Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Monday, November 16th,

and this is your FT news briefing.

Britain's economy has been hit hard during the pandemic,

especially when you compare it to other countries.

More than a dozen Asia-Pacific nations have come together to seal a historic trade deal,

and U.S. banks are getting nervous about one of the most profitable parts of their businesses.

Plus U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's Irish roots might have a big impact on Ireland's Brexit

outlook. We'll explain why. I'm Mark

Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

Boris Johnson was forced to self isolate on Sunday after meeting with a member of Parliament

who developed coronavirus symptoms. It comes after a pretty bad week for the UK Prime Minister,

with his communications chief Lee Kane and his chief advisor Dominic Cummings being forced out of Downing Street.

And it comes just days before Johnson had been due to make a big speech on the green economy.

Now this is a big area of interest since the UK's economy has been hit

hard during the pandemic, especially when you stack up its performance against other countries.

Part of that is because of the different ways countries measure inflation, especially in relation

to the health sector.

This should disappear over time.

But an analysis by the F.T. has found other reasons for the disparities. One of those reasons, weak household spending.

And we say household spending, UK retail sales remain strong during the pandemic,

but it's really the consumption of services that took a hit.

...