Thanks for joining me. Water companies will raise their bills for millions of homeowners by an average of 6pc from April 1, the industry body has confirmed.
Water UK said the extra £27 a year, taking average bills to £473 annually, would pay to “significantly reduce” the amount of sewage in rivers and seas.
5 things to start your day
1) Zuckerberg announces $50bn payout for Meta shareholders amid child safety concerns | Shares in the social media giant surged after it posted record revenues
2) Oct 7 victims sue Binance for ‘aiding and abetting’ Hamas | Families file legal claim accusing crypto exchange of enabling funding of terror group
3) Russian property seized in London as part of $60bn Yukos legal battle | Kremlin is punished for failure to pay costs to defunct oil giant’s former shareholders
4) Why the Bank of England has outed itself as Hunt’s worst enemy | Any pre-Budget hopes were quashed as Threadneedle Street refused to rule on inflation
5) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The Bank’s blunders will send Britain into deflation | Britain’s monetary elite are hedging against the wrong risk
What happened overnight
Asian shares mostly rose as they were helped by optimism about technology shares on Wall Street after Meta announced its first ever dividend.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.5pc to 36,158.02. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.5pc to 7,699.40. South Korea’s Kospi surged 2.7pc to 2,610.49 after the country reported strong export data.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.4pc, to 15,498.71, while the Shanghai Composite index dropped 2.4pc to 2,705.46.
In Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 1.2pc, reaching 4,906.19, to recover three quarters of its sharp loss from the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1pc, to 38,519.84, while the Nasdaq Composite index leaped 1.3pc to 15,361.64.
In the bond market, the yield on the all-important 10-year US Treasuries to 3.86pc from 3.92pc late on Wednesday.