Thanks for joining me. Property professionals are raising concerns about the housing market today, which they fear has endured a slump since the election was called.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said surveyors think that house prices fell and that new buyer demand dropped in May.
5 things to start your day
1) Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim buys £400m stake in BT | Telecoms tycoon takes 3.2pc share weeks after company unveiled turnaround bid
2) World faces ‘staggering’ excess of oil by end of decade, warns IEA | Renewable energy and electric car booms will stunt demand alongside slowing Chinese growth
3) Putin’s Gazprom ordered to pay €13bn to German energy giant | Uniper severs long-standing ties following two-year disruption of Russian gas supplies
4) Le Pen victory threatens ‘Liz Truss-style’ debt crisis in France | Finance minister warns voters over economic impact of backing National Rally party
5) How Britain’s economy went from ‘gangbusters’ to flatlining in four weeks | Stagnating growth hurts PM’s claim that the UK has ‘turned a corner’ from recession
What happened overnight
Asian shares mostly rose, as investors turned their attention to what the Bank of Japan might decide on monetary policy later this week.
The Bank of Japan is not expected to raise its benchmark rate when it wraps up its meeting on Friday, but the economy is under pressure from the dollar’s prolonged surge against the Japanese yen.
In currency trading, the US dollar edged up to 157.01 Japanese yen from 156.71 yen.
As expected, the Federal Reserve kept its main interest rate steady on Wednesday following its latest policy meeting.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 0.3pc to 38,753.27. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4pc to 7,749.20.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.2pc to 2,761.28. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained nearly 0.3pc to17,993.62, while the Shanghai Composite declined 0.3pc to 3,027.05.
In America, the S&P 500 added 0.9pc to its all-time high set a day earlier, closing at 5,421.03.
The Nasdaq Composite index also built on its own record and jumped 1.5pc, closing at 17,608.44, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged the market with a dip of 0.1pc, lcosing at 38,712.21.
Meanwhile, the yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds fell to 4.32pc from 4.40pc late on Tuesday and from 4.60pc a couple of weeks ago.