Thanks for joining me. House prices slumped by 4.6pc in the year to August in their steepest decline since 2009, according to the Halifax house price index.

Property values dropped to an average of £279,569, down from £285,044 in July.

5 things to start your day 

1) Inflation to fall ‘markedly’ by end of year, says Bank of England governor | Andrew Bailey signalled interest rate rises are nearing their peak

2) Tech companies claim victory as ministers admit private message scanning not feasible | Online Safety Bill gives Ofcom powers to ask apps to scan for child abuse imagery

3) NatWest appoints new chairman nicknamed ‘Slick Rick’ in wake of Farage scandal | Rick Haythornthwaite to take over from Sir Howard Davies in April next year

4) BBC Good Food blocks ChatGPT from online recipes amid ‘robot chef’ fears | Restrictions come as cooking publishers fight for survival in wake of chatbot’s launch

5) Waitrose staff warned jobs at risk in overhaul | Grocer says employees will need to make “sacrifices and compromises”

What happened overnight 

Asian stocks sank in an extension of global declines in stocks amid new signs of sustained inflationary pressures in the United States.

The US dollar hung close to the highest since mid-March against major peers, and touched a fresh 10-month high to the yen. 

Brent crude stayed above $90 amid tightening supply, adding to inflation worries.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares slid 0.5pc, following declines on Wall Street and in Europe.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped nearly 1pc. Mainland Chinese blue chips sank 0.8pc. Australia’s benchmark lost 1.1pc.

Japan’s Nikkei sagged a milder 0.2pc, although that put it at risk of snapping an eight-session win streak.

Wall Street stocks declined on Wednesday, while Treasury yields advanced after fresh data showed the US sector services grew quicker-than-expected last month.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7pc to 4,465.48. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 0.6pc to 34,443.19. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.1pc to 13,872.47.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 4.3pc from about 4.25pc just prior to the report’s release.