US recovery gathers pace; copper hits $10,000; UK household wealth soars – as it happened
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Latest: Pensions and house prices push national wealth to record
- Copper prices hits 10-year peak
- Wall Street hits new highs
- US GDP rose by 1.6% quarter-on-quarter
- Experts: US economy in robust recovery
- Eurozone economic optimism has jumped
- UK workers come off furlough, as vacancies jump
7.09pm BST
That's all for today. Here's a quick round-up.
The US economy has begun 2021 with solid growth. GDP rose by 1.6% in the first quarter of the year, an annualised rate of 6.4%, lifted by government and consumer spending, and business investment.
Buoyed by the two rounds of stimulus cheques sent out in the first three months of the year, first-quarter GDP growth accelerated to 6.4% annualised, driven by a massive 10.7% surge in consumption.
That left the level of GDP less than 1% off its pre-pandemic peak. It will recapture that level in the second quarter and, with the pace of growth we expect, any remaining output gap should be eliminated before the end of this year.
Related: US economy soars 6.4% in first quarter as stimulus and vaccinations help recovery
Related: UK workers begin to come off furlough as consumer spending rises
Related: Heathrow: ministers must get a grip' of customs before 17 May
Related: Easyjet urges UK to put most of Europe on green' Covid travel list
Related: Gordon Brown leads calls for $60bn of Covid support for poor countries
Related: Electric vehicles on world's roads expected to increase to 145m by 2030
Related: Martin Sorell in legal battle with former employer WPP over payout
Related: NatWest to move HQ to London if Scotland votes for independence
Related: BT in talks to sell stake in BT Sport
Related: Unilever sales buoyant as consumers stock up on food in lockdown
Related: Shell reports more than 2bn Q1 profit as fossil fuel demand returns
Related: People could be asked to watch educational video before investing
7.03pm BST
Some late travel news... the High Court has told Ryanair that it has to compensate passengers whose flights were cancelled due to 2018 pilot strikes.
Ryanair argued that the strikes were an extraordinary circumstance' and therefore out of its control. This was despite the fact that the official adjudication scheme, AviationADR, ruled that strikes by its own employees were its responsibility and it had to pay
Ryanair simply left the adjudication scheme and, in December 2018, the CAA announced enforcement action against the airline.
Ryanair refused to pay compensation to passengers affected by industrial action by pilots in 2018...Ryanair could not claim delayed/cancelled flights were extraordinary circumstances'. High Court has today agreed with our interpretation" @UK_CAA
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