The blue-chip index was down 0.2% at 9.30am in a calm session following Wall Street’s Thanksgiving holiday. Today, the NYSE is only open for half a day.

Denting sentiment, Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill told the Financial Times that the central bank “cannot afford to relent in its battle against high inflation just because it sees signs of weakening economic activity”. He warned of “stubbornly high” price pressures.

In other news, market research firm GfK said that consumer confidence rose on Friday, although it is still way below pre-Covid levels. The data increases hope of higher spending for the Black Friday and Christmas shopping.

Among stocks, Barclays inched up 0.2% after a Reuters report that the bank could be slashing up to 2000 jobs as part of efforts to save as much as 1 billion pounds.

Things to read today:

BoE must hold firm in battle against inflation, says top official (Financial Times)

Humanity Needs an OpenAI Board That Will Still Say ‘No’ (Bloomberg)