Markets hope for progress over EU recovery fund; US housing starts jump – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsLatest: New US house builds jumped 17% in JuneBoE governor Bailey cautious about recoveryIntroduction: EU recovery fund in focusInvestors doubtful of deal todayEU summit opens with Covid-19 safeguards 2.49pm BST Netflix shares have tumbled almost 7% to $491 in early Wall Street trading, despite posting strong results last night.The streaming service smashed forecasts by reporting it gained 10.09 million new paid subscribers in the last quarter, more than the 8 million expected. That helped to swell revenues by almost 25% year-on-year.We live in uncertain times with restrictions on what we can do socially and many people are turning to entertainment for relaxation, connection, comfort and stimulation.In Q1 and Q2, we saw significant pull-forward of our underlying adoption leading to huge growth in the first half of this year (26 million paid net adds vs. prior year of 12 million). As a result, we expect less growth for the second half of 2020 compared to the prior year. Related: Netflix shares drop despite positive second-quarter earnings 2.39pm BST The US stock market has opened a little higher, as investors juggle optimism about a Covid-19 vaccine against the alarming jump in virus cases.The S&P 500 index has risen by 0.2%, or 6.37 points, to 3,221. The United States reported 77,255 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, shattering its previous record single-day spike in new cases by nearly 10,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.https://t.co/5Rfp2NFZGd pic.twitter.com/8OFh3coE09 Continue reading…
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