Writing the summary…
UK economy sees surprise growth in August ahead of Healey's first Budget

Follow this story
Earlier reports and follow-ups on the same developing story.
Related stories
Tech stocks plunge as Fed rate hike fears, AI funding worries mount; ASML, SK Hynix slump
A sell-off in global technology hardware stocks deepened Thursday.
TSMC posts record profit for a sixth straight quarter, beating estimates on AI boom
TSMC reported its third-quarter earnings on Thursday.

Tech stock sell-off intensifies as markets fret about AI; UK growth beats forecasts in August – business live
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as chip shares tumble, UK growth beats forecasts and John Healey attends the IMF meeting in Bangkok Today’s better-than-forecast UK growth report is good news for chancellor John Healey as he hobnobs with other finance ministers at the IMF meeting in Bangkok. But it may encourage the Bank of England to raise interest rates as soon as its next meeting in November…. “While August’s unexpected uptick all but confirms that the OBR will raise its growth forecast for this year from 1.1% to 1.4%, the Chancellor still faces a major Budget headache, as elevated borrowing costs eat into fiscal headroom and increase pressure for tax rises. “These unexpectedly upbeat figures will further embolden hawkish sentiment among policymakers by reinforcing the view that the economy is strong enough to withstand a rate rise, making a November hike lo

Wallace & Gromit maker Aardman falls short of return to profit
Animation studio narrows annual loss to £1.1m amid ‘challenging market’ in children’s content Don’t break out the celebratory Wensleydale just yet. Aardman, the British animation studio behind the cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his beloved dog Gromit, has fallen short of a target to get back in the black, its accounts show. The employee-owned business was aiming to record a small profit in 2025 after two years of consecutive losses but was hit by production delays and a “challenging market” in children’s content. Continue reading...
Inside India newsletter: Billionaire Ambani’s mega-IPO faces a valuation reality check amid Musk spat
Jio Platforms, the company at the center of Musk’s remarks, is launching an IPO later this month.
India’s IDBI Bank falls 7% as government announces $5.5 billion stake sale to Canada's Fairfax
The Indian government has been divesting its stake in several state-owned companies this year as it tries to keep its growth engine running amid deepening fiscal pressures.