The eurozone's manufacturing sector continues to struggle, with significant declines reported in Germany and France. Germany's manufacturing activity hit its lowest level since March, and France saw a sharp drop in factory orders. This has extended the eurozone's manufacturing recession to 26 months.

In contrast, the UK's manufacturing sector showed improvement, with its best performance in two years driven by strong domestic demand. The S&P Global UK Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.5, indicating growth.

Lloyds Bank is currently facing outages with its online banking services due to issues with Microsoft Azure. The bank is working to address these disruptions.

Meanwhile, the British pound has strengthened against the dollar, reaching a high for the year, while oil prices have fallen due to concerns about Chinese demand and potential Opec production increases. Additionally, gas prices have decreased following a new supply agreement between Turkey and Shell, as Europe continues to reduce its reliance on Russian gas.