US jobs report smashes expectations - as it happened

The US economy added 263,000 jobs in April, easily beating expectations of 185,000. The jobless rate fell to a 50-year low of 3.6%

• US jobs report: April continues growth as 263,000 jobs added
• Services sector narrowly returns to growth in April but Brexit weighs
• Bank of England warns of rate rises over next three years
• BoE's Broadbent: one rate rise a year wouldn't be dramatic
• Easter holiday costs drive eurozone inflation higher in April

2.35pm BST

Before we close up, here's a summary of the main events:

The day kicked off with a hint from Ben Broadbent, deputy governor of the Bank of England, that interest rates will rise faster than markets expect. "One quarter point rate rise a year... I wouldn't describe that as particularly dramatic," he told the BBC.

2.34pm BST

Trading is underway in the US and markets are up, boosted by the better-than expected non-farm payrolls report:

2.32pm BST

The strong US jobs report works against President Trump's call for a cut in interest rates, economists suggest.

James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, says:

The US jobs market continues to surge with the unemployment rate at the lowest level since December 1969. The market is pricing Fed rate cuts, but we really don't see the need.

Today's employment report should put to bed the notion that the Fed will cut interest rates anytime soon. Job creation blew away expectations in April with 263K jobs created. That's 89K more than consensus net of revision. Moreover, unemployment fell to 3.6%, a fifty year low.

A defiant Fed chairman Powell will be revelling in his glory today after yet another bullish headline payroll figure and declining unemployment rate. We saw evidence on Wednesday that the Fed Chair was not going to be shoved around by Mr Trump's bully-boy tactics, hailing the economic progression and increasingly strong Labour sector as reasons why financial markets don't at this stage need to speculate about rate cuts.

1.53pm BST

Dominic Rushe, business editor for Guardian US, reports on the better-than-expected non-farm payroll report:

Related: US jobs report: April continues growth as 263,000 jobs added

1.37pm BST

The unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in April, from 3.8% in March.

Wage growth however was unchanged at 3.2%.

1.32pm BST

The US economy added 263,000 jobs in April, smashing expectations of 185,000.

It was also sharply higher than the 189,00 jobs added in March (revised down from 196,000).

1.20pm BST

The US non-farm payrolls report for April is coming up at 1.30pm. Here is what economists are expecting for the headline numbers.

12.42pm BST

The World Bank has increased its emergency support for the three southern African countries hit by the devastating Cyclone Idai in March to $700m.

Reuters reports:

12.17pm BST

As usual, the FTSE's gain is the pound's loss and sterling is down 0.3% against the dollar at $1.2995.

It is also a smidgen lower against the euro at a1.1656.

As cable sank under $1.30, the FTSE managed to re-cross 7400, held aloft by its rebounding commodity sector.

Though the services PMI came in at a solid, and expected, 50.4, the pound couldn't help but dip 0.2% against the dollar, the currency seemingly more interested in any Brexit updates - they've been thin on the ground since Easter - than the state of the UK's data.

11.54am BST

Here in the UK, the FTSE 100 remains the best performer of its major European peers, up 0.9% or 62 points at 7,413.

HSBC is the biggest FTSE riser, currently up 3% at 687p. Kalyeena Makortoff, the Guardian's banking correspondent, explains why:

These are an encouraging set of results, particularly in the context of heightened economic uncertainty globally. We remain focused on executing the strategy we outlined last June, while also being alert to risks in the global economy.

We previously talked about up to 1,000 staff needing to move. We're obviously pacing that. Some of that can come from hiring people into Paris rather than them having to transfer out of London, but we will pace our activity alongside the timetable for Brexit.

And we clearly don't want to be taking definitive decision until we have further clarity on how definitive Brexit is one way or the other.

11.36am BST

It's non-farm payrolls day in the US, and the main event of the day as far as many investors will be concerned.

Economists are predicting that 185,000 jobs were added in April, up from 196,000 in March.

11.27am BST

Back to the services PMI, which completed the trio of April reports after the manufacturing and construction equivalents earlier in the week.

As with services, the construction survey signalled a narrow return to growth, while the manufacturing PMI showed a fall in exports as Brexit chaos encouraged overseas firms to shift to non-UK suppliers for goods.

The resulting rise in business activity signalled collectively by April's PMI surveys was only marginal, suggesting the economy remained more or less stalled at the start of the second quarter.

The disappointing start to the second quarter follows a first quarter in which the average PMI reading was the lowest since late 2012 and indicative of the economy flat-lining.

10.47am BST

Bert Colijn, senior eurozone economist at the Dutch Bank ING, says the trend for inflation is downwards in the single currency bloc, despite April's rise to 1.7%"

In May, Easter effects will probably bring core inflation down considerably.

Can we all finally breathe a sigh of relief as Eurozone inflation picks up? @BertColijn thinks not as this is all down to Easter and oil effects. And its unlikely folks at the #ECB will even bat an eyelidhttps://t.co/pbuuprgJoK

10.34am BST

The annual inflation rate in the eurozone rose to 1.7% in April from 1.4% in March according to the 'flash' estimate from statistics office Eurostat.

Energy prices and services inflation were the biggest drivers of the rise.

While we do not yet have a full breakdown of the eurozone data, we know that the jump in core inflation was due to a sharp rise in services inflation, which we suspect was mostly driven by a rise in package holiday prices and airfares, given that the timing of Easter boosted prices for these items in March last year but April this year.

Looking ahead, we expect core inflation to fall back to about 1% in May, and remain broadly unchanged over the next couple of years. And as energy inflation declines we expect the headline rate to fall below 1% towards the end of this year.

10.08am BST

The detail behind the services sector shows the sector - which accounts for more than three quarters of the UK economy - is being held back by Brexit uncertainty.

The services PMI, which includes hotels, bars, hairdressers, financial advisers and a whole host of others, showed that new business in the sector fell for a fourth month, as consumers and firms reined in spending.

Though elements of stability returned this month with a small improvement in the sector's fortunes, both consumers and corporate clients continued to be apathetic about spending on services with a fall in new orders for a fourth consecutive month.

Sales from overseas customers also declined, continuing the trend seen since September 2018, so there was little sign of a boost to business from outside the UK.

9.41am BST

Britain's huge services sector just about grew in April according to the PMI survey just out.

The headline index on the IHS Markit/CIPS survey rose to 50.4 last month from 48.9 in March, where anything above 50 signals growth. It was almost bang in line with economists' expectations of 50.5.

9.30am BST

Here is our full story on Intu:

Related: Shopping centre firm Intu warns of big drop in rental income

9.29am BST

Intu, owner Manchester's Trafford Centre and Lakeside in Essex, is the latest company to warn on the troubled state of shop-focused retailers.

8.54am BST

European markets are fairly quiet this morning ahead of the closely watched US non-farm payrolls report at 1.30pm (UK time).

The FTSE 100 is the outperformer so far, boosted by better-than-expected first-quarter numbers from HSBC which has made the bank the top riser this morning, up 2.3%.

8.36am BST

One favourite to be next Gov of the Bank of England, Deputy Gov Ben Broadbent, told me on #r4today that he's "not decided" whether to apply - altho closing date just a few weeks off.
His own term is up next month but given need to oversee Brexit, reappointment surely a given

Tick-tock, tick-tock

8.34am BST

Ben Broadbent has also been making the point that Brexit uncertainty has had an unprecedented impact on business investment - falling quarter after quarter despite the fact the economy is not in recession.

He told the BBC's Today programme:

I think [Brexit uncertainty is] having widespread effects. The clearest effect is on business investment. This is what you'd expect and it's certainly what you'd hear when - as we do - you talk directly to businesses.

What we've seen over the past year are successive falls in each quarter in capital spend by businesses. It's pretty unusual, you've never seen that before outside recession and it's pretty clear I think that that's a result of the impending Brexit.

8.11am BST

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

The Bank of England surprised precisely no one when it left interest rates on hold on Thursday. But, as ever, the more nuanced message was to be found in the detail of the quarterly inflation report and Mark Carney's press conference.

Related: Bank of England warns of interest rate rise over next three years

Markets [have been] barely pricing one rise over the next three years and that's rather a change from six months ago when the expectation was for one rate rise a year.

The market has taken out a couple of the rate rises it had expected six months ago. I should say, one quarter point rate rise a year... I wouldn't describe that as particularly dramatic. We expect the path of interest rates as and when they do go up, that rise to be limited and gradual.

I haven't decided yet.