The UK stock market has closed for the night, with the FTSE 100 up 15 points.

With the pound still suffering from Brexit angst, international companies led the risers. Pharmaceutical firm Hikma gained 4%, with global equipment rental firm Ashtead 3% higher.

But UK builders had a bad day, with Berkeley and Persimmon down 2% each.

From shipping to craning.... and the world’s biggest crane has been in action today, helping to construct the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.

Big Carl, which stands 250 metres high, successfully moved a 170 tonne (!) piece of the Hinkley reactor’s “steel containment liner” at 4.30am this morning.

Here are some impressive photos, which have quite a sci-fi feel....

The Baltic Dry index is one of those esoteric financial benchmarks that may actually give a handy insight into the real economy.

It measures the cost of shipping goods around the world, and thus can gauge how much demand there is for supertankers and smaller ships.

So it’s worth noting that the Index has dropped close to a six-month low today, with weaker demand for a range of vessel sizes. It’s the 11th daily drop in a row.

Wall Street has opened cautiously, as traders await the historic vote on whether to impeach Donald Trump (liveblog here).

Shares are a little higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining 39 points or 0.14% to 28,306 - back towards yesterday’s intraday high.

The tech-focused Nasdaq has hit a record high, up 17 points or 0.2% at 8,840.

A lot of people have been citing December 2020 as the big Brexit deadline. But actually, June could be the real cliff edge date.

That the last date for the UK to request an extension, EU insiders insist. The withdrawal agreement stipulates that the transition can be extended by “one or two years”, but that would probably involve the UK committing more money for the EU budget.

My colleague Jennifer Rankin reports that Brussels believes Johnson is serious about not seeking such an extension:

But.. this cliff-edge wouldn’t be as serious as crashing out of the EU without a withdrawal agreement:

Speaking of the Bank of England... the central bank has outlined new climate emergency stress tests.

They will examine whether UK banks and insurance companies are prepared for the impact of climate change. It will consider a range of scenarios, including temperature rises of up to 4 degrees celsius (double the Paris climate agreement). More here:

Professor Costas Milas of Liverpool University argues that UK interest rates are likely to be cut next year - whether Brexit goes smoothly or not.

He writes:

Under the current interest rate of 0.75%, the Bank expects inflation to be 1.42% in late 2020. Under one interest rate cut, inflation will be 1.51% by the end of 2020. All this, based on the assumption that the sterling effective rate settles at the 79 level in 2020.

Notice that sterling went up to 82 in the aftermath of the election result. Assuming that Brexit-related negotiations run reasonably smoothly in 2020, sterling will rise further therefore pushing inflation further below the Bank’s forecast and the 2% target. In this case, the Bank will surely react by cutting the policy rate.

But what if the trade deal negotiations hit hurdles?

Even if Brexit negotiations involve a lot of ups and downs, the BoE will most likely be forced to cut the policy rate. In this case, uncertainty will spiral out of control. Indeed, we got a taste of this following Boris Johnson’s move to legislate against extending the end of 2020 deadline which is, of course, a huge gamble.

So whatever Brexit scenario one is willing to contemplate, an interest rate cut looks as the most likely outcome..

As a knowledgable and well-read lot, I’m sure you’ll have NO TROUBLE at all tackling our Christmas quiz.

It’s just been published, covering some of the biggest business news stories of the year:

Chancellor Sajid Javid has welcomed today’s inflation figures, saying it will help families handle the cost of Christmas.

However, prices are still rising -- so households will suffer if their income hasn’t kept pace with inflation.

Wages are still rising faster than inflation in the UK, but the gap has narrowed.

Yesterday we learned that total pay growth (including bonuses) slowed to 3.2%, from 3.6%, with basic pay growth dipping from 3.6% to 3.5%.

Chocolate prices are a classic example of ‘shrinkflation’, especially at Christmas time.

Last week, ITV News showed how some favourite festive confectionary tins, such as Roses and Quality Street, have shrunk by 40% in the last decade. That has allowed them to keep the sticker price low - but obviously consumers are getting less for their money.

The Office for National Statistics tries to keep a close eye on this. Earlier this year, it reported that 206 products shrank in size in 2018, while 79 got bigger.

So if a chocolate tub gets significantly smaller, but its price doesn’t, that pushes inflation up.

ONS Head of Inflation Mike Hardie points out that concert tickets, and package holidays, also became pricier last month:

“The headline rate of inflation remained steady with prices rising across a variety of goods and services such as chocolate, concert tickets and package holidays, offset by falling hotel costs and cigarette prices rising substantially slower than this time last year.

Britain’s inflation rate remains at its lowest since November 2016, as this chart shows:

Just in: UK inflation stuck at a three-year low of 1.5% last month.

That’s a little higher than expected, but still comfortably below the Bank of England’s target of 2%.

More to follow....

Big news in the auto sector: Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler have agreed to merge, creating the world’s four-biggest carmaker.

My colleague Jasper Jolly has the details:

The two parent companies, PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, confirmed there will be no plant closures as part of €3.7bn in cost savings from the merger, a key concern for more than 1,000 workers at PSA’s Vauxhall factory in Ellesmere Port.

PSA’s boss Carlos Tavares, who previously oversaw PSA’s successful integration and turnaround of the Vauxhall and Opel brands, will stay on as the chief executive of the new group, which will have combined annual sales of about 8.7m vehicles.

The pound is bobbing nervously this morning, currently below $1.309 at its lowest level since election day.

Rupert Harrison of asset manager BlackRock says Boris Johnson needs to tread more carefully, and help lower economic uncertainty rather than dolloping more onto the markets.

Back in London, the UK-focused FTSE 250 index has dipped in early trading.

The mid-cap index has lost 54 points or 0.25% at 21,636. Consumer stocks and financials are among the fallers.

Experienced City watchers often say that profit warnings come in threes.

Luxury audio equipment and TVs firm Bang & Olufsen has gone one better (or worse) with its FOURTH profits warning of the year.

Shares in Bang & Olufsen have fallen by 20% this morning, after it warned that sales were “considerably lower than expected” last month.

It now expects revenue to be 18% lower than a year ago.

Demand for Bang & Olufsen’s expensive equipment has faded as consumer behaviour changes -- rather than investing in a top-end hi-fi, younger people are more likely to be consuming music through their phones or smart speakers.

The company has tried to move with the times with some new ranges, such as its Beosound 2 with Google Assistant (a snip at, er, £1,650). But profits and cash flow are both weakening.

It’s also the season for profit warnings.

UK recruiter Staffline has slashed its profit forecasts for the second time in three, after suffering a slump in demand from customers.

It told investors:

During November, customer demand was down approximately 16% from the prior year which the Board believes reflects high levels of consumer uncertainty across the UK.

Alarmingly, Staffline also says it overstated its profits by £4m last year, due to accounting errors. The firm’s share have slumped by a third this morning.

Shares in UK-focused companies are coming under fresh pressure this morning.

Housebuilders such as Barratt (-2.7%), Persimmon (-1.8%) and Berkeley Group (-1.7%) are among the top fallers.

Ocado (-1.4%) and Next (-1%) are also dropping, on fears that Brexit fears will hurt consumer spending.

Brexit jitters have pushed the pound down to a two-week low against the euro.

Sterling dropped as low as €1.1737 this morning, just a few days after hitting a three-year high over €1.20

FxPro senior market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich blames Boris Johnson’s “hard line” on trade negotiations with the EU.

The markets may have run ahead of the train again, expecting the volatility of the pound to be over. In this case, there are more and more similarities with Trump, whose arrival marked the increased uncertainty for the markets, although it still contributed more to their growth than to their decline for stocks.

Today’s UK inflation data (9.30am) may show that households are benefitting from a cap on gas and electricity bills.

Elsa Lignos of Royal Bank of Canada explains:

CPI inflation dropped to 1.5% y/y last month from 1.7% y/y previously. Almost all of that fall in CPI inflation was attributable to a cap on domestic energy prices. The effect will continue to drag on inflation again this month.

Our economists expect November CPI inflation to drop to what would be a three-year low of 1.4% y/y.

Economist and trade expert Dr Rebecca Harding says Downing Street’s Brexit strategy appears to have been taken straight from the White House:

“How should we assess Prime Minister Johnson’s proposed hard deadline for a Brexit deal? This is entirely strategic and straight out of the Trump playbook.

Boris said he’d get Brexit done and he will live by that promise. In reality, what we’ll probably see is a small deal so everyone wins, leaving many doors open and allowing things that need a little bit longer to get done at a more leisurely pace. The politics are all for show.”