Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Latest: Travel and hospitality shares rally
- Holiday bookings surge in UK after lockdown exit plans revealed
- UK jobless rate highest in almost five years
- Unemployment rate hit 5.1% in October-December
- ONS: labour market may be stabilising
- CIPD: Chancellor should extend furlough scheme
2.10pm GMT
Worryingly, job losses across the UK’s wholesale and retail sectors have hit a record.
The CBI’s latest ‘distributive trades’ survey, released this morning, shows that retail sales kept falling in the year to February. With internet sales growing at record pace, retail groups kept laying off staff.
CBI DTS February – Retail sales fell in the year to February, at a slower pace than the previous month #dts pic.twitter.com/GCNCGVafZp
Internet sales grew at an historic pace (question first asked in Aug 2009), with the pace of growth expected to be broadly similar next month #DTS pic.twitter.com/xWBluKQzdF
Employment for the wider distributive sector fell at the fastest pace in DTS history (starting in August 1983), though broadly comparable with pace seen at the depths of the global financial crisis. #DTS pic.twitter.com/Bz8WsxkCZG
1.57pm GMT
The oil price has hit a new 13-month high today, lifted by the prospect of lockdown measures easing.
Brent crude traded as high as $66.79 per barrel, its highest since early January 2020, before dipping back.