Marks & Spencer has rehired the head of Tesco’s F&F clothing brand to be its new clothing boss, a fortnight after the struggling retailer blamed the division for its poor performance.

Richard Price, who worked at M&S from 2005 to 2012, will become managing director, clothing and home, next year, with a start date to be confirmed “in due course”, M&S said.

M&S blamed a litany of problems with its clothing business for plunging profits. The errors included no buying enough of popular sizes of clothes and complicated logistics.

Steve Rowe, M&S’s chief executive, said: “Richard’s career spans some of the UK’s top clothing brands and he has a proven track record of delivering growth through stylish, great value product. We are building a team of world class talent in clothing and home and, with Richard coming on board, I am confident that the speed and scale of the transformation of the business will accelerate.

Price said:

Marks & Spencer clothing and home is a great business which still has strong brand affection and huge potential. I left the business because I felt it was drifting in the wrong direction but now feel we have a real chance to make it special again. The new team has already started to improve product and value and I am looking forward to working with them.

It looks like the warmish words of Xi Jinping will give some trade cheer to Wall Street.

Futures indicate that US stock markets are likely to rise gently at the opening bell. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average will rise by 0.15% each if it matches sales of the derivatives, while Nasdaq 100 futures currently point to a 0.22% rise.

An interesting marker laid down on Uber’s battle for its London licence here from Reuters: three days out from the crucial decision and the US taxi app company is none the wiser.

Transport for London (TfL) effectively banned Uber from the UK’s capital city, a key market, in September 2017 because of its approach to reporting crimes. A judge then granted Uber a probationary 15-month licence.

From Reuters:

In September, TfL gave Uber just a two-month extension, far short of the maximum possible five years, and imposed further conditions covering ride-sharing, appropriate insurance and driver document checks.

Uber’s licence in London currently expires on 25 November. On Friday, both TfL and Uber declined to comment.

Just after midday, the FTSE 100 has gained ground slightly. It’s now up by 1.2%, as traders take some comfort from positive rhetoric on trade from China’s Xi Jinping.

Glencore is among the biggest winners, with the commodities miner up by 3.3%. British Gas owner Centrica has also risen by 3.2%.

The mid-cap FTSE 250 has gained 0.47%, led by shares in carmaker Aston Martin which has gained 3.6%.

The FTSE 100 is the biggest riser across major European stock markets, with the German Dax up by 0.25% and France’s Cac 40 gaining 0.33%.

TSB now says the payment problems have been resolved.

Gareth Shaw, head of money at consumer association Which?, isn’t happy, however. He said:

It’s beyond belief that customers have experienced more problems as a result of yet another IT glitch from TSB, hot on the heels of a damning report into the bank’s system failure last year.

With banks increasingly trying to move customers online, these IT glitches are still far too common across the industry, and it’s clear that people need access to cash as a back-up.

The window shocker aside (a better video above for your delectation), the very early verdict is that Tesla’s “cybertruck” is not likely to be a game-changer for the company.

Analysts at Evercore ISI led by Arndt Ellinghorst said the incumbent carmakers can rest slightly easier.

The truck’s “artisanal” cyber styling and excessive specs (range, acceleration), will likely result in a niche product made exclusively for a very conspicuous variant of EV enthusiasts and is unlikely to seriously threaten/disrupt incumbent truck [manufacturers] or may even fall short of broader pickup new entrants such as Rivian.

The eccentric design could mean that hitting sales of 50,000 within two years could be a serious challenge, they said.

Spare a thought today for customers of TSB: the bank is facing a fresh IT glitch after customers failed to receive wages, benefits, pensions and other payments into their accounts.

The latest technical issue is likely to affect thousands of customers and comes just days after the publication of a scathing report into the handling of a computer meltdown last year that left 1.9m customers locked out of their online accounts.

The bank admitted on Friday that “some payments” to TSB customers had not gone in overnight but would not say how many customers have been affected, or the total value of the missed payments. TSB has 5.2m customers.

You can read more detail here:

Philip Hammond – remember him? – was back on the airwaves this morning, bashing the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn, and also the harder Brexit supporters in his old party.

Odd as it may seem only a few months later, given how quickly his legacy has been erased, Hammond was chancellor until July this year. He was unceremoniously booted out by Boris Johnson, first from 11 Downing Street and then from the party.

Now he is sitting out the general election on the sidelines, but he’s still sticking to his old script, talking of a “Brexit bounce and a deal dividend” if Johnson manages to get a bill through parliament.

But he added that the worst outcome of the election would be a small majority for Boris Johnson, as it would give the right wing of his party the ability to stymie softer Brexit policies once more.

Thomas Pugh, a UK economist at Capital Economics, said the PMI data were consistent with a fall of 0.3% in UK GDP during the final three months of the year.

He said:

The first set of regular flash PMIs for the UK will only stoke fears that the economy is heading for a further slowdown at the end of the year. Indeed, even though we think that the PMIs are probably overstating the weakness in the economy a bit, the downturn in the services PMI is especially worrying.

The services sector has been the stalwart of growth over the last year, but this may be a sign that the weakness in the rest of the economy is starting to creep into the economy’s largest sector.

A caveat on the PMI data: because the early “flash” version only covers about 85% of the companies surveyed it can be revised when the final reading comes out.

Either way, it is not a picture of strength, and the Bank of England’s monetary policymakers will surely be thinking very hard about whether to respond to weak growth.

They have been sitting on their hands since raising rates in August 2018. Since then, however, much of the pressure has been for a supportive cut as the global economy has weakened and Brexit uncertainty has dragged on.

However, the prospect of a new Bank of England governor, and potentially a new prime minister or chancellor, has meant that the central bank has appeared wary of making any moves. Two of its nine rate-setting economists voted to cut at the last meeting in October.

We hear time and again that uncertainty does not help companies who want to invest and grow their businesses. There’s been a fair share of uncertainty over the last three years, and it appears the addition of an election campaign is the cherry on top.

Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said:

The new “flash” purchasing managers’ survey for the UK manufacturing and services sectors disappointingly marked its debut with weak news on the economy. Indeed, it showed overall manufacturing and services contracting at the fastest rate for 40 months in November, having been flat in October.

It was reported that domestic activity was being hampered by a lack of clarity on Brexit as well as business uncertainty being magnified by the forthcoming general election. It was also reported that there had been overstocking ahead of the scheduled 31 October UK exit from the EU.

The worse than expected UK PMI data has woken up sterling traders (who otherwise appeared to be taking a bit of a break as they await the general election result next month).

The pound is now down by 0.35% against the US dollar for the day, at $1.2868.

Note though that there have not been any major moves in the currency in recent weeks, with much hanging on the Brexit path taken by the winner on 12 December.

The PMI data represents the worst run since the global financial crisis triggered a recession a decade ago, IHS Markit said – leaving big questions for the Bank of England.

The weak survey data puts the economy on course for a 0.2% drop in GDP in the fourth quarter, according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit. He said:

With an upcoming general election adding to Brexit-related uncertainty about the outlook, it’s no surprise to see UK businesses reporting falling output and orders in November.

While Brexit issues such as stock-building and car factory closures have led to volatile GDP data so far this year, making monetary policymaking especially difficult and encouraging the Bank of England to sit on its hands until the fog clears, the PMI surveys are not only warning that the underlying trend in the economy is deteriorating markedly, but also that the labour market is cooling.

A worsening jobs market has the potential to feed through to weaker consumer spending and slower wage growth, thereby undermining two of the key supports to the economy in recent months. The big question will be just how long can the Bank of England hold its nerve in keeping policy unchanged.

And now we gear up for a very mildly exciting moment for UK economic data nerds: the first ever flash PMI reading for British manufacturing and services.

It will give us – drumroll please – a slightly earlier insight into what’s happening in the economy.

Expected readings are 49.6 for manufacturing and 50 on the dot for the bigger services industry.

The Eurozone manufaturing sector continued to shrink in November, according to IHS Markit’s purchasing managers index (PMI).

The flash manufacturing reading came in at a reading of 46.6, below the 50 mark that indicates growth but an improvement compared to October and slightly higher than expected by economists.

The eurozone services sector reading came in lower than expected, at 51.5.

Germany’s data was published earlier, showing that the manufacturing sector continued to shrink in November. The sector’s PMI reading was 43.8.

Lagarde highlighted public investment in particular (as opposed to spending on day-to-day operations), and repeated Mario Draghi’s calls for closer monetary union.

Economists said Lagarde’s speech, which has now finished, represented a continuation of Draghi’s stances – albeit with a review to come.

Lagarde said she will begin a “strategic review” of monetary policy.

She said: “More on that later, but give us time to give a cohesive view.”

But monetary policy should not be “the only game in town”, she said.

And here is Lagarde’s speech, delivered at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress on the “future of the euro area economy”.

The FTSE 100 is now up by 0.9%, with broad-based gains – the highest riser is Rolls Royce, which has only gained 2.6%.

It seems that Chinese president Xi Jinping’s trade optimism has buoyed investors.

Lagarde is up shortly (as are those eurozone PMI releases).

Analysts at Deutsche Bank, led by Jim Reid, warned that while there could be “volatility” in communications as she takes over the mantle from Mario Draghi, but also that she could take a gentle approach at first.

Lagarde’s previous remarks as President didn’t touch on monetary policy, but since then, she has met with her Governing Council colleagues, so she may feel emboldened to make firmer comments if she chooses.

[...] we could see a temporary increase in communications volatility at first as the market learns to interpret signals from Lagarde. The initial expectation is that she will be more consensus-driven and less prone to pre-announcing policies than Draghi was, which would likely reduce the scope for any major signal today.

Tesla has launched its new “cybertruck” – a boldly designed pickup truck taking aim for some of the most profitable cars made by US manufacturers – but perhaps even more eye-catching was a demonstration that resulted in shattered windows on the pristine vehicle.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk’s response?

Oh my fucking God!

The truck, which looked liked a futuristic armoured vehicle, will have a starting price of $39,900 and a maximum range of 500 miles or more, Musk said.

You can read more detail here:

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

Investors’ eyes this morning are on Christine Lagarde, as the still fresh European Central Bank boss makes her first proper speech at the helm of one of the world’s key monetary policy setters.

Three weeks into her presidency, Lagarde is yet to talk about her views on the path of interest rates or the eurozone economy, which has weakened in recent months. Germany’s statistics office on Friday confirmed that Europe’s largest economy grew by only 0.1% in the third quarter – narrowly avoiding recession.

Flash purchasing managers indices (PMIs) for the services and manufacturing sectors will give a more up-to-date picture of the economy. Economists expect manufacturing to continue to shrink (in part because of the weakness of the auto sector), while services growth could moderate. In the UK data firm IHS Markit will also break new ground, with flash PMI readings for the first time.

If Europe’s economic weakness worsens Lagarde could have her hands tied, according to Nouriel Roubini, the influential professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He wrote yesterday:

The ECB’s new president, Christine Lagarde, will most likely be unable to provide much more in the way of monetary-policy stimulus, given that one-third of the ECB Governing Council already opposes the current round of easing.

She may have to deal with complicating factors in which she has little influence: a trade war between the US and China.

While Donald Trump has sounded off at regular intervals about the trade war, signals from his Chinese counterpart are somewhat rarer. Today he gave a turn that was equal parts fighting talk and more emollient language.

According to a pool report, Xi told representatives of an international forum:

We want to work for a ‘phase one’ agreement on the basis of mutual respect and equality.

When necessary we will fight back, but we have been working actively to try not to have a trade war. We did not initiate this trade war and this is not something we want.

That has contributed to a mixed picture on markets, although the FTSE 100 has gained 0.5% at the open.

The agenda

• 8:30am GMT: European Central Bank Christine Lagarde speech
• 8:30am GMT: Germany manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) (November)
• 9am GMT: Eurozone manufacturing and services flash PMIs (November)
• 9:30am GMT: UK manufacturing and services flash PMIs (November)
• 1pm GMT: Germany Bundesbank Jens Weidmann speech
• 2:45pm GMT: US Markit manufacturing and services flash PMI (November)