Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week down 34.73 points at 5,752.23.

Equity view

House builder Persimmon said it would start a phased re-opening of its construction sites from April 27 as the industry looked to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry said on Friday that its senior leaders and directors will take a voluntary pay cut to preserve cash during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hastings Group is looking for a new chairman after Gary Hoffman told the company he would quit in May.

Frasers has settled a €674m (£588m) dispute with the Belgian tax authorities to remove uncertainty over its finances during the Covid-19 crisis.

Croda said it would pay its £65m final dividend as the chemicals company reported resilient trading during the Covid-19 crisis.

Computacenter said on Thursday that current trading has been more robust than anticipated as it backed its full-year expectations but pulled its dividend to preserve cash amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Taylor Wimpey said it would start a phased return to construction in May as the housebuilder reported rising orders for new homes.

Bodycote said on Thursday that it will defer a decision on its 2019 dividend until there is more clarity on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

House builder Bellway said its board of directors would take a temporary 20% pay cut and donate the money to charity.

Johnson Matthey said its board would donate a fifth of their salaries to science education and that it would decline government support for furloughed staff for the first quarter of its financial year.

Power generation company Drax said on Wednesday that core profit for 2020 should be in line with market expectations despite a potential £60m hit from the coronavirus pandemic, although the customer business is expected to make a loss.

CRH reported a “positive” start to the year on Wednesday, with first quarter like-for-like sales ahead 3%, but added that the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic had been visible since mid-March.

London Stock Exchange Group said it would pay its final dividend for 2019 as it reported higher first-quarter profit boosted by increased equity trading and clearing activity.

BHP Group warned global steel production excluding China could fall by double digits in percentage terms as the Covid-19 pandemic forced shutdowns, but maintained annual forecasts.

Shipping services provider Clarksons said on Tuesday that its broking division performed well in the first quarter, but the financial business was "very quiet" and the support division was hit by a downturn in oil and gas related activities.

Budget airline Wizz Air said on Tuesday that it is eligible for support under the UK Government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility.

Pub group Marston's said it had secured a waiver against any breach of its funding agreements that might arise as a result of the government coronavirus lockdown that has closed bars and restaurants.

Rank warned it would not pay its next dividend as the casino operator said 7,000 of its UK workers had been furloughed under the government's Covid-19 job retention programme.

Housebuilder Redrow said it agreed £100m in extra funding with six banks under its revolving credit facility, giving access to £350m maturing at the end of December 2022.

Countryside Properties said on Monday that its executive committee and board of directors have agreed to a voluntary 20% pay cut for at least three months due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Economic news

UK retail sales suffered their worst decline ever in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Friday.

The UK slightly exceeded its budget deficit target in the recent financial year before an expected surge in public borrowing forced by the Covid-19 crisis, official figures showed.

The UK economy slumped even more than expected in April as the coronavirus lockdowns at home and abroad took their toll, according to preliminary figures released on Thursday.

The value of loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the government's coronavirus business interruption scheme (CBILS) doubled to £2.8bn in a week but critics still said the pace was too slow.

UK consumer price inflation edged lower in March as fuel and clothing prices fell in the run-up to the coronavirus lockdown.

The governor of the Bank of England has warned that lifting the Covid-19 lockdown too early could cause a severe lack of public confidence and damage the economy.

Official job figures showed employment rising before the Covid-19 crisis hit but a preliminary estimate for March contained evidence that the virus was beginning to take its toll.

The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane believes Covid-19 has already caused the UK’s economy to shrink, with a further, sharper contraction likely as the first half continues.

UK footfall plummeted in March, as Covid-19 kept consumers at home and shut shops, research published on Monday showed.

The prime minister is understood to be "cautious" about easing lockdown restrictions too soon, it was reported on Monday, despite senior cabinet ministers previously signalling otherwise.

International events

German business sentiment fell to a record low in April as the coronavirus outbreak took its toll, according to a widely-followed survey released on Friday.

Orders in the US for goods made to last more than three years crashed lower last month amid huge drops in those for civilian aircraft and those for automobiles and parts.

The eurozone suffered record falls in business activity and employment in April as Covid-19 restrictions shut down much of the region's economy, a survey showed.

Initial weekly US jobless claims continued to surge higher during the latest week, underscoring the dire state of the jobs market.

A big divide remained between the member states of the European Union on whether any coronavirus recovery aid should be handed out as subsidies or loans.

President Trump threatened on Wednesday to destroy any Iranian gunboats that harassed US ships at sea, triggering a so-called 'short squeeze' in US oil futures according to analysts.

German investor sentiment bounced back in April, according to the latest survey from the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim.

Italian authorities will ease the Mediterranean country's lockdown measures significantly, possibly as soon as in a fortnight.

US crude oil futures plunged to a low not seen since the last century as concerns mounted that storage facilities could be overwhelmed due to plunging demand from the Covid-19 crisis.

US crude oil futures crashed at the start of the week with the price of West Texas Intermediate falling below zero for the first time ever.