Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving markets and the world.
The UK economy posted solid third quarter growth of zero point seven percent, in line with forecasts, with officials pointing to artificial intelligence as a new engine of expansion. That's a meaningful signal for Chancellor Reeves as she navigates a delicate fiscal backdrop and tries to thread growth without overheating gilt markets.
Staying in the technology lane, Ethereum developers at Ethlabs are proposing to accelerate the network's post-quantum cryptography timeline to two thousand twenty seven, citing the rapid pace of AI development as a growing threat to existing cryptographic standards. It's a rare instance of a major blockchain protocol treating AI not as an opportunity but as an active systemic risk requiring urgent defensive action.
And in defense and geopolitics, China has released its clearest imagery yet of the Gongji-eleven stealth strike drone, a large autonomous platform designed to penetrate defended airspace and coordinate with manned fighter jets. Notably, the United States explored a nearly identical concept before abandoning it in two thousand sixteen, raising pointed questions in Washington about strategic miscalculation and lost ground in autonomous strike capability.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
