3) The boss of Volvo has said that Sir James Dyson should “go back to making vacuum cleaners” following the British inventor’s aborted attempt to build an electric car. Håkan Samuelsson, chief executive of the Swedish car company, said the billionaire’s decision last week to abandon a £2.5bn move into the automotive world highlights just how difficult the sector is.

4) Ministers are laying the groundwork to renationalise one of Britain’s biggest train franchises, wrestling it from the clutches of Germany’s state rail operator. Transport secretary Grant Shapps told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the Government is planning to bring Northern rail into public ownership.

5) Dragons' Den TV star and businessman Peter Jones is mulling a rescue plan for the property arm of Jessops, having bought the collapsed camera chain six years ago.

What happened overnight

Asian stocks barely moved on Thursday as soft U.S. retail sales data raised fears about the health of the world’s largest economy, sucking the steam out of a five-session rally, while hopes of a Brexit deal kept sterling volatile.

South Korean, Australian and New Zealand indexes were all in negative territory. Chinese shares were mostly flat while Japan’s Nikkei ticked up and U.S. stock futures were barely changed.

That left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slightly higher with gains largely led by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index.

The S&P 500 shed 0.20pc on Wednesday after data showed U.S. retail sales contracted in September for the first time in seven months, in a potential sign that manufacturing-led weakness could be spreading to the broader economy.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.74pc, or 198.37 points, to 6,862.65.

Coming up today

Unilever is the one to watch today. The company has reported some solid results recently, suggesting the handover from Paul Polman to new chief executive Alan Jope came off without too many snags. With Mr Jope now firmly in the driving seat, investors will be looking for the Marmite-maker to be sticking on course for its full-year expectations.

Interim results: Unilever

Preliminary results: WH Smith

Full-year results: Blackrock

Trading statement: Avast, BHP Group, Domino’s Pizza, MoneySupermarket, National Express Group, Norcros, Petropavlovsk, Rank Group, Rathbone Brothers, Record, Rentokil Initial

Economics: Government borrowing (UK), housing permits and industrial production (US)