermarket group Tesco has launched a discount chain Jack’s to compete directly with Aldi and Lidl, with plans to open 10 to 15 stores during 2019. 

Higher air fares and more expensive clothes and computer games were blamed on Wednesday for an unexpectedly sharp rise in inflation in August to 2.7 per cent.

London’s housing market has gone from red hot to cold, with prices falling sharply in contrast with the rest of the UK, according to official data.

The UK pound zipped higher after a batch of data showed Britain’s inflation rate has climbed to its highest level in six months.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis said on Wednesday he expected negotiations between the UK and the EU to “re-set” as the deadline for agreeing a deal draws closer, and that there would be “other deals on the table” by November.

European car sales sped ahead this summer.

Passenger car registration across Europe rose by 10.5 per cent in July, compared to the same month last year, and grew “significantly” in August compared to the same month in 2018: by a cool 31.2 per cent across the continent.

Kingfisher half-year results

How hard can it be to sell barbecues to sunburned Rosbifs and gazebos to le plus sensible French? Very hard, according to B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher — although not quite as hard as hopeless rival Homebase found it.

Funding Circle has set a price range for its planned initial public offering that values Britain’s biggest peer-to-peer lender at between £1.4bn and £1.8bn.