US unemployment rate unexpectedly falls to 13.3% in May - as it happened
Rolling coverage of the latest financial news, as the US jobs report unveils the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown
3.07pm BST
2.57pm BST
US president Donald Trump is set to hold a press conference shortly, where he's expected to celebrate the jobs figures.
You can follow that on our US live blog here:
Related: George Floyd killing: Trump shares letter calling peaceful protesters 'terrorists' - live
2.45pm BST
US stocks have extended their gains, with the Dow now trading higher by 3%.
2.44pm BST
Global oil prices have climbed to three month highs above $40 a barrel on Friday, after reports emerged that members of the Opec oil cartel will agree to extend their historic oil production cuts.
It now seems very likely that OPEC+ will meet tomorrow to hash out a deal to extend the current May-June deep cuts for one more month.
2.35pm BST
Wall Street was rip raring to go after the data release, and stocks are rallying at the start of trading.
The Dow jumped over 700 points shortly after today's open
2.30pm BST
European stocks have hit session highs on the back of the US jobs data:
2.13pm BST
An interesting point by the former economic adviser to Joe Biden, about the sheer scale of the recovery needed to bounce back from the massive job losses so far:
Here's a simple but important picture of what's happening to jobs. Extremely welcome reversal, of course, if it sticks, but the magnitude of the losses means that even if this uptick pace continues, it would take almost a year just to make up lost ground. pic.twitter.com/kClNyb5kUz
1.58pm BST
Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, says the US unemployment rate mind-blowing number":
The US unemployment rate has shocked everyone because the number was much lower than the market expectation. Speculators were whispering for 20%.
This a mind-blowing number and shows that the economy is improving. Things are not as bad as many thought. This data, if it is a true reflection of the economy, is likely to speed up the recovery for the US economy.
1.43pm BST
This line nails why the economic situation is still so confusing.
There's a lockdown AND a recession.
Some people are unemployed due to lockdowns. Some people unemployed due to the recession caused by the lockdowns.
The former are coming back to work. The latter aren't yet. https://t.co/H3ny9JqSjD
1.42pm BST
Covid-19's devastating assault on the US economy waned in May as the unemployment rate dipped to 13.3% and the US added another 2.5m jobs.
The latest tally follows the loss of 20m jobs in April when unemployment hit 14.7%. In February the unemployment rate was just 3.5%.
Related: US unemployment declines to 13.3% as economy added 2.5m jobs in May
1.40pm BST
The surprise print on unemployment has been a massive boost for US futures with the Dow now up 2.3%.
Safe haven assets are also losing their allure.
Gold tanking, futures soaring pic.twitter.com/LsIyKO2pPk
1.37pm BST
Pantheon Macroeconomics' chief economist reckons that the surprise surge could be due to how easy it was to rehire staff that were originally let go at the start of the pandemic:
Hidden rehiring. No posting on Indeed, just a phone call/text/email and back you go. Or, the numbers could be utter garbage.
1.34pm BST
It comes as US non-farm payrolls showed the economy actually grew by 2.5 million jobs.
That compared to expectations for a loss of 8 million, according to a Reuter poll.
1.31pm BST
BREAKING: The US unemployment rate has unexpectedly fallen to 13.3% in May.
That is down from 14.7% in April.
1.19pm BST
Rail unions have threatened to strike over government plans for an army" of volunteers at transport hubs to remind travellers to wear a face covering, my colleagues Helen Pidd and Gwyn Topham write.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announced the policy of using volunteers without consultation according to the RMT union, which condemned moves to put unpaid workers in safety critical roles".
Related: Rail unions could strike over Shapps's face covering volunteers
1.15pm BST
Here's how US futures are looking ahead of the jobs report:
12.54pm BST
Markets are rallying ahead of the US non-farm payrolls report and unemployment rate expected at 13.30pm this afternoon.
We are expecting to see US unemployment creep towards 20%, but given optimism across markets it's unclear whether those historic figures will knock stocks from their current course.
The Dow Jones is set to join in with this jubilance later this afternoon, with the futures suggesting the index will strike its own 3-month peak of 26600 courtesy of a 330 point increase.
Standing in the Dow's way is a nonfarm jobs report potentially set to reveal that another 7.75 million jobs were lost last month. This as the unemployment rate shoots up to a staggering 19.4%.
12.17pm BST
Sky is reporting that Ryanair is joining IAG in a potential challenge to the UK government's quarantining laws:
NEW: Ryanair says it will join the legal action to be taken by IAG- as revealed by Willie Walsh in our morning programme - against the government's 14 day quarantine
11.45am BST
Emma Wall, head of investment analyis at Hargreaves Lansdown says the stock market rebound in recent weeks has been extraordinary" but says it may be too soon to celebrate.
The rally in global markets from the lows of March have been welcomed by professional and individual investors alike. Quite a few funds are in positive territory year to date now, having clawed back the coronavirus-related losses. Certain sectors in particular have recovered well; many US and global funds are posting gains year to date.
This is an interesting juxtaposition with the 2008 global financial crisis when markets and funds took considerably longer to get back into the black.
There is also political and social unrest growing globally, the incredibly important Black Live Matters movement has the potential to cause market volatility, as do the new rules imposed on Hong Kong.
In the short-term, investors should prepare for more market volatility. If bond markets are to be believed, we're entering a period of very low growth and very low inflation - but equities disagree. As ever, a balanced and well-diversified portfolio is the best way to hedge your bets.
11.18am BST
Tim Davie, the head of BBC Studios who turned down an offer to run the Premier League last year, has been appointed as the corporation's next director general.
Davie, 53, who has responsibility for monetising brands from Top Gear to Doctor Who around the world, was considered the frontrunner to take over from Tony Hall.
Related: BBC appoints insider Tim Davie as director general
11.11am BST
BREAKING: Tim Davie has been appointed as the next director general of the BBC.
He is set to take up his post on 1 September.
Tim Davie appointed new BBC Director-General: https://t.co/REmZnIyg0u pic.twitter.com/zFYzoY9Qbx
10.52am BST
Bentley has confirmed that it is aiming to cut 1,000 jobs through a voluntary redundancy scheme, shrinking its workforce by almost a quarter as it responds to the coronavirus pandemic.
The luxury carmaker warned that it cannot rule out future compulsory redundancies, as the pandemic cuts demand for cars.
10.49am BST
The UK arm of Victoria's Secret has filed for protection from creditors, the Wall Street Journal () is reporting.
It says the company's owner L Brands is using the light touch administration" tool to block claims on its unpaid debts as it tried to weather the coronavirus crisis.
10.36am BST
Staggering flight statistic picked up by our reporter Joanna Partridge:
Willie Walsh added that BA flew 485 passenger flights in the month of May - they had flown that many by lunchtime on May 1 in 2019
10.23am BST
The comments from IAG chief Willie Walsh have done nothing to dampen appetite for the airline group's shares.
IAG is up 11% and is the best performing stock on the FTSE 100.
9.53am BST
The boss of British Airways-owner IAG has blamed the UK plans to quarantine arrivals for 14 days for having torpedoed' lans to start flying in July.
Speaking to Sky News, Willie Walsh confirmed he was speaking to to lawyers about challenging the UK's quarantine rules.
IAG CEO Willie Walsh tells @IanKingSky the govt's 14 day quarantine for those arriving in the UK has:
-'Torpedoed' the opportunity to get flights back in July.
-Argues it is 'irrational and disproportionate' measure.
-Says he is considering a legal challenge to the legislation.
"No decision has been taken in relation to actual redundancies."
IAG chief executive, Willie Walsh, says he's consulting with representatives about potential job losses after it was announced BA is planning as many as 12,000 job cuts.
More here: https://t.co/jW0qUdINUE pic.twitter.com/HspZaBDg6t
9.40am BST
Britain's financial watchdog has launched 30 enforcement investigations into firms that have given bad advice to customers about transferring out of their defined benefit pension schemes, my colleague Mark Sweney writes.
The Financial Conduct Authority has banned financial advisers from getting paid only when a customer transfers a pension, known as contingent charging, which creates a bias for advisers to recommend a transfer.
The proportion of customers who have been advised to transfer out of their defined benefit pension is unacceptably high.
While much of the advice we looked at was suitable, we are still finding too many cases in which transfers were not in the customer's best interests.
Related: FCA investigates 30 firms over pension transfer advice
9.19am BST
BBC economics editor Faisal Islam details the news that Richard Hughs will be taking over from Robert Chote as the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Chancellor just announced that economist Richard Hughes @rjdhughes , former IMF official, top Treasury fiscal adviser and author of below interesting coronavirus report at @resfoundation will take over from Robert Chote as Chair of OBR, independent tax and spend numbers watchdog https://t.co/n0uYWQNzFc
9.15am BST
Administrators of Neil Woodford's failed flagship investment fund have announced the sale of a significant portion" of the equity income fund's remaining assets.
The sale will help it make another tranche of payments to investors who have been trapped in the fund for a year, having been suspended following a surge in redemptions last June.
We are now able to confirm to investors in the Fund that we have reached agreement with Acacia Research Corporation (Acacia") for the sale of an agreed selection of up to 19 of the fund's healthcare assets in return for up to 223.9m
8.53am BST
Worth noting that the Halifax house price data is far more optimistic than what we saw from Nationwide earlier this week.
( Nationwide's data showed average prices tumbling 1.7% in May from the previous month, to 218,902. That was the biggest monthly fall since February 2009.)
8.44am BST
The Halifax house price index shows a further 0.2% month-on-month decline in May, as continued lockdown measures took their toll on the housing market.
The average price of a house in the UK was 237,808.
This is the third successive monthly fall, though more modest than in April, and reflects a continued loss of momentum following what was a strong start to the year. Though it should still be noted that with a limited number of transactions available, calculating average house prices remains challenging and increased volatility is to be expected.
Looking ahead, we expect market activity to increase progressively as restrictions are eased further
across the whole of the UK and we continue to have confidence in the underlying health of the housing
market over the long-term.
However, the extent of downward pressure on market confidence and prices over the coming months will depend on how quickly the economy is able to recover from the effects of the
pandemic and the available government policy support for jobs and households.
8.29am BST
Back to that dismal GfK consumer confidence data.
Joe Staton, GfK's client strategy director, said:
Against a backdrop of falling house prices, soaring jobless claims, and with no sign of a rapid V-shaped bounce-back on the cards, consumers remain pessimistic about the state of their finances and the wider economic picture for the year to come.
As the lockdown eases, it will be interesting to see just how the consumer appetite for spending returns in a world of socially-distanced shopping and the seismic shift to online retailing - alongside worries of a fresh spike in COVID-19 cases as relaxations increase.
8.13am BST
The euro surged yesterday after the ECB ramped up its coronavirus response by agreeing to inject an additional 600bn (539.5bn) of emergency financial support into the Eurozone economy.
It's meant that the currency has dominated peers including the pound, which is at its lowest level in over two months against the euro.
8.03am BST
After ending Thursday's session in the red (which analysts have chalked up to profit taking) European shares are back in positive territory this morning:
7.46am BST
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets and business.
Consumer confidence took a dive in May to the lowest level since the global financial crisis.
With certain sections of the US economy slowly reopening, there is a hope that we could start to see the unemployment rate start to plateau as more and more people return to work after being furloughed.
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