US jobless claims jump; UK growth fizzles out – as it happened

Growth in the UK economy has all but fizzled out. GDP expanded by just 0.4% in October, the weakest in six months, with Covid-19 restrictions hitting the services sector hard.

Economists said growth had dropped to a “snail’s pace”, and that the UK faced a fraught few months after coming to a ‘juddering halt’ this quarter.

Economics thinktank NIESR estimates the UK will probably shrink by 1.5% in the last three months of 2020, with a November slump followed by a recovery in December.

——————

US jobless claims surge as pandemic worsens

Over in America, the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits has jumped, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hurt the US economy.

Around 853,000 new ‘initial claims’ were filed last week, sharply up on the 716,000 claims received the previous week (when Thanksgiving disrupted things).

SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2020/dec/10/uk-economy-gdp-october-covid-19-pound-brexit-ecb-stimulus-business-live

Uncategorized