UK steel nationalisation ‘least likely’ outcome; US consumer confidence dips – as it happened

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Latest: US home prices rose 13.2%/year in March
• But sales of new homes fell in April

Earlier:

• Business secretary: Liberty Steel crisis unlikely to mean nationalisation
• Kwasi Kwarteng: I'm vindicated over turning down 170m bailout
• UK goods trade with EU falls below non-EU countries
• Amigo share plunge after high court blocks compensation scheme
• Introduction: UK borrowed 31.7bn last month - second highest April ever

5.59pm BST

Time for a quick recap.

The UK government has insisted that nationalising UK steel assets is the least likely' result of the Liberty Steel crisis.

Related: Business secretary criticises financial engineering' at Liberty Steel

Related: UK government borrowing fell in April as Covid lockdown eased

Related: China replaces Germany as UK's biggest import market

Related: Amazon to stream major National Theatre plays in UK and Ireland

Related: Amigo Loans shares dive as high court rejects compensation cap

Related: UK shoppers return to supermarkets as online spending slows

Related: West End landlord Shaftesbury looks to summer revival as it reports 339m loss

Related: Drax carbon-capture plan could cost British households 500 - study

Related: Study suggests North sea green energy will overtake oil and gas by 2030

5.28pm BST

One late piece of news: Washington DC attorney general Karl Racine has announced he's suing Amazon on antitrust grounds.

The case claims the company's practices have unfairly raised prices for consumers and suppressed innovation, by refusing to allow third-party sellers on Amazon to offer lower prices on their own websites, or rival platforms.

Amazon has used its dominant position in the online retail market to win at all costs. It maximizes its profits at the expense of third-party sellers and consumers, while harming competition, stifling innovation, and illegally tilting the playing field in its favor,"

BREAKING: Today my office filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon for illegally abusing and maintaining its monopoly power by controlling prices across the online retail market and violating DC law.

For years, Amazon has controlled online retail prices through its restrictive contract provisions & policies. Amazon requires third-party sellers to agree that they won't offer their products anywhere else online - including their own websites - for a lower price than on Amazon.

These agreements also impose an artificially high price floor across the online retail marketplace & ensure high fees charged to third-party sellers by Amazon, as much as 40% of the product price, are incorporated into the price on not only Amazon but also on competing platforms.

Amazon has used its dominant position in the online retail market to win at all costs. It maximizes its profits at the expense of 3rd party sellers & consumers forced to pay artificially high prices, while harming competition & innovation & illegally tilting the playing field.

Amazon claimed it removed its price parity restrictions in 2019. But in fact, it quietly replaced the provision w/ an effectively-identical substitute that says third-party sellers can be sanctioned or removed from Amazon if they offer their products for lower prices elsewhere.

We filed this antitrust lawsuit to put an end to Amazon's illegal control of prices across the online retail market. We need a fair online marketplace that expands options available to District residents and promotes competition, innovation, and choice.