Schedule update

Updated

Good afternoon

The following stories of interest to business and City editors are currently running on the PA main wire:

ECONOMY Deficit: Britain's trade deficit narrowed to an estimated £1.4 billion in September while manufacturing achieved its largest monthly increase since April 2014, official figures show.

POLICE TalkTalk: TalkTalk has announced that the details of 156,959 customers and 15,656 bank account numbers were accessed in last month's cyber attack.

CITY BritishAirways: The boss of low-cost airline Vueling, Alex Cruz, will replace Keith Williams as chairman and chief executive of British Airways, who is set to retire next April.

RATES: Knowing precisely when interest rates will rise is not "what really matters", a senior Bank of England official said as she denied its system of "forward guidance" was failing.

ECONOMY HousePrices: The UK housing market will be divided into a "tale of two countries" as price rises in London slow to less than half the rate of the rest of the country, according to a top estate agency.

INDUSTRY Wage: Football fans will join a protest before this weekend's north London derby game to call on Arsenal Football Club to pay all its staff and contractors the Living Wage.

MONEY GenderPay: Women's pay has increased at twice the rate of men's over the past five years but they still earn on average £9,000 less, new data suggests.

INDUSTRY CBI: Business leaders say they are more concerned about skills shortages, economic growth and whether to invest in staff or equipment than whether the UK should leave the EU.

TRANSPORT Emissions: Nearly a quarter of companies would rather pay a fine than upgrade vehicles to comply with clean air zones, according to the RAC.

INDUSTRY ScotRail: Proposed job cuts at train operator ScotRail will be avoided after successful talks with management, according to a transport union.

CONSUMER Marks: Consumer giant Marks and Spencer has revealed its highly-anticipated Christmas food and fashion campaigns.

CONSUMER JohnLewis: John Lewis has partnered with Age UK for its Christmas ad - fondly regarded as the pinnacle of festive retail - with a reminder to consumers to consider those who will be alone this year. (ADVISORY: First sent under embargo)

And on City Wire:

CITY AstraZeneca: Drug giant AstraZeneca has agreed to buy US firm ZS Pharma in a 2.7 billion dollar (£1.8bn) cash deal.

CITY Forecast: The City expects to see solid trading from Sainsbury's in the under-pressure supermarket sector, while telecoms firm TalkTalk will update investors about last month's hack attack.

Pars

Citydesk@pressassociation.com or 0207 963 7212

Advertisement