US markets have fallen back in early trading, along with other global markets in the wake of poor Chinese trade figures, which cast new doubt over the prospects for the world’s second largest economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than 90 points or 0.5%, while European markets are also still firmly in the red.

Over in California, Twitter has just announced plans to cut around 8% of its workforce.

Jack Dorsey hasn’t wasted much time since becoming CEO again. In a letter to staff, he says Twitter will “part ways” with up to 336 workers in an attempt to grow faster.

It’s a tough decision, Dorsey says, but necessary as “the world needs a strong Twitter”….

As usual, the sound of job cuts goes down well on Wall Street – Twitter shares have risen in pre-market trading.

The top 1% of wealth holders now own half of all household wealth.

And that includes 120,000 “ultra-high net worth individuals” across the globe who own at least $50m of wealth each.

That’s according to Credit Suisse’s latest wealth report, which is packed with details about the distribution of wealth across the globe.

This year’s report shows that China’s stock market boom has helped to create more ultra-rich people there. Chinese multimillionaires and billionaires make up 8% of all UHNWI’s.

The group of millionaires below the $50m mark make up another 0.7% of global population, but owns 45.2% of global wealth.

But while the ultra rich have got even richer, others aren’t keeping pace.

Credit Suisse’s chief executive Tidjane Thiam says:

Notably, we find that middle-class wealth has grown at a slower pace than wealth at the top end. This has reversed the pre-crisis trend, which saw the share of middle-class wealth remaining fairly stable over time.

Here are some charts from the report, which is online here.

The top slice of this pyramid group is made up of 34 million US dollar millionaires, who comprise less than 1% of the world’s adult population, yet own 45% of all household wealth.

Credit Suisse estimates that 123,800 individuals within this group are worth more than $50m, and 44,900 have over $100m.

UK parliament’s Treasury Committee has been hearing from the newest member of the Bank of England’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, Jan Vlieghe, and it appears he is in no hury to vote for a hike.

This is the first time financial markets are getting a chance to hear what the new MPC member thinks about the UK economy, the global outlook and what should come next for interest rates in the UK.

After the Bank’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, recently raised the prospect of a rate cut – from what is already a record low of 0.5% – in the face several risks to the economic outlook, Vlieghe too is not ruling out even lower borrowing costs.

He is worried about the Bank meeting its government-set target for inflation at 2% on the consumer prices index (CPI), which fell to -0.1% this morning.

Asked if the BoE had run out of tools, Vlieghe said “we can cut rates if we judge it necessary” and that the Bank could also re-start its asset purchase programme, also known as quantitative easing (QE).

But he did also say “the next move in interest rates is more likely to be up than down.”

Vlieghe highlighted what he saw as risks to the UK from China’s downturn and the wider global slowdown.

“Clearly, the UK is an open economy, it has very important trade and financial links to the rest of the world. The UK is in reasonably good shape, growth is solid but not fantastic.

But we absolutely have to take into account we are operating in a global environment which is adverse, so to speak, and it’s a headwind to growth and it is one of the things that will prevent, I think, the UK economy from accelerating meaningfully from the pace we are seeing currently.”

He set out some upsides and downsides in the current domestic situation.

The “headwinds” were:

• A strong pound
• That the UK is operating in a weak global environment
• An ongoing fiscal headwind:

But on the plus side:

• There had been some improvement to productivity growth
• A housing market recovery
• Some improvement in real wages

“What we are trying to judge is how these play off against each other,” Vlieghe added.
As for when he might vote for rates to go higher, after already more than six years at their record low, the former hedge fund economist highlighted a host of low inflation numbers from the core rate to people’s inflation expectations.

Speaking after official figures showed headline inflation turned negative in September, Vlieghe said other prices indicators too were “all a little bit below where you’d want them to be to be confident of meeting the 2% inflation target in the medium term”.

“We need them to rise… I am not confident enough right now that they will rise in order to vote for an immediate rate hike. I think we have time. We can wait and see how this plays out and I would want to see a more convincing broad-based upward trajectory before I say OK, now I am confident enough that we will get to 2% eventually and therefore vote for a rate rise.”

For the first time in seven years an Irish budget will actually be giving away something for its citizens after the years of tax hikes, brutal spending cuts, the humiliation of an IMF-EU bail out and the crash of the Celtic Tiger.

Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan will get to his feet after 2pm inside the Dail and deliver a budget that is expected to include:

• An increase in €3 to the weekly Old Age Pension
• Tax cuts for the average worker that are expected to put €1000 back into their pockets
• A cut of to the hated Universal Social Charge tax which was brought in to help plug the gap in public finances during the bail out times.
• A €550 tax credit for the self-employed
• The promise of 20,000 new public homes taken from the portfolio of properties nationalised after the financial crash and the bankruptcies of property speculators. Increases in child benefits and a freeze on prescription charges.

Of course it is hardly a coincidence that the Fine Gael-Labour goverment are facing into an election year in 2016 and will no doubt face accusations from opposition parties of trying to bribe their way back into power. In return the coalition will argue that they have done the “heavy lifting” after four years in office, carried out the painful adjustment policies that restored the nation’s finances and oversaw growth in the economy, and managed an exit from the bail out.
One thing is for sure – Enda Kenny and his administration are going to wait for at least three months before today’s budget measures sink into the public’s consciousness. The Taoiseach has finally decided that he won’t call the election until late February/early March. The wisdom of that decision to go late rests an awful lot on the impact of today’s Budget 2016.

The Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal and economic problems in emerging markets have become a toxic cocktail for confidence within Germany, new data shows.

Morale among German investors and analysts fell sharply in October, according to the ZEW think tank, pulling its economic sentiment index down from 12.1 to just 1.9.

ZEW President Professor Clemens Fuest pinned the blame on VW, and troubles overseas:

“The exhaust gas scandal of Volkswagen and the weak growth of emerging markets has dampened economic outlook for Germany.”

ZEW’s assessment of the current situation in Germany also fell, by 12.3 points to 55.2 points.

Despite that, Fuest reckons Germany will not fall back into recession.

For the survey, ZEW asked analysts and institutional investors about their current assessment of the economic situation in Germany, as well as their expectations for the coming months.

Over in Germany, Volkswagen has just announced that it is cutting its investment programme by €1bn per year, as it grapples with the fallout from the diesel emissions scandal.

In a statement just released, VW announced a range of changes including shifting all its diesel cars to cleaner exhaust emissions systems, and making the next generation of its Phaeton car run on electricity..

Dr. Herbert Diess, who runs Volkswagen’s Passenger Brand, says:

“The Volkswagen brand is repositioning itself for the future.

We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the efficiency program.”

Here’s the key points from VW’s new strategic plan:

• Accelerated implementation of the efficiency program creates room for reorientation
• Streamlined processes leverage further cost-saving potential, including cuts in fixed costs
• Investments to be reduced by 1 billion euros per year compared with planning – combined with prioritization of projects for the future
• • Product decisions formulated
• • New Phaeton will be electric
• • New Modular Electric Toolkit planned

UK chancellor George Osborne insists that Britain is not entering a period of ‘damaging deflation’:

Deflation is a protracted period in which prices fall in a downward spiral, and people stop spending because today’s items are going to be cheaper tomorrow.

Clothing and footwear prices rose by 2.8% between August and September this year, compared to 4% between the same 2 months a year ago. That pushed the inflation rate down, to 0.1% in September.

Fuel prices fell by 2.9% between August and September this year compared with a smaller fall of 0.6% between the same 2 months a year ago.

The ONS says:

The largest downward contribution came from petrol, with prices falling by 3.7 pence per litre between August and September this year compared with a fall of 0.8 pence per litre between the same 2 months a year ago. Diesel prices are now at their lowest level since December 2009, standing at 110.2 pence per litre.

And a price cut by British Gas also helped cut the cost of living.

Over to the ONS again:

Gas prices fell by 2.1% between August and September this year, compared with no change between the same 2 months a year ago, with price reductions from a major supplier.

Here’s the key points from today’s inflation report:

• The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell by 0.1% in the year to September 2015, compared to no change (0.0%) in the year to August 2015.
• A smaller than usual rise in clothing prices and falling motor fuel prices were the main contributors to the fall in the rate.
• The rate of inflation has been at or around 0.0% for most of 2015.

Here we go! UK inflation has turned negative again!

The Consumer prices index fell by 0.1% in September, the Office for National Statistics reports. That’s weaker than the zero reading that economists had expected.

It’s the first sub-zero reading since April.

More to follow

Just 30 minute to go until we get the Britain’s inflation date for September.

City economists broadly expect that the consumer prices index will remain flat for a second month, leaving inflation at zero. But a negative reading can’t be ruled out.

My colleague Katie Allen explains:

Falling pump prices and a cut in energy bills by British Gas are expected to have kept inflation at zero last month, putting little pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates from their record low any time soon.

Official figures on inflation due at 9.30am are forecast to show no change in the consumer prices index measure. Against the backdrop of tumbling global commodity prices, from food to oil, inflation in the UK has been at or close to zero since February, well below the Bank’s target of 2%.

While some have described low inflation as a sign of economic fragility, it relieves the pressure on household budgets after several years of wages falling in real terms following the financial crisis. The latest official figures on the jobs market on Wednesday are expected to put pay growth at 3.1%.

Here’s her preview:

European stock markets are all falling this morning, as the 20% slide in Chinese imports last month spooks traders.

In London, the FTSE 100 has lost 36 points, or 0.6%, led by mining stocks such as Glencore (-4.5%).

The French CAC shed 1%, while Germany’s DAX is down 0.6%.

Conner Campbell of SpreadEX explains:

A whopping 20% fall in Chinese imports in September didn’t get the day off to the best start, with that drop in demand sure to cause ripples of worry the world over.

One of the biggest takeover battles in the City in recent years is heading to a climax this morning.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brewing giant behind Stella Artois and Budweiser, has announced it has “reached an agreement in principle on the key terms of a possible recommended offer” for its rival, SABMiller (producer of Grolsch, Peroni, Pilsner Urquell…).

Here’s the statement issued to the City.

At £44 per share, the deal values SABMiller at around £68bn — making it the biggest takeover of a UK company ever.

It’s not signed and sealed yet, though – it still needs the support of SAB’s shareholders. Yesterday, SAB rejected £43.50 per share, but the board has now calculated that it can’t turn down this new higher offer.

More here:

The latest trade data from China has sent a shiver through the markets this morning.

Chinese imports slumped by over 20% year-on-year in September (in dollar terms), a worse performance than economists had expected. That means imports have now fallen for 11 months running, as the country’s economy has slowed.

Exports dipped by 3.7% — better than the 6% slide which was expected. But it’s the slump in imports that is alarming analysts, as it hints at more problems building in China.

Reuters has more details:

Imports plunged 20.4% in September from a year earlier to $145.2bn, customs officials said, due to weak commodity prices and soft domestic demand.

These factors will complicate Beijing’s efforts to stave off deflation, one of the headwinds threatening the world’s second biggest economy.

The news helped to drive shares down in Asia, where Japan’s Nikkei fell over 1% overnight.

Commodity prices also weakened, as investors calculated that China would be importing less raw materials in the months ahead.