we start with the latest market action and as the trading day began in asia the pound started to slide down nearly 5% at one point against the us dollar that s on top of the 3.6% dive on friday. investors are running for the exits as fears mount the new government s shock and awe tax plans for the uk economy are too big a gamble. on friday the chancellor, kwasi kwarteng, announced historic tax cuts, and the biggest increase in borrowing since 1972 to pay for them. there is now calls for the bank of england to take emergency action to calm rattled markets and bolster sterling. so let s look at how the pound is trading now. it has been hovering around just over $1.05 but one hour ago we were looking at the pound buying $1.03 so it has recovered a tiny bit but not much and you can see that the markets in asia are fairly mixed and we have the price of oil edging lower as well. joining me now is simon french, chief economist at panmure gordon. is at panmure gordon. this what
visit sends a strong signal, bipartisan support for ukraine. it s not clear whether the meeting took place today nor whether the delegation is actually still there in kyiv. this is the second visit by a group of u.s. lawmakers in two weeks time. cnn correspondents are covering the latest developments. what are you learnin ing about s delegation to ukraine? i was to emphasize what you said which is we re still getting a lot of details about this visit from mitch mcconnell, john cornyn. we re not sure if they are still in kyiv, still meeting with zelensyy. it s likely this took place already. pelosi led a delegation two weeks ago to ukraine. this is happening as the senate is trying to pass a bipartisan bill. the problem here, noticeably missing from this delegation is senator rand paul, republican from kentucky is holding up this legislation while senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer have worked with their party and most of the party in support. senator