Mario Draghi: eurozone growth depends on central bank support - as it happened

The president of the European Central Bank warned in a speech in Frankfurt that although the eurozone economy was 'robust', recovery was still heavily reliant on stimulus from the European Central Bank

• Pound hits two week high amid sharp dollar sell-off
• Carillion shares plunge after third profit warning
• US homebuilding hits one-year high after hurricanes

5.55pm GMT

A downbeat end to the week for equities saw declines in most major markets. Worries about the Republican's prospects of getting their tax cut proposals left Wall Street lagging, while some downbeat results and broker downgrades undermined European shares. The final scores showed:

4.54pm GMT

Carillion is one of the day's biggest fallers following another profit warning. Jill Treanor writes:

Carillion, one of the construction companies working on the HS2 London to Birmingham rail line, is racing to refinance its business after issuing its third profit warning in five months and suffering a collapse in share price.

Shares in the company, which is at the heart of several major building projects in the UK, were suspended eight times on Friday after the shock update to the City that it would breach the terms on its existing lending at the end of the year.

Related: HS2 contractor Carillion races to raise funds after fresh profit warning

4.50pm GMT

Meanwhile over in Athens thousands of Greeks chanting anti-austerity and anti-capitalist slogans are marching through the city centre to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Polytechnic uprising against military rule, writes Helena Smith.

Greek riot police, bracing for possible violence, are out in force. Communist party members, holding red flags aloft, are leading the protest and using it to decry the"barbaric" policies enforced on workers.

3.51pm GMT

Global markets are shrugging their way towards the end of the week, says Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex:

The Dow Jones dipped 50-ish points after the bell, keeping the right side of 23400 as investors (very lightly) fretted over the Republicans' ability to get their tax plan through Congress. The dollar, meanwhile, could only ease, rather than eradicate, the day's losses, with the greenback down 0.1% against the pound, 0.2% against the euro and 0.5% against the yen as investors process the news that Robert Mueller subpoenaed more than a dozen of Trump's campaign officials back in October.

Over in the Eurozone the euro's gains continued to cause a headache for the region's indices. The DAX slipped 0.1%, the CAC 0.4% and the IBEX 0.8%, cementing a rather miserable week for the trio.

3.34pm GMT

Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $8000 after reports that a software upgrade which could split the cryptocurrency in two was going ahead.

The price had fallen last week on suggestions the upgrade would be suspended. The move would mean owners of Bitcoin would in theory also hold the new spin-off, and sell it at a profit.

Major fundamental concerns remain as to the efficacy of Bitcoin but for now price remains in a strong uptrend and many observers experiencing FOMO (fear of missing out) are looking at any drops as buying opportunities.

3.03pm GMT

After showing good gains on Thursday, US markets are on the slide again.

With the latest results season coming to a close and no major economic data due, investors are focused on political issues, especially concerns about the Republicans' ability to get their tax reforms through Congress.

2.17pm GMT

Shares in Carillion have fallen from about 240p at the beginning of this year to 28p today:

1.45pm GMT

US homebuilding jumped to a one-year high in October as communities hit by hurricanes started to replace homes damaged by flooding.

Housing starts jumped by 13.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.29 million homes, the Commerce Department said. It was the highest level since October 2016.

1.17pm GMT

Benchmark Brent crude oil is currently up 1.2% or 72 cents at $62.05 a barrel.

But it is still on course for the first weekly loss in six, as Russia's reluctance to cut production fuels concerns of oversupply. Prices are expected to end the week 2% to 3% lower than the end of last week.

After five days of continuous losses, an upside correction is always on the cards. Such a jump, however, will not mean a change of heart.

12.52pm GMT

Over in Greece, EU auditors have given a mixed verdict on the handling of the country's three bailouts. Helena Smith reports from Athens:

The three financial lifelines thrown Greece in 2010, 2012 and 2015 achieved their overarching goal of averting default but were far from successful in other respects, EU auditors have concluded.

The [EU] commission did not comprehensively consider Greece's implementation capacity in the design process and thus did not adapt the scope and timing accordingly.

12.09pm GMT

The FTSE 100 has reversed its earlier losses and is now up 15 points, partly because the pound's earlier gains have largely been erased.

The FTSE tends to do better when the pound is weaker, because so many of the companies listed have significant overseas earnings.

11.59am GMT

The pound has lost some of its earlier sparkle and is now trading roughly flat against the dollar at $1.3197.

It has also slipped agains the euro, down 0.2% at a1.1186.

11.56am GMT

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets, explains the gravity of the situation facing Carillion and its shareholders:

Shares in Carillion have collapsed yet again as the troubled construction company stated it will breach its banking covenants. The company also lowered its profit outlook again and stated that their asset sale programme isn't going as fast as they had hoped.

Things have gone from bad to worse at Carillion, and the business is in dire need to cash to keep the lights on. Even though the business has plenty of work in the pipeline, it must scramble for cash in order to keep its head above water.

11.12am GMT

The UK government is one of Carillion's biggest clients and is monitoring the firm's troubles.

Reuters quotes a spokeswoman at the Cabinet Office:

The company has kept us informed of the steps it is taking to restructure the business.

We remain supportive of their ongoing discussions with their stakeholders and await future updates on their progress

10.59am GMT

"Carillion horror show continues", is how Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, describes the latest developments at the construction firm.

He adds:

Some sort of recapitalisation was inevitable, but a possible debt for equity swap, with debt even higher than the group had anticipated, is probably as bad as anyone would have guessed.

The group has made some progress on asset sales, and it sounds like some cost savings are being made. It's not what the group expected though, and it's clearly not enough. It's also probably irrelevant given the state of the balance sheet, with net debt already many multiples of the group's market capitalisation.

10.54am GMT

Carillion shares plunged as much as 60% in early trading after the construction group involved in HS2 and Battersea Power Station issued its third profit warning of the year:

The group now expects that a combination of delays to certain PPP disposals, a slippage in the commencement date of a significant project in the Middle East and lower than expected margin improvements across a small number of UK Support Services contracts, partially offset by cost savings initiatives realised in the fourth quarter, will lead to profits for the year to 31 December 2017 being materially lower than current market expectations.

Whilst we continue to target cash collections, reduce costs, execute disposals and focus on delivering for our customers, it is clear that significant challenges remain and more needs to be done to reduce net debt and rebuild the balance sheet.

Constructive dialogue is continuing with our financial stakeholders, and I am grateful for their support. I remain focused on addressing this issue before my successor, Andrew Davies, takes up the role on 2 April 2018.

Related: HS2 contractor Carillion in fresh profit warning amid debt concerns

10.21am GMT

Love it or hate it, Black Friday is almost upon us.

In recent years Britain has embraced the American tradition where retailers slash prices the day after Thanksgiving.

Related: Black Friday 2017: where to get the best UK deals

10.00am GMT

News of Greggs controversial decision to replace the baby Jesus with a sausage roll in an advent calendar has rippled across the Atlantic:

Greggs, which specializes in the popular delicacy, apologized for replacing the baby Jesus with a pastry wrapped around sausage meat. https://t.co/R4lFlZWtZd

9.35am GMT

Draghi concludes by returning to one of his favourite themes, saying eurozone governments should do their bit to secure future economic stability by getting their "fiscal houses in order".

The ECB will do our bit, you do yours, is the message:

ECB's mandate is framed in terms of price stability, as this is the best contribution that we can make to the welfare of citizens. Ensuring price stability is a precondition for the economy to be able to grow along a balanced path that can be sustained in the long run. This is the guiding principle of all our monetary policy decisions.

With the recovery ongoing, now is the right moment for the euro area to address further challenges to stability. This means actively putting our fiscal houses in order and building up buffers for the future - not just waiting for growth to gradually reduce debt.

Speech Mario Draghi: Monetary policy and the outlook for the economy https://t.co/QmtGNrFobj

9.29am GMT

Here comes the "but" part of the ECB president's speech.

Mario Draghi says that despite solid growth and rising employment, inflation is not at the point where it will pick up without stimulus from the central bank. (Eurozone inflation dipped to 1.4% in October from 1.5% in September.)

We are not yet at a point where the recovery of inflation can be self-sustained without our accommodative policy. A key motor of the recovery remains the very favourable financing conditions facing firms and households, which are in turn heavily contingent on our policy measures.

An ample degree of monetary stimulus remains necessary for underlying inflation pressures to build up and support headline inflation over the medium term.

Related: ECB to halve bond buying as it plans to scale back quantitative easing

9.26am GMT

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9.08am GMT

Draghi is running through stats to illustrate how much the employment picture has improved in the eurozone.

Consumption is being supported by a virtuous circle between rising labour income and rising employment. Employment in the euro area has reached its highest level ever, while unemployment has fallen to its lowest rate since January 2009.

Importantly, this has taken place against the backdrop of a rising participation rate, which is now 2 percentage points above its pre-crisis level. This has been driven in particular by the increased entry of women into the workforce, whose participation rate has risen by 4 percentage points since 2008 and reached an all-time high.

8.55am GMT

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, is speaking in Frankfurt at the European Banking Congress.

He begins on a positive note on the outlook for the eurozone economy:

The euro area is in the midst of a solid economic expansion. GDP has risen for 18 straight quarters, with the latest data and surveys pointing to unabated growth momentum in the period ahead.

From the ECB's perspective, we have increasing confidence that the recovery is robust and that this momentum will continue going forward.

8.45am GMT

The FTSE is suffering from the stronger pound this morning, Spread Ex's Connor Campbell says:

The pound's up 0.4% against the greenback, with the dollar losing its House tax plan-passing buzz, as Robert Mueller subpoenaed more than a dozen Trump campaign officials. Against the euro, meanwhile, sterling nudged 0.2% higher, keeping above a1.12.

This meant the FTSE continued to founder around the 7380 mark, dipping 0.2% as it struggles to escape its 6-week lows. As has been the case all week, commodities are doing their part, with a smattering of red among the oil and mining stocks helping suppress appetite in the UK index.

8.41am GMT

The FTSE 100 is down 17 points this morning, and the biggest faller among its major European peers:

8.29am GMT

Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize-winning economist, has been interviewed by the Guardian's economics editor, Larry Elliott, and it's well worth a watch if you missed it:

Related: Joseph Stiglitz: 'Trump has fascist tendencies'

8.18am GMT

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

The pound has a spring in its step this morning, hitting a two-week high against the dollar of $1.3252.

The passing of yesterday's bill helped the US dollar close near its intraday peaks yesterday, while also helping push up US yields with the 2 year yield hitting its highest level since October 2008.

These US dollar gains were pretty short-lived and soon gave way to selling on reports that Trump officials had been subpoenaed by special attorney Robert Mueller as part of the investigation into Russian involvement in the Trump Presidential campaign.