Pound jumps and markets rebound as firms await wage rescue plan – business live

The pound is up as European markets rebound and the UK waits for details of the chancellor’s plan to protect wages in response to Covid-19M&S considers temporary store closuresUK will experience a deep, short recession, analysts sayCompetition watchdog launches Covid-19 taskforceBank of England cancels 2020 stress testsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage 2.00pm GMT Kevin Loane, economist at the consultancy Fathom, says there is likely to be an unprecedented spike in US unemployment: US initial jobless claims rose by a near record amount last week; they could rise by three million this week, indicating the negative shock to the US economy could be the largest on record.California normally accounts for almost one-fifth of all US jobless claims. The state’s governor has said that initial claims totalled 40,000 on Sunday, and doubled to 80,000 by Tuesday. If you average that over a week, it is consistent with initial claims in California alone spiking to 525,000 – a level that is entirely without precedent. Based on an upward trend, and the recently announced lockdown, the risk is that the final figure ends up higher. Across the states for which we have data, claims so far this week are running at a rate that is 15 times higher than they were in March last year. That figure is consistent with a rise in jobless claims from 281,000 to around three million next week. That would be the largest such increase by a factor of more than ten. 1.34pm GMT The bell has rung on Wall Street and markets have opened higher – but the gains are pretty limited so far. Continue reading…
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