The title will be printed by Newsfax International at its site in East London and distributed to retailers and subscribers by 7am every day – the same facility that prints the News Corporation-owned freesheet thelondonpaper.

The four-section US edition is to be published in London alongside The Wall Street Journal Europe. It will be sold with a cover price of £2.50 in newsagents in central London, the City and Heathrow airports.

News Corp bought The Wall Street Journal last year after a protracted takeover battle for parent company Dow Jones. Murdoch paid £2.8bn for the company, but had to promise measures that are aimed at ensuring The Wall Street Journal maintains its editorial independence.

Dow Jones is hoping that interest in US elections will help sales of the newspaper here.

Michael Bergmeijer, managing director of Dow Jones' consumer media group in Europe, said: "We're offering the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal to London readers in a particularly significant year for global business and political issues, with the credit crunch crisis and US elections making front-page news most days.

"We believe a large number of internationally-minded people living and working in London will value the U.S. edition, and we'll now be able to give them the competitive advantage of having the world's best business paper five hours ahead of U.S. readers."