Money Weather: What Changed for Your Money Today
Britain checks the weather before it goes out. Money Weather is the same habit for money: one page that tells you what changed for your money since yesterday, and what tomorrow will cost. Markets, gold, tomorrow’s electricity prices, the rates that matter and the deadlines that are coming, each with its source and the date it was checked. Information only, never financial advice.
What is Money Weather?
Money Weather is UK Markets Today’s daily money forecast: one page showing what changed for your money and what things cost now. It brings together market closes (refreshed every weekday evening), gold and silver in pounds, Octopus Agile electricity prices, fuel averages, checked savings and ISA rates, and the money deadlines coming up, each with its source and the date it was checked.
Updated Monday 19 October 2026. Market closes below are for Friday 16 October 2026, from our evening pipeline. The ticker and the market closes refresh every weekday evening. Everything else on this page is checked every Monday, and every block shows the date it was checked.
Latest headline: The FTSE 100 closed at 10,881.90 on Friday 16 October, up 0.38% on the day, and gold closed at $4,180.60 an ounce. The Autumn Budget is now 9 days away: the deadlines list below is recounted every Monday.
Tomorrow’s costs
Electricity: Octopus Agile prices
On the Octopus Agile tariff, the price of electricity changes every half hour, and tomorrow’s prices are published each afternoon. The cheapest hours are usually late morning, and on windy days the price can fall below zero, so you are paid to use electricity. The dearest hours are almost always the evening peak, roughly 16:00 to 19:00. Prices are in pence per kWh including VAT.
Because these prices change every day, we do not print a daily table here that could go stale. Check tomorrow’s live prices before running the washing machine, the dishwasher or a car charger: Octopus Agile. Agile prices only apply if you are on the Agile tariff.
Fuel: average UK prices
Unleaded petrol averaged 175.2p per litre and diesel 199.5p per litre across the UK on Tuesday 6 October 2026, from the UK Government Fuel Finder scheme data. At those averages, filling a 55 litre family car costs about £96.36 with petrol and about £109.73 with diesel. Source: UK average prices for 6 October 2026, based on Fuel Finder forecourt data.
The price cap where you live now
The Ofgem energy price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 is £1,723 a year for a typical household using gas and electricity and paying by Direct Debit, up 4% on the previous quarter. The cap limits unit rates and standing charges, not your total bill. The next cap period starts on Friday 1 January 2027, and Ofgem’s announcement is expected by Wednesday 25 November 2026. Source: Ofgem.
The temperature numbers: markets close, Friday 16 October 2026
| Measure | Close | On the day |
|---|---|---|
| FTSE 100 | 10,881.90 | +0.38% |
| FTSE 250 | 24,533.90 | +0.45% |
| Pound against the dollar (GBP/USD) | 1.33 | +0.63% |
| Euro against the pound (EUR/GBP) | 0.84 | -0.41% |
| Gold, per troy ounce in pounds | £3,143.31 | see our gold page |
| Gold, per gram in pounds | £101.06 | see our gold page |
| Silver, per troy ounce in pounds | £43.14 | +0.94% in dollars |
| Brent crude oil, per barrel | $109.59 | +3.46% |
Source: our evening markets pipeline (Yahoo Finance closing data), Friday 16 October 2026. Gold and silver in pounds are the dollar price converted at the day’s closing pound to dollar rate. For the full gold table by carat, see our Gold Price Today UK page. For share movers, see FTSE 100 Movers Today and the UK Markets Daily roundup.
Rates today
Rates do not move daily, so this strip is stamped with the date each figure was checked. It is updated when the underlying guides are checked, never dressed up as fresher than it is.
| Rate | Figure | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Best easy access savings rate | 5.00% AER, Starling Bank (needs its free current account, includes a six month bonus, up to £25,000). Best plain rate with no bonus: 4.55% AER, Cynergy Bank | 1 October 2026, our savings guide |
| Best cash ISA rate (easy access) | 4.64% AER, Trading 212 | 7 October 2026, our cash ISA guide |
| Average 2 year fixed mortgage rate | 5.98% (average 5 year fix: 6.00%) | 5 October 2026, Moneyfacts |
| Bank of England Bank Rate | 3.75%. Next decision: Thursday 5 November 2026 | October 2026 |
Full comparisons: our best savings accounts guide and our cash ISA rates page. AER means the rate you would get over a year if the interest stayed in the account and the rate did not change.
Deadlines coming up
Day counts are as at Monday 19 October 2026. They are recounted every Monday.
- Winter Fuel Payment letters: October to November 2026. Payments follow in November and December 2026. Amounts, the £35,000 income rule and the 31 March 2027 claim deadline are in our Winter Fuel Payment 2026 guide.
- Autumn Budget: Wednesday 28 October 2026 (9 days). Our coverage runs on the day.
- Paper Self Assessment deadline: Saturday 31 October 2026 (12 days). The online deadline is 31 January 2027.
- Bank of England rate decision: Thursday 5 November 2026 (17 days).
- first direct switch offer boost ends: Wednesday 2 December 2026 (44 days). £210 for accounts opened before this date, on the terms on our switch offers page.
- Lloyds £200 switch offer ends: Wednesday 9 December 2026 (51 days).
- Energy price cap changes: Friday 1 January 2027 (74 days). Announcement expected by Wednesday 25 November 2026.
- Closed: the Santander £240 switch offer ended at 2pm on Wednesday 7 October 2026. It is shown here as closed, not as an offer you can still take.
Every current offer, with full terms checked against each bank’s own site, is on our best bank switch offers page. The biggest current offer there is Barclays, up to £300, which has no fixed end date and can be withdrawn at any time.
Your Money Today: your personal found money total
Money Weather tells you what changed out there. Your Money Today works out what it means for you. The free Found Money Finder is live now: answer 7 questions and it adds up one personal total for the year across bank switch bonuses, savings sitting in the wrong account and cashback you are not collecting, with the unclaimed money and benefits checks on your fix list, each one linked to the guide that walks you through it.
Your answers stay in your own browser only. No account, no password, nothing stored on our servers, and nothing is sent to us. Run it whenever your savings, bank account or shopping habits change, and compare your number with the national picture in the Found Money Index: at least £36 billion a year goes unclaimed or unearned in the UK.
How Money Weather is put together
Markets, gold and silver come from our evening pipeline, which runs every weekday after the London market closes. Tomorrow’s electricity prices come from the Octopus Energy API for the Agile tariff. Fuel averages come from the UK Government Fuel Finder scheme. Savings and ISA figures come from our own checked guides, and the mortgage average comes from Moneyfacts.
Every block carries the date it refers to. If a data feed fails, its block is hidden at the next refresh rather than left showing an old number as if it were new.
Money Weather questions
How often is Money Weather updated?
The market closes update every weekday evening, after the London market closes. Everything else is checked every Monday. Tomorrow’s Octopus Agile electricity prices are published by Octopus the afternoon before, fuel averages come from the UK Government Fuel Finder scheme, and every figure shows the date it was checked.
Do the electricity prices apply to every home?
No. The half hourly prices shown are for the Octopus Agile tariff only. Most homes are covered by the Ofgem price cap, which limits unit rates and standing charges rather than your total bill: for 1 October to 31 December 2026 it is £1,723 a year for a typical household paying by Direct Debit.
Where do the savings and mortgage rates come from?
From our own checked guides and Moneyfacts, and each figure carries the date it was checked. Rates do not move daily, so the strip is stamped with its checked date and is only updated when the underlying guide is checked again.
This page is information, not financial advice. Prices and rates change, and your own position depends on your circumstances.