Public sector pay rises and debt interest costs push up UK government borrowing; Bitcoin nears $100,000 – as it happened

UK records the second highest October borrowing since 1993, while crypto-friendly Trump pushes up bitcoin

The jump in UK borrowing last month (see opening post) makes it hard for Rachel Reeves to reverse any of the unpopular tax decisions in last month's budget, says Sandra Horsfield, economist at Investec:

Certainly, the pressure on public finances looks here to stay, unless the Chancellor receives unexpectedly good news on growth and therefore tax revenues in future.

Tempting though it may be politically to reverse some of the more unpopular decisions taken in the Budget, Labour's hands to do so, without offsetting other unpalatable choices, look tied for now.

After a good start to the period, helped by strong back-to-school sales, we saw increased trading volatility in October, particularly in North America and the UK, reflecting elevated promotional activity and mild weather.

Against this backdrop, we maintained our commercial discipline, improving gross margin by 0.3%pts while still delivering 5.4% organic sales growth. In addition, we made further, strong progress on our long-term growth strategy including opening 79 new JD stores across the world.