UK economy slightly stronger than expected, says BoE’s Pill; WH Smith hit by cyber attack – as it happened

Books-to-stationery retailer says a cyber security incident has resulted in illegal access to current and former employee data, though website and customer accounts are unaffected

• Bank of England boss signals interest rates may have peaked

UK businesses are struggling to recruit workers, and plan to keep raising wages to attract staff, new data from the Bank of England shows.

The BoE's last poll of Chief Financial Officers from small, medium and large UK businesses, found that recruitment difficulties started to rise again in February.

In spite of ongoing recruitment challenges, realised employment growth remained strong at 4.3% in the three months to February, although the single month February data were weaker at 3.3%.

DMP members' one-year ahead CPI inflation expectations decreased to 5.9%, down from 6.4% in January. Three-year ahead CPI inflation expectations also declined to 3.4% in February, from 3.7% in January.

This week has delivered a triple blow to the stock exchange operator. First, we had reports that Shell looked at shifting its stock market listing and headquarters to the US, although that doesn't seem to be on the table now. Second, reports suggest that chip designer Arm will not return to the London stock market and instead opt for a US listing.

Now we've got the news from construction group CRH that it wants to switch its primary listing to the US. That would mean it no longer qualifies for inclusion in FTSE indices and therefore would leave the prestigious FTSE 100 index.