Ftse 100 live: pound sours as leak hints at trade deal being secured

Sterling was trading hands by 12pm at $1.2904, up 1.3 percent on the day. It also rose by 1 percent compared to the euro to hit a 20-day high of 90.30. Athanasios Vamvakidis, global head of

G10 FX strategy at BAML said: "There's hope that, no matter what, they will avoid the extremes and even if there is no deal, they will make sure that we don't get any

disruptions in the market. "Just a couple of weeks ago, everything was falling apart. There was the internal market bill and the chances for a deal had collapsed. "And since then

it seems that the UK government ... have indicated that they will avoid violating the withdrawal agreement so this was one positive,"  Meanwhile, the economy has shrunk by 11.7 percent

compared to pre-lockdown, despite recovering some ground since April, the latest ONS figures show. Between April and June, the economy hit a new record after it contracted by 20.4 percent.

And nearly all sectors have seen declines, particularly those shut down because of coronavirus restrictions. In the hospitality sector, less than one in four businesses were trading between

March and May. The ONS also added that in cash terms, debt has passed £2 trillion for the first time. FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES FROM EXPRESS.CO.UK 2.03pm update: Futures bounce as China

industrial profits rise US stock index futures rose on Monday as hopes of a global economic recovery were supported by data showing continued growth in China's industrial profits, while

beaten down shares of banking and travel firms bounced. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc, United Airlines, cruise operators Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Carnival Corp rose between

2.5 percent and 5.6 percent in premarket trading. American Airlines Group Inc said it has secured a $5.5 billion Treasury loan and could tap up to $2 billion more in October depending on the

allocation of extra funds under a $25 billion loan package for airlines. 1PM UPDATE: PIZZA HUT SAVES THOUSANDS OF JOBS AT THREAT IN MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH Pizza Hut has persuaded enough

creditors and landlords to vote in favour of cutting rents and bills to keep the pizza chain's restaurants in business, the company has announced. The Company Voluntary Arrangement

(CVA) was voted through on Monday and will result in the closure of 29 of Pizza Hut's 244 restaurants, with 450 jobs at risk. The deal will see 5,000 jobs saved across its remaining

sites. A Pizza Hut Restaurants spokesperson said: "The Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) for Pizza Hut Restaurants, (PHR - the UK dine-in franchise business of the global Pizza Hut

brand), is now approved. "We are delighted to have reached such a constructive position in partnership with our landlords and creditors. We appreciate the support of everyone involved

and this outcome provides us with a strong platform to secure the long-term future of the business including over 5,000 jobs and over 200 restaurants. Our focus is now 'business as

usual' supporting all of our team members and continuing to provide a Covid-safe restaurant experience for our guests." 12.13PM UPDATE: BANK OF ENGLAND'S RAMSDEN SEES 0.1

PERCENT AS FLOOR FOR RATES Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said he thought the floor for the central bank’s key interest rate was 0.1 percent but the BoE was “duty-bound” to

consider whether it could take rates below zero. “For me, I see the effective lower bound still at 0.1 which is where Bank Rate is at present,” Ramsden said in an interview with Britain’s

Society of Professional Economists posted online. The BoE, seeking ways to help Britain’s economy through the coronavirus crisis, said this month it would look at how it might be able to

implement negative rates if they were needed. 11.31AM UPDATE: CUSTOMERS AT BARCLAYS UNABLE TO ACCESS THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS ONLINE  Barclays confirmed the problems after more than a dozen

Twitter users reported concerns from around 9.50am this morning. Data from Down Detector - which tracks outages on major services - indicates that issues started around 9.44am. Barclays

said: "A small number of our customers are having problems logging in to their online banking and making payments on online banking and in the Barclays app. "We apologise for this

and are working to fix it as soon as possible." 10.11AM UPDATE: FTSE 100 LIVE INDEX RISES  The pound at 10am was 1.2831 dollars compared to 1.2700 dollars at the previous close. The

euro at 10am was 0.9073 pounds compared to 0.9149 pounds at the previous close. 9.30AM UPDATE: ALDI PLANS TO OPEN 100 NEW STORES WITH £1.3 BILLION OF INVESTMENT BY THE END OF NEXT YEAR The

discount supermarket said it plans to create 4,000 jobs next year as part of the expansion plan, which is part of long-term plans to grow to a portfolio of 1,200 stores by 2025. Aldi will

drive investment into creating and upgrading stores, distribution centres and innovation across its operations, it said. The update came as Aldi reported that sales increased by 8 percent to

£12.28 billion in 2019. Meanwhile, it saw pre-tax profits jump by 49 percent to £271.5 million for the year. 8.06AM UPDATE: FTSE 100 REMAINS UNCHANGED AS IT OPENS THIS MORNING  The pound at

8am was 1.2779 dollars compared to 1.2700 dollars at the previous close. The euro at 8am was 0.9099 pounds compared to 0.9149 pounds at the previous close.