Let's take a quick look at what has been happening in equity markets this morning...

• Advertising giant WPP rallied after saying it returned to growth in the third quarter, as it reiterated its outlook for the year. Third-quarter like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs rose 0.5%, with reported revenue up 1.4% and LFL revenue up 4.1%.

• Reckitt Benckiser was also in the black as the consumer goods giant's third-quarter like-for-like net sales growth beat estimates.

• Lloyds gained as it reported a slight decline in statutory profits over the third quarter but still managed to beat consensus forecasts, as the banking group reiterated guidance for the full year. Statutory profit before tax totalled £1.82bn in the three months to 30 September, down 2% on last year but well ahead of the £1.6bn expected by analysts.

• Barratt Redrow advanced as it highlighted "more stable" market conditions, said integration of the two businesses had begun "at pace" and that it expects to deliver cost synergies of at least £90m.

• Hochschild shone as the precious metals miner maintained its full-year production guidance after reporting its strongest third quarter in nearly five years.

• Ibstock was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Jefferies.

Deutsche Bank (DB) has raised its forecast for bad loans against the backdrop of a weak German economy, as the bank returned to profit in the third quarter.

Net profits came in at €1.5bn (£1.2bn), up 42% from a year earlier and ahead of analysts forecasts of €1.3bn. It comes after it settled lawsuits related to its Postbank division.

This marked the second time in the last few months that Germany's largest bank has increased its bad-debt provision forecasts.

Deutsche Bank chief executive Christian Sewing said: “We made important progress in putting legacy litigation matters behind us, while also producing a record third-quarter profit in our operating business.”

Apple's (AAPL) chief executive officer Tim Cook promised to keep investing in China during a meeting with Beijing’s top technology official, underscoring the country’s vital role in the iPhone maker’s global operations.

Bloomberg has the details...

Cook, making his second visit to the country this year, told China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong that Apple would “continue to grow its investments in China and help the high-quality development of the supply chain,” according to a ministry post on WeChat.

Jin reportedly urged Cook in their Wednesday meeting to continue investing more in innovation in the country.

They talked about Apple’s presence in China, cloud services and the secure management of online data, the agency said, without providing further details.

Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter Investors:

Nearly half a million UK workers whose employers are signed up to pay the voluntary real living wage are in line for a pay rise to at least £12 an hour.

This will take their annual wage to £3,000 a year above the government’s minimum wage.

The Living Wage Foundation said on Wednesday that employers in London that are part of the scheme will pay an enhanced rate of £13.15 an hour to cope with the extra costs of living in the capital.

It added that recent polling of those earning below the real living wage found 60% had visited a food bank in the past year, while 39% regularly skipped meals for financial reasons.

Reckitt Benckiser (RKT.L) suffered a £100m hit to sales of its Mead Johnson baby formula powder after a tornado damaged a key warehouse in the US.

Like-for-like net revenues fell 0.5% in its third quarter, dragged lower by a 17.4% tumble in sales at its nutrition division.

The household goods firm said third quarter performance in the division was knocked by around £100m of supply-related challenges from the tornado in July, though it said this was lower than initially feared.

It confirmed at the time that all employees were safe, but added that there would be a short-term hit to sales given the importance of the warehouse.

McDonald’s (MCD) shares nosedived in after-hours trading last night after its Quarter Pounder hamburgers were linked to a fatal outbreak of e.coli.

E. coli is a type of bacteria that can cause serious stomach problems. At least one person died and around 50 people across 10 US states were taken ill, including a child who was hospitalised with severe kidney complications, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Shares in the fast food giant plunged as much as 9% in New York.

Most of the cases were recorded in western and Midwest states, the CDC said.

It added:

It noted that McDonald's has already “stopped using fresh slivered onions and quarter-pound beef patties in several states”.

Gold prices (GC=F) hit a fresh record high due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as well as uncertainty around US interest rates and the presidential election. This has fuelled demand for safe-haven assets.

Spot gold climbed to $2,752 an ounce, while silver prices also rose, by 3% to $34.78 an ounce.

Lloyds (LLOY.L) reported a slight dip in profits in the third quarter but still beat estimates, with the bank reiterating its full-year guidance.

Profit before tax for the third quarter came in at £1.823bn ($2.36bn), which was 2% lower than the same period last year.

However, this came in ahead of consensus estimates of £1.622bn, according to figures supplied by the bank.

Shares in the bank were up nearly 2% on the back of the release of the results on Wednesday morning.

Speaking on a conference call on Wednesday, William Chalmers, group chief financial officer for Lloyds Banking Group, said the bank had "continued to see increased confidence in customer activity."

In addition to an increase in savings balances, Chalmers said that there had been a "material increase" in non-essential spending by customers over the first nine months of the year.

Underlying net interest income, the gap between what it pays out to savers and borrowers in interest, fell 6% in the third quarter to £3.2bn.

Read the full article here

Stocks in Asia were mixed on Wednesday, reflecting subdued risk appetite as traders mulled the prospect of less aggressive interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve.

The Nikkei (^N225) slipped 0.8% on the day in Japan, while the Hang Seng (^HSI) climbed 1.3% in Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.5% up by the end of the session after a top government-linked think tank called on authorities to issue 2 trillion yuan ($281bn) of special government bonds to help create a market stabilisation fund.

Across the pond on Wall Street, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.05% to 5,851.20, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) was 0.2% higher, ending at 18,573.13. The Dow Jones (^DJI) ended little changed, down just 0.02% to 42,924.89.

The lacklustre performance comes as investors have pared back bets on rapid policy easing as the US economy remains robust and concerns rise about wider fiscal deficits after the presidential election.

Since the end of last week, traders have trimmed the extent of expected Fed cuts through September 2025 by more than 10 basis points.

In currency markets, the dollar was steady in Asia after the euro hit the lowest since early August amid bets the European Central Bank (ECB) will keep lowering interest rates.

Meanwhile, Japan’s 40-year government bond yield climbed to its highest level in 16 years amid growing speculation that the nation’s central bank will push ahead with interest rate increases in coming months.

Treasury 10-year yields hovered near 4.2% after topping that level for the first time since July. US Treasury yields have risen since the start of the week amid market uncertainty ahead of the US election as well as the outlook on interest rate cuts.

The yield of 10-year US notes rose to 4.214% yesterday from 4.212% late on Monday and 4.096% late on Friday.

Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog. As usual we will be taking a deep dive into what's moving markets and happening across the global economy.

Here's a quick look at what's on the agenda today:

• 7am: Trading updates: PensionBee, Barratt Developments,

• 12pm: US MBA Mortgage applications

• 2.45pm: Bank of Canada interest rate decision

• b US PMI Composite

• 3pm: European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde speech

• 3pm: Eurozone Consumer confidence flash estimate for October

• 3pm: US Home sales for September