Markets

The share price of Standard Chartered plummeted this morning after the bank announced a 16% drop in operating profit in the third quarter.

Lloyds Banking Group has set aside an extra £900m in payment protection insurance (PPI) provisions and confirmed it will cut 9,000 jobs as part of a switch from high street to digital banking.

Debt levels remain extraordinarily high, and UK growth is being driven by debt-fuelled consumption and the wealth effects of overheating residential property, says Miton's Eric Moore.

The single biggest challenge facing markets is normalisation of monetary policy, but although central banks are urging caution, markets are ignoring the warnings, argues Jupiter's Miles Geldard.

Valuations of interest rate sensitive cyclicals have started falling, so are rate rises already discounted in share prices? L&GI's Richard Penny explores.

Climbing the wall of worry

Former Threadneedle head of UK equities Simon Brazier will take over as manager of the £181m Investec UK Alpha fund when he begins his career at the asset manager next month.

UK GDP growth stood at 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), down from 0.9% in Q2 but in line with economists' expectations.

US equity valuations are not consistent with low inflation expectations and any negative data could quickly cause another steep sell-off, according to Societe Generale's Albert Edwards.

Lloyds is expected to cut a tenth of its entire workforce, amounting to around 9,000 jobs, in a digital push over the next three years.