Barclays has posted record pre-tax profits for the third quarter.

Profits hit £6.9bn, which is up from profits of £2.4bn that were made in the same period a year previously.

“We continue to support our customers and clients through the COVID-19 pandemic, have achieved a double-digit RoTE in every quarter year to date, and expect to deliver a full-year RoTE above 10 per cent,” said James E Staley, the group’s chief executive officer.

“While the CIB performance continues to be an area of strength for the group, we are also seeing evidence of a consumer recovery and the early signs of a more favourable rate environment. Against that backdrop, we are focused on balancing cost efficiencies with further investment into high-returning growth opportunities.”

The latest figures from the bank have beat expectations from the City. Barclays shares have doubled in the last year and opened today at 196p.

“Today’s Q3 report from Barclays continued to show strong corporate and investment performance, which had their best Q3 YTD on a comparable basis, along with a good rate of consumer recovery,” Walid Koudmani, market analyst at financial brokerage XTB comments

“Overall it was a positive report which also pointed to higher expectations of return while highlighting the need to evaluate costs and adjust dividends as well as potentially implementing share buybacks as appropriate.”

Tesla has posted record quarterly net earnings thanks to a high sales of electric vehicles.

The news comes despite global supply chain issues leading to a shortage of computer chips.

Tesla posted $1.62bn profits, which is higher than the $1.14bn profits it made in the second quarter of this year which was the previous record.

Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com, said: “Elon Musk delivered another terrific quarter as Tesla continues to execute flawlessly.”

“It has done an outstanding job navigating through global supply chain and logistics challenges, weathering the storm significantly better than rival automakers.”

Despite industry shortages, the company sales were up 72% compared to the same period last year.

“A variety of challenges, including semiconductor shortages, congestion at ports and rolling blackouts, have been impacting our ability to keep factories running at full speed,” said Tesla in a statement.

“We believe our supply chain, engineering and production teams have been dealing with these global challenges with ingenuity, agility and flexibility that is unparalleled in the automotive industry.”

UK government borrowing almost halved this year.

The number fell £7bn from September last year and was £21.8bn. It is still the second highest amount borrowed in a September since records began.

Borrowing this year has been under the forecasts from OBR. The national debt is now up to £2,218.9bn, which is 95.5% of the UK’s gross domestic product.

“Stronger-than-expected tax receipts continued to account for the bulk of the borrowing undershoot, though spending has also fallen back more quickly than anticipated,” said Martin Beck, senior economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club.

“In both cases this reflects a much stronger recovery in activity than the OBR’s cautious forecast. These improvements are set to be sustained, and the EY ITEM Club expects full-year borrowing to come in at just over £200bn, well below the OBR’s forecast of £234bn.”

Rishi Sunak commented: “Our recovery is well underway – with more employees on payrolls than ever before and the fastest forecast growth in the G7 this year – but the pandemic has had a huge impact on our economy and caused our debt levels to rise.

“At the Budget and Spending Review next week I will set out how we will continue to support public services, businesses and jobs while keeping our public finances fit for the future.”

New figures have found the number of lorry drivers in the UK to have fallen by 53,000 over the past four years.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found the number of lorry drivers in the UK to fall by 17% to 268,000.

Fewer people from the EU, an ageing workforce and higher costs amid Brexit have there is a much lower number, which is having widespread effects across multiple industries. The shortage of lorry drivers has led to empty supermarket shelves and a shortage in petrol across the UK.

The Government is issuing visas for EU lorry drivers to tackle the shortage. It is also changing the driving test requirements to encourage more people to join.

UK inflation has dipped slightly, however, still remains above the Bank of England target.

In August inflation hit its highest rate in nine years but has since dipped back down to 3.1% in September.

“Annual inflation fell back a little in September due to the unwinding effect of last year’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out,’ which was a factor in pushing up the rate in August,” said Mike Hardie, who is the head of prices at the Office of National Statistics.

“However, this was partially offset by most other categories, including price rises for furniture and household goods and food prices falling more slowly than this time last year.”

The Bank of England has said that it expects inflation to jump to 4% next year.

The inflation report found petrol prices to jump to an eight-year high. The cost of petrol in September was 134.9p per litre, which is 113.3p per litre the same period a month earlier.

Analysts highlighted the problems facing the Bank of England who face inflation well above their target but now begins to fall back.

“The debate surrounding temporary versus persistent inflationary pressure intensifies this morning as the September inflation rate remained above target, 3.1% in the 12 months to September 2021 – down from 3.2% in August,” said Sukhdeep Dhillon, Senior Economist at BNP Paribas Real Estate.

“Although temporary factors continue to push up inflation, the rate is likely to remain elevated over the next two years, and this, combined with slowing output and an earlier than anticipated potential rate hike is creating a real tightrope for the Bank of England to walk.”

Netflix expects to have added 8.5 million new subscribers added in the next quarter, thanks to the success of Squid Game.

Whilst previous expectations were 8.3 million, the South Korean show that came out earlier this month has been the most-streamed original show.

It has been estimated that the show will create almost $900 million in value for Netflix.

“Like some of our other big hits, Squid Game has also pierced the cultural zeitgeist, spawning a Saturday Night Live skit and memes/clips on TikTok with more than 42 billion views,” said the company.

Shares in Netflix have grown three percent, whilst revenue at the group has also increased 16 percent to $7.5bn.

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said: “We’re in uncharted territory. We have so much content coming in Q4 like we’ve never had, so we’ll have to feel our way through and it rolls into a great next year also.”