More than 10m workers paid £21.8bn in UK government coronavirus support – as it happened

Jasper Jolly

from on 2020-05-27 14:06 (#53Z22)

Live coverage of business, economics and financial markets

3.04pm BST

Stock markets gained ground in the US and Europe on Wednesday thanks to hopes that lockdowns will ease, allowing economies to stutter to a start again.

However, early gains moderated as the day wore on - illustrating the delicate balance between optimism over reopening and the major costs still to emerge from the pandemic.

2.34pm BST

US stock markets have gained at the opening bell on Wall Street - matching the positivity seen outside of Asia today as investors bet on recovery.

Here are the early moves:

2.22pm BST

Some interesting news on the climate front ahead of US investor ExxonMobil's annual meeting: BlackRock, the world's largest fund manager, will lodge multiple votes against the company because of its failure to make progress on its climate change targets.

2.11pm BST

And secondly (but more importantly), there is a lot more detail on the EU's 750bn recovery fund, helping the euro gain.

Here are some of the details released by the European commission. It is quite a shopping list.

1.50pm BST

The euro has gained further against the pound: sterling is down by 0.7% for the day, at 1.1153. Against the dollar the pound is also down by 0.3% at $1.2290.

First up: The latest Brexit news may not have helped sterling, with continued tough talk from the UK's chief negotiator, David Frost.

12.59pm BST

The positive mood on the FTSE 100 has strengthened: top riser Melrose has now gained 21%, helping the index to a 1.5% increase at lunchtime in London.

12.36pm BST

Guarantor loans provider Amigo has been forced to disclose a takeover approach after its majority shareholder refused to discuss the potential sale.

Amigo, which has faced criticism over its high-cost loans for generally poorer customers, said an unnamed party had made an offer to buy it for 20.9p per share - less than its price of 22.15p on Wednesday afternoon.

Despite attempts to discuss the Potential Offer with Richmond Group, Amigo has been unable to engage constructively and ascertain Richmond Group's willingness or not to accept the Potential Offer.

12.26pm BST

Shops and restaurants are reopening some of their operations, with McDonald's and Nando's among the latest companies to make announcements.

11.45am BST

The euro has gained ground against the US dollar and the pound as the EU nears agreement over a recovery fund to boost growth after the pandemic.

The euro gained 0.4% against the pound, with one pound worth 1.1183. Against the dollar the euro rose by 0.4% as well, to hit $1.1022.

First, there has been recent progress on discussions on the reconstruction fund, and our baseline remains we will get an agreement over the summer. Second, thanks to the presence of the ECB in the background, the Italian bond market has been very resilient to negative news and we anticipate a further upscaling of ECB peripheral buying in June.

Finally, the European policy response to labor market distress in particular is superior to the US and likely to lead to lesser employment scarring and a quicker resumption in activity, especially in Northern Europe

11.09am BST

In total the coronavirus government support for UK workers has come to 21.8bn, if you add together the money paid for furloughed employees and income support for self-employed workers.

More than 10m British workers have been given some form of income support, if furlough numbers are added to those who have claimed self-employed support*.

10.36am BST

More struggles for the British property sector:

British Land, which owns shopping centres including Sheffield's Meadowhall and Drake Circus in Plymouth, has written down the value of its retail portfolio by more than a quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus.

10.35am BST

HMRC has detailed the number of self-employed people making claims for the Treasury's latest subsidy scheme. Guardian economics writer Phillip Inman writes:

The self-employment income support scheme (SEISS) forms a major part of the government's economic rescue plans following the lockdown and was launched on 13 May to help an estimated 3.5m people.

10.26am BST

For keen FTSE watchers, the latest reshuffle could be a big one. The top companies will be decided based on market value at the close of business on Tuesday.

EasyJet and Carnival are - perhaps unsurprisingly - most at risk of falling from the blue-chip index, while British Gas owner Centrica and aerospace manufacturer Meggitt are also looking likely, according to handy analysis by AJ Bell.

Despite their latest sharp rallies, easyJet and Carnival are still very likely to lose their FTSE 100 status in the latest quarterly reshuffle, thanks to the even bigger falls seen during the spring as their revenues dwindled to pretty much zero. Centrica and Meggitt also look destined for the drop, as their market capitalisations leave them ranked way below the 110^th place cut-off.

Avast, Homeserve, GVC and Convatec look the most likely names to take their places but Kingfisher, Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, B&M European Value Retail and Direct Line are all jockeying for position and sudden gains in their share prices could yet vault them into the UK's premier index. The most at risk of demotion then would be ITV and M&G.

10.00am BST

The FTSE 100 has accelerated: London's benchmark share index is now up by 1.2%.

The gains look to be fairly broad-based, with cyclical companies (whose fortunes largely depend on the health of the broader economy) such as banks among the biggest risers.

9.43am BST

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has said the airline could cut fewer than the 3,000 jobs previously announced after some workers agreed pay cuts.

9.22am BST

Fast fashion retailer Boohoo has published a fairly detailed rebuttal after shares fell heavily yesterday following a short seller attack.

Hedge fund Shadowfall published a research note saying that the online retailer was exaggerating its cash flow.

The group strongly refutes the allegations made in the research note

9.08am BST

The eurozone economy will shrink by at least 8% this year, according to European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde.

ECB's Lagarde: Will Be No New Euro Debt Crisis After Pandemic
- What Matters Is What Money Raised By Debt Is Spent On
- Not Overly Concerned About High Debt Levels

8.59am BST

Halfords is to fully reopen 53 stores after a successful trial of physical-distancing measures on its shop floors.

The bike and car parts retailer said that the reopenings follow successful tests at its Peterborough and Bristol Cribbs Causeway stores. It will be the first time Halfords customers will be allowed in store since the UK lockdown started on 23 March. Among the sites reopening are Gloucester, Huddersfield, Inverness and North Shields.

8.52am BST

Corner shops and independent grocers have seen a 63% surge in trade as shoppers turn to local stores during the coronavirus crisis.

Sales at independently owned retailers, many of which trade under brand names such as Spar, Londis and Budgens, soared by more than double the pace of the fastest growing grocery chain, the Co-op, where sales rose 30.6% in the three months to 17 May according to the latest grocery market data from analysts Kantar, writes the Guardian's Sarah Butler.

Shoppers and retailers are now thinking about what the impact of a less restrictive lockdown will be, and a phased re-opening of non-essential retail and the out-of-home food and drink sector will have a significant impact on grocery sales in the coming months.

However, with plans for reopening the hospitality sector still uncertain, we are currently projecting that extra meals, snacks and drinks consumed at home will mean take-home sales at the grocers could be up 12% over the course of 2020 as a whole.

8.36am BST

The chief executive of Hammerson has announced he will step down, adding to the troubles of the shopping centre owner that is struggling with the pandemic's impact on the retail sector.

Surprise departure. Boss of landlord Hammerson, David Atkins, stepping down. Shares were around 400p when he took charge in 2009, today they're 74p

The current environment, exacerbated by the impact of Covid 19, is undoubtedly the most challenging we have faced as a business. I feel now is the right time to search for a new chief executive, a person who can not only lead the business as we emerge from this period, but also into its next chapter.

8.27am BST

Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi have announced new plans to work together more closely on developing and producing cars, as they seek to move forward with an alliance that was severely dented by the dramatic arrest and flight of Carlos Ghosn.

8.04am BST

As expected, European shares have gained at the opening bell.

The FTSE 100 is up by 0.6%, while the more UK-focused FTSE 250 has gained 0.8% in early trades.

7.53am BST

Good morning, and welcome to our live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets.

Global stock markets rallied on Wednesday morning as the improving outlook on lockdown easing for the most part outweighed concerns over China's imposition of new security laws on Hong Kong.

Thousands of armed police have flooded the streets of Hong Kong in an unprecedented show of force to prevent protests against a law criminalising ridicule of China's national anthem.

At lunchtime rallies police fired pepper bullets into crowds, appearing to hit one reporter, and detained dozens of protesters. Protests have also been fuelled by growing anger at Beijing's increasing interference in the semi-autonomous city.

Stimulus measures are the topic of the day again as Asian bourses are trading up this morning with the Nikkei leading the charges as Japans government looks set to unveil another $1.1tn package helping the Nikkei to gain

European Opening Calls:#FTSE 6099 +0.51%#DAX 11581 +0.66%#CAC 4633 +0.59%#AEX 534 +0.53%#MIB 17973 +0.63%#IBEX 7060 +0.80%#OMX 1613 +0.40%#STOXX 3016 +0.56%#IGOpeningCall

President Lagarde will be answering your questions in an online Q&A on Wednesday, 27 May at 09:30 CET, organised for @Europarl_EYE. You'll be able to watch the event live here on Twitter or on our website https://t.co/8pJWuVbDJr #AskECB #EYE2020 pic.twitter.com/HBHNLrui1G

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