UK services companies say new business picked up in September, easing fears that June’s referendum has triggered a downturn * US service sector improves in September * ... but jobs figures disappoint - ADP * Theresa May: Monetary policy has got to change * Services sector records solid growth * Pound hits yet another 31-year low * Hard Brexit could cost £10bn in City tax * Coming up: IMF’s Financial Stability Report 5.42pm BST Back to Greece where tensions are mounting over home repossessions with clashes erupting between indebted home owners and riot police outside a court in Thessaloniki this afternoon. Helena Smith reports: Anger over the incendiary issue of home repossessions intensified as clashes broke out while a court in the northern metropolis convened over the issue. Judges were forced to adjourn the hearing as protestors, who have formed a citizens group called Collectives Against Auctions, rioted with police reinforcements sent to guard the building. Last week, the same group managed to stop a similar hearing over the foreclosure of a home belonging to a man who had defaulted on a €300,000 bank loan after storming the court room. The man, a father- of-six, who also owed €80,000 to the social security fund, claimed he had been unable to meet loan repayments after his business went bust and he had suffered a heart attack that had left him almost wholly incapacitated. Home repossessions are widely seen as a tipping point for Greeks at the sharp end of the biting austerity that has been the price of the debt-stricken country’s rescue from insolvency. 5.12pm BST A mild recovery in the pound after better than expected UK service sector numbers saw the FTSE 100 drift back after Tuesday’s - failed - attempt at a new record. Meanwhile talk that the European Central Bank might begin tapering its bond buying programme took the wind out of European markets, with most ending lower. But strong US services data lifted Wall Street, albeit also prompting renewed talk of US rate rises this year. The final scores in Europe showed: Continue reading...
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