Crypto News: The London Rush: Living the high life

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Morning, I'm Louise Moon from Bloomberg UK's breaking news team, bringing you up to speed on today's top business stories.

Grab your ski gloves, sun hat or hiking boots: travel is back.

Sky-high demand for flights across the Atlantic has boosted British Airways-parent IAG, which beat third-quarter estimates pretty much across the board. Capacity in the North Atlantic market rose almost 4% in the quarter and it expects demand to cruise in that general direction in the long term.

Shares rose as much as 7.9%, adding to a more than 40% rise so far this year to reach a post-pandemic peak.

The group, which also owns Iberia and Vueling, echoed yesterday's sentiments from Wizz Air; the budget airline had said bookings were showing no signs of softening demand.

One challenge the industry still faces in various forms, however, is the supply and maintenance of engines. IAG cut its capacity outlook for the full year slightly, to 6% not 7%, due to disruption and aircraft availability, while Wizz Air's problems are pressuring costs.

Nevertheless, on the back of its good numbers IAG also announced a €350 million buyback for shareholders. Living the high life indeed.

What's your take? Ping me on X, LinkedIn or drop me an email at lmoon13@bloomberg.net. Oh, and do subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted business journalism on the UK, and beyond.

Endless scroll-inducing app Rightmove is on track to hit 2024 revenue targets. It said house price growth "remains positive, albeit subdued" and mortgage rates stable, with a favourable outlook for more rate cuts. Markets Today's Morwenna Coniam has all you need to know about global rate cuts below.

Talking of housing, Vistry expects to build less homes this year and cut its pretax profit expectation. That's down to issues in one of its units, but looking ahead to next year, it expects a £5 million hit from higher national insurance, more pressure on building costs and says higher taxes will also impact its supply chain.

Boohoo snuck in a statement late last night to emphasise its ongoing strategic review will take a few months and shareholders will be updated in due course. That's after Mike Ashley's Frasers asked it not to break up the business without prior approval.

Jerome Powell says he won't resign as Federal Reserve Chair if asked by Trump.
Brazil courts rival to Starlink's internet service after bitter feud with Elon Musk.
Zelenskiy and Putin battle for influence with Trump ahead of Ukraine pivot.

Here's your daily snap analysis from Bloomberg UK's Markets Today blog:

While the Bank of England was centre stage in the UK yesterday, central bank watchers worldwide quickly switched their sights to the US Federal Reserve, which announced a further 25 basis point interest rate cut to follow its previous half point reduction.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell also said he doesn't rule "out or in" a December rate cut. Optimism over the signal of economic support — along with the election of Donald Trump earlier this week — lifted US stocks and the dollar and that's filtering through to global markets this morning, putting pressure on the pound and gilt yields.

But the implications of what comes next will reverberate further — and not just Powell's determination to avoid interference by Trump. Powell was non-committal and traders are now uncertain as to the likelihood of a further rate cut next month. That leaves a lot on the table for bond yields at the end of the year.

— Morwenna Coniam

Check Bloomberg UK's Markets Today blog for updates all day.

Big earnings next week include AstraZeneca, Vodafone and Burberry. Among the many others, noteworthy names are Boohoo, Flutter and post office parent IDS.

We also get unemployment and production data for September, RICS house prices for October and 3Q GDP.

Hi, I'm David. I cover the money behind sport — and new details about John Textor's football finances emerged this week.

If the American investor's business, Eagle Football Holdings, manages to sell its 40% plus stake in Crystal Palace, up to €40 million of the proceeds will go towards paying down debt at Eagle's French unit, according to a statement.

Textor has been trying to sell his holding in the Premier League team for some time, after deciding that only a one-quarter voting stake doesn't quite fit with his multi-club business strategy. The businessman has control of the other football teams he invests in — France's Olympique Lyonnais, Brazil's Botafogo (currently leading the league) and Belgium's RWD Molenbeek — enabling him to deploy players and resources.

The Palace share sale money, it seems, will be handy in reducing Eagle Football Group's debt of €505.1 million.

John Textor, right, after the French Cup Final match between Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain in May. Photographer: Xavier Laine/Getty Images Europe

Indeed, Eagle's financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis, based on a number of assumptions. Those include €75 million contributions from player sales; a contribution of €100 million relating to the New York IPO of the holding company in early 2025; the completion of more player sales in the 2025 January transfer window; and the completion of the signature of a waiver.

Textor told Bloomberg that, given the increase in squad values in both Lyon and Botafogo, he "anticipates that players transfer revenues will, once again, provide adequate liquidity for our business."

But there are a lot of spinning plates for that to happen, including finding an appropriate buyer for his stake in Palace. Eagle Football Group declined to comment.

— David Hellier

For more on the Business of Sport, check out the team's Friday newsletter.

Keir Starmer offered his "hearty congratulations" to Donald Trump following the president-elect's victory, channelling the spirit of the "special relationship" between the UK and the US. When did that term get coined, and by whom?

Photographer: Hollie Adams, Eric Thayer/Bloomberg

[Yesterday's answer: The government-backed plans for a £1 billion network to heat Westminster will transfer excess warm air from the Tube and The Thames, to warm Downing Street and the National Gallery.]

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