Amazon shares surge as AI boom fuels cloud growth; Nvidia boss says selling chips in China is Trump’s call – as it happened

3.17pm GMT Closing post Time to recap. Amazon is leading the charge in the US stock market today, with its shares surging by about 11% after its third quarter earnings beat expectations last night. The tech giant reported a 20% surge in sales at its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, to $33bn thanks to demand for computing power for artificial intelligence. Related: Amazon reports strongest cloud growth since 2022 after major outage In the UK, the tinned tuna maker Princes Group has kicked off a float with a valuation of nearly £1.2bn in a boost for the London stock market. The debut of the shares in the almost 150-year-old company, which is best known for its Princes tinned tuna and Napolina tinned tomatoes, olive oil and pasta, marks a rare bright spot in the UK’s lacklustre market for flotations. The stock launched at the bottom end of a £1.16bn to £1.24bn target range set out last week and fell 1% in early trading today. Related: Tinned tuna maker Princes floats at nearly £1.2bn in boost for London Meanwhile, analysts at some major banks have said that the market is underestimating the likelihood that the Bank of England will cut interest rates next week. Jack Meaning, UK chief economist at Barclays, now expects the monetary policy committee (MPC) will vote 5-4 for a interest rate cut by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75% on Thursday. He wrote in a note: Back in September, the committee was weighing up the balance of risks on both sides of its inflation outlook. We think the data since then, as well as signals of future fiscal policy changes, will have shifted that balance, leaving the committee more confident that disinflation is underway.” 1.50pm GMT Amazon shares surge 11% on back of earnings Shares in Amazon are up about 11% now the market is open in the US, after its third quarter earnings beat expectations last night. The tech giant reported a 20% surge in sales at its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, to $33bn thanks to demand for computing power for artificial intelligence. Chief executive Andy Jassy said AWS is now growing at a pace not seen since 2022. He said: We continue to see strong demand in AI and core infrastructure, and we’ve been focused on accelerating capacity.” Related: Amazon reports strongest cloud growth since 2022 after major outage The blue chip S&P 500 index is up 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index is up 1%. 1.18pm GMT Barclays predicts Bank of England will cut rates next week The City is underestimating the chances of the Bank of England cutting interest rates next week, analysts at Barclays have said. Jack Meaning, UK chief economist at Barclays, now expects the monetary policy committee (MPC) will vote 5-4 for a interest rate cut by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75% on Thursday. He wrote in a note: Back in September, the committee was weighing up the balance of risks on both sides of its inflation outlook. We think the data since then, as well as signals of future fiscal policy changes, will have shifted that balance, leaving the committee more confident that disinflation is underway.” Analysts at Goldman Sachs have also predicted a rate cut this week, as well as UniCredit. The latter bank wrote in a note: …the decision is likely to be very finely balanced, with a high risk that a majority on the MPC prefer to wait. Financial markets are only pricing a 25% probability of a 25bp cut, but a 60-65% chance of a cut by the end of the year. Recent data have been supportive of a rate cut. Headline inflation held at 3.8% in September, 0.2pp below the BoE’s forecast. Meanwhile, the labour market has shown further signs of deterioration. The unemployment rate rose to 4.8%, up 0.7pp from one year ago. Private-sector regular pay growth, while still elevated, has eased and is running below BoE projections.” 12.21pm GMT Southern Water lifts hosepipe ban for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Southern Water has ended its three month hosepipe ban that covered most of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The water company, which told its customers that the River Test and River Itchen were at “critically low levels” in July, said it was able to lift the ban after wet weather in September and October. Tim McMahon, Southern’s director of water, said: We’re incredibly grateful to our customers for their support and understanding during this challenging time. By working together, we’ve not only saved millions of litres of water each day, but also helped protect our precious chalk streams. This is a great example of how working together can make a real difference to our environment.” But the lifting of the ban follows a warning from the national drought group - which includes the Met Office, regulators, government, water companies, and others - that drought conditions could continue into 2026. While recent wet weather has helped recover supplies, officials have warned that unless there is consistent rain in the coming months then a full drought recovery is still uncertain. McMahon added Southern Water is investing heavily to build a more resilient water supply, including developing alternative water resources, such as the new reservoir at Havant Thicket and water recycling projects. Updated at 1.44pm GMT 11.58am GMT Coming up to the midday point, and the FTSE 100 is down 0.3%. Advertising group WPP is still the worst performer, falling 3.4% after its quarterly update yesterday sent shares down to their lowest level since 1998. Auto Trader is a close second, with its shares also down 3.4%, after the online car marketplace announced its chief operating officer Catherine Faiers is stepping down. She will join the online greeting cards business Moonpig as chief executive. Princes Group has wobbled a bit in its first few hours of trading, with shares in the newly listed company dropping by about 1% this morning. Related: Tinned tuna maker Princes floats at nearly £1.2bn in boost for London 10.58am GMT Eurozone inflation eases to 2.1% in October Inflation eased back in October across the eurozone, according to an early estimate that showed prices growth fell from 2.2% to 2.1% in October. Illustrating the calm that has descended on shop price inflation on continental Europe compared with the UK and the US, Eurostat said its first estimate of inflation last month showed food inflation fell from 3% to 2.5%. Energy prices fell last month by more than in September, down 1% in October compared with -0.4% in the previous month. Central bankers have been concerned about cutting interest rates in recent months while food, energy and services inflation remains high. But the prices services firms charge each other and the public also dropped in October to 3.2%, which compares with a 4.7% rate in the UK in September. The European Central Bank held interest rates yesterday, despite the more benign inflation outlook for the 20-member euro bloc. Related: ECB keeps interest rates on hold despite eurozone inflation fears 10.17am GMT Nvidia strikes deal with South Korea's biggest companies Nvidia has said it will supply around 260,000 of its chips to help support South Korea’s capabilities in AI computing. Nvidia announced its plan alongside the South Korean government and some of the biggest businesses in the country, including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and the car company Hyundai Motor. About 50,000 of the GPUs will be used to support a government project to build a national cloud computing centre. Nvidia will provide the same number of GPUs each to Samsung and SK to help improve their manufacturing processes and push forward the development of advanced semiconductors. Hyundai and Nvidia said they plan to collaborate on developing tech for self-driving cars, as well as smart factories and robotics. Last night a photo of Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, Samsung Electronics chairman Jay Y Lee and Hyundai chair Euisun Chung toasting at a fried chicken restaurant went viral. Hundreds of people, including reporters, gathered at the restaurant. Huang was later seen handing out baskets of chicken to the crowd waiting outside. Updated at 1.45pm GMT 8.56am GMT Nvidia boss says selling Blackwell chip in China is Trump's call Jensen Huang, chief executive of the chip designer Nvidia, has said that President Donald Trump will make the final call on whether the company can sell its latest chip in China. He said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit: I hope the Blackwell can be sold in China but that’s a decision for President Trump to make. He added that China was “simply irreplaceable”, and was disappointed by Nvidia’s fall in market share in the country, though he said it will continue to grow. Trump said on Wednesday that he would discuss Nvidia’s Blackwell artificial intelligence processors with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Nvidia has faced an effective ban on selling its latest hardware to Chinese customers, over fears that China could use it to accelerate AI-driven military developments. The US president has previously said that he would consider allowing Nvidia to sell a downgraded version of its Blackwell chip in China, which would help it regain its market share in the country. In August, both Nvidia and another chip developer AMD agreed to give the US government 15% of their revenue from advanced chips sold to China in return for export licenses to the market. Related: Nvidia and AMD agree to pay 15% of China chip export revenues to US Updated at 10.17am GMT 8.37am GMT Tinned tuna maker Princes Group joins stock market at £1.16bn Princes Group has floated on the London stock market this morning with a starting price of 475p per share, giving it a market capitalisation of £1.16bn and making it one of the biggest IPOs in the City in recent years. The nearly 150-year-old company, which makes Princes Tuna and Branston Beans, is headquartered in Liverpool and employs about 7,000 people. Simon Harrison, chief executive of Princes Group, said: Today marks a defining moment in Princes Group’s journey as we proudly begin our chapter as a publicly listed company. This milestone is a testament to the strength of our brands, the dedication of our people, and the trust placed in us by customers and partners across the globe. For nearly 150 years, Princes has been a name synonymous with quality, value, and innovation in food and drink. Our listing on the London Stock Exchange reflects not only our heritage but also our ambition for future growth. As we look ahead, we remain focused on expanding our international footprint, deepening our category leadership, and delivering sustainable, long-term value for all our stakeholders. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and even more excited about what lies ahead for Princes Group as we continue to shape the future of food.” Yesterday Shawbrook made its market debut, with shares in the specialist lender up 6.8% in its first day of trading. 8.21am GMT Richard Hunter, of the broker Interactive Investor, thinks there could be a gloomy mood over markets this Halloween. He said: In the tech space, Meta Platforms dropped by more than 11% in response to increasing concerns over the level of AI spending, where the company revealed that it was looking to raise $25 billion for the purpose. Microsoft shares dropped by 3% on similar concerns, despite an otherwise highly positive earnings report. …The mood was also sombre as investors digested the previous comments from Fed Chair Powell, who poured cold water over the probability of a further rate cut in December which markets had priced in. …The mixed market mood from overseas weighed on the FTSE100 at the open, although the premier index remains close to record highs. WPP failed to find any friends with another share price decline following yesterday’s sharp sell-off, while Standard Chartered, HSBC and Burberry felt some pressure on the weak Chinese economic outlook.” 8.18am GMT UK stock market falls at the open The FTSE 100 has slipped 0.2% at the open, retreating from its recent record. Fresnillo is the best performer across the index, up 1.6%. WPP is still at the bottom, with its shares falling a further 1.9% this morning after it slashed its sales growth guidance for the year yesterday and its boss called its recent performance “unacceptable”. Its shares fell yesterday to their lowest level since 1998. Related: WPP jobs at risk as ad group’s new boss condemns ‘unacceptable’ performance 8.02am GMT Gold miner Fresnillo buys Canadian rival for £424m On the corporate front this morning, the metals miner Fresnillo has announced it will buy Probe, the Canadian gold mining company, for $780m in Canadian dollars (about £424m). Shares in the FTSE 100 miner have risen by more than 240% this year, making it the best performer across the whole index, boosted by the steady rise of the price of gold. Fresnillo, which is listed in London but headquartered in Mexico City, operates gold and silver mines across Mexico. Related: Bullion bonanza: why is gold hitting record highs? 7.49am GMT Introduction: UK house prices rise in October Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. Some good news for homeowners this morning as UK house price growth unexpectedly grew in October. House prices rose by 0.3% over the past month, a deceleration compared with a 0.5% rise in September, according to Nationwide Building Society. But it is still better than expected by analysts, who had forecast that prices would be flat. Property prices are 2.4% higher compared with a year ago, and now stand at an average of £272,226. Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said: Against a backdrop of subdued consumer confidence and signs of weakening in the labour market, this performance indicates resilience, especially since mortgage rates are more than double the level they were before Covid struck and house prices are close to all-time highs. Looking forward, housing affordability is likely to improve modestly if income growth continues to outpace house price growth as we expect. Borrowing costs are also likely to moderate a little further if bank rate is lowered again in the coming quarters.” Alice Haine, an analyst at the investment platform Bestinvest, added the slowdown in house price growth suggests that buyers and sellers are adopting a “wait and see” approach ahead of the budget on 26 November. She said: Among the myriad of proposals reportedly under consideration is a ‘mansion tax’ on homes valued over £2 million. Council tax reform, capital gains tax applied to the sale of high-value residences and replacing stamp duty with an annual property tax are also on the table. Even landlords are under pressure once again, despite already grappling with higher taxation and tighter regulation, with speculation that National Insurance (NI) may be applied to rental income – yet another hit for the private rental sector. …With so many property tax changes in the mix, buyer demand has slowed, but the number of homes up for sale has risen, placing those still hunting for a home in a stronger position. Some sellers, keen to move fast, may not only price their homes more competitively but also be more amenable to negotiation.” Elsewhere overnight, the biggest news came from US tech giants Apple and Amazon. Both companies reported better-than-expected results yesterday, thanks to record-breaking iPhone sales at Apple and huge demand for cloud computing at Amazon. Related: Apple reports record iPhone sales as new lineup reignites worldwide demand The results should put investors in the US in a good mood later this afternoon, but they appear to have had a mixed effect over in Asia: in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rose by 2%, while shares in South Korea also rose. But shares in China fell on Friday after the electric car brand BYD reported a 33% drop in its third quarter profit. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost some of its early gains, dropping by about 0.1% . Taiwan’s Taiex and India’s BSE Sensex were also down. The Agenda 9.30am GMT: ONS national accounts