STORY: From a pleasant surprise, at last, on inflation, to a fresh meltdown for cryptocurrencies, this is the Week in Numbers. First up…

7.7% was the U.S. inflation rate in October. That was below forecasts, and the smallest rise since January.

The welcome surprise raised hopes that the Federal Reserve can slow the pace of rate hikes.

World stocks soared as a result, and the dollar finally fell back against other currencies.

About $9.4 billion is how much cryptocurrency exchange FTX is trying to raise to plug a hole in its balance sheet. That’s according to Reuters sources.

The firm’s near collapse has sapped confidence in crypto markets, with bitcoin now down almost a fifth just this month.

Over 11,000 is the number of jobs going at Facebook-parent Meta.

That’s about 13% of its workforce.

The tech giant has been hit by weak advertising sales and soaring costs for its push into the metaverse.

It comes just days after Twitter slashed jobs, and Wedbush Securities Managing Director Dan Ives says there is worse to come:

“I think this is the beginning of much broader layoffs just across Silicon Valley. In fact, some darker days ahead as this recession is on the doorstep.”

Over $4 million is how much money Elon Musk says Twitter is losing every day.

That after advertisers paused spending following his takeover.

This week he reportedly told staff that the social network could go bust if it didn’t raise more money from subscriptions.

And 0.2% was how much the UK economy shrank over the latest quarter.

Economists bet that’s just the start of a long recession.

Finance minister Jeremy Hunt warned that “extremely difficult” decisions would be needed to restore confidence and economic stability.