Chris Beauchamp at IG wrote: "Despite a disappointing session in Asia, European markets have seen further buying pressure this morning, as the recovery from the lows continues. Dollar strength following on from last night's Fed minutes has arisen as the bank looks to maintain, and even increase, the pace of tightening, if only to give itself the room for manoeuvre necessary if the economy turns southwards in the coming two years. Markets appear to be viewing the Brexit negotiations with the same exhaustion as everyone else, as both sides play for time.

The risk of wandering into a 'no deal' scenario is still on the rise, with each missed deadline adding to the impression that neither side really knows what they want. Equity markets continue to digest the leap higher from Tuesday, but the put/call ratio continues to climb, indicating that investors have yet to start buying the dip in earnest.

The recent strength in UK consumer spending has come to a close, as retail sales fall 0.8% for September. But with sterling already down sharply over the past two days thanks to the weaker CPI figure and Brexit concerns the impact of this morning's reading has been muted."