Following this good surprise, UK inflation data also showed that prices cooled down faster-than-expected in November. It fell to 10.7% last month on a yearly basis, down from 11.1% in October. The consensus was 10.9%.

The Bank of England is also expected to increase its rate by 50 bps tomorrow, to 3.5%. "While the sizeable drop in headline and core inflation in November will probably will not affect tomorrow’s decision, it strengthens our call that the BoE will not hike further beyond tomorrow’s move," said Berenberg analyst Kallum Pickering. "While there is some risk that policymakers may go for one final 25bp hike at the February meeting, the case for doing so is weakening."

However, the FTSE 100 was down 0.5% this morning, dragged down by miners, as copper prices fell on demand concerns.

Among stocks, HSBC gained 0.2% after it said it would no longer finance new oil and gas fields.

BT Group jumped 2.5% after it submitted its new wholesale fibre offer to the regulator Ofcom.

 

Things to read today:

Seawater electrolysis ignites new hope for affordable green hydrogen (Financial Times)

Musk Drags Twitter Down a Dangerous Rabbit Hole (Bloomberg)