Good morning and welcome to Markets Today. The FTSE 100 is headed for a second day of losses, with futures down about 0.5% and my screens bathed in red as I type. Thereâs less action in currency markets, where the pound is flat and sat between $1.34 and $1.35. Stick with Morwenna, Kit and myself for everything that matters to UK markets.
Good morning and welcome to Markets Today. The FTSE 100 is headed for a second day of losses, with futures down about 0.5% and my screens bathed in red as I type. Thereâs less action in currency markets, where the pound is flat and sat between $1.34 and $1.35. Stick with Morwenna, Kit and myself for everything that matters to UK markets.
Archaeologists have found evidence of a huge and previously unknown industrial hub of Roman manufacturing in a discovery seen as one of the most significant finds in northern England for a century. Researchers were astonished to discover more than 800 whetstones at a site on the banks of the River Wear, and evidence of there being hundreds, if not thousands, more buried in the riverbank. Whetstone...
Archaeologists have found evidence of a huge and previously unknown industrial hub of Roman manufacturing in a discovery seen as one of the most significant finds in northern England for a century. Researchers were astonished to discover more than 800 whetstones at a site on the banks of the River Wear, and evidence of there being hundreds, if not thousands, more buried in the riverbank. Whetstones are stone bars that were used to sharpen bladed tools and weapons and were ubiquitous in the Roman empire. Every soldier would have needed to use one. About 250 whetstones have been discovered in the British Isles, said the project leader, Gary Bankhead, an honorary fellow of Durham University. “So for us to suddenly find at least 800 and very likely many hundreds if not thousands more … it is staggering.” The find is the largest known whetstone discovery in north-west Europe, one that places north-east England firmly in Roman Britain’s sophisticated manufacturing and trade network. View image in fullscreen The Offerton site, near Sunderland, has so far yielded more than 800 whetstones and 11 stone anchors. Photograph: Kumar Ujjwal Singh/Durham University The theory is that the Offerton site, near Sunderland, was a production hub for whetstones using sandstone quarried on the north riverbank and transported to the southern, flatter bank to be made into bars. Bankhead said Offerton’s location made it an ideal trading place with river-going vessels able to transport the whetstones to somewhere they could be loaded on to sea-going vessels and taken to other parts of the British Isles and the near continent. The discovery of 11 stone anchors, the largest number found at any northern European river site, adds weight to the theory about Offerton’s place as an important industrial hub for the Romans. Bankhead said one of the most significant aspects of the new discoveries is that it puts Sunderland on the Roman map for the first time. “It is only 10 miles or so south of Hadrian’...
In a world where it seems like they’re putting chatbots into everything, the toymaking capital of the globe is no exception. For much of the year, China’s toy manufacturing industry has been caught up in a frenzy for playthings powered by conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Earlier this year, listed toy-maker Shifeng Cultural Development Co. Ltd. ( 002862.SZ ) released a cartoon bunny toy...
In a world where it seems like they’re putting chatbots into everything, the toymaking capital of the globe is no exception. For much of the year, China’s toy manufacturing industry has been caught up in a frenzy for playthings powered by conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Earlier this year, listed toy-maker Shifeng Cultural Development Co. Ltd. ( 002862.SZ ) released a cartoon bunny toy called Feifei Rabbit that can answer a child’s academic questions, thanks to the hybrid AI model embedded inside.
Welcome to the Thursday issue of India Edition; I’m Menaka Doshi . Each week, I bring you a ringside view of the billionaires, businesses and policy decisions behind India’s rise as an emerging economic powerhouse. You can subscribe here , and share feedback with me here . This week: Gauging economic health, the world’s tallest vertical farm and a retail stock going out of fashion. 2026 Watchlist ...
Welcome to the Thursday issue of India Edition; I’m Menaka Doshi . Each week, I bring you a ringside view of the billionaires, businesses and policy decisions behind India’s rise as an emerging economic powerhouse. You can subscribe here , and share feedback with me here . This week: Gauging economic health, the world’s tallest vertical farm and a retail stock going out of fashion. 2026 Watchlist India’s just-announced, world-beating 7.4% growth estimate comes with a few caveats. The fiscal year number indicates 6.9% growth in the October to March period versus 8% in the six months before. That means, even as I write this, economic activity has slowed. Nominal growth is estimated at just 8%, sending askew tax revenue collection estimates and raising fears of lower government expenditure in the remaining months to meet the deficit target. The final proviso is that this data is subject to revision not only because it’s a first estimate but also because a new GDP series is expected to be released in February. Since it could take months for the GDP dust to settle, here are five other data points I’ll be watching to gauge India’s economic health in 2026. 1. Shopping trips The number of times Indians shop for biscuits to shampoo stagnated for the first time since Covid, at 157 trips in 2025, the same as 2024, according to a Worldpanel by Numerator December report. But shopping trips are expected to rise as sales of such fast-moving consumer goods have picked up in recent months, owing partly to GST cuts. Already, FMCG sales are tracking higher than a year ago and a 5% volume growth is within shot early this year, said K Ramakrishnan, managing director, South Asia of Worldpanel by Numerator. Given the customer churn between branded and unbranded goods across rural and urban markets, shopping frequency seems to offer a better measure of the consumption demand in ordinary Indian households than listed companies’ earnings or macro data. 2. Corporate investment intentions Indi...