Britain's manufacturers report a surge in activity in April, with output growing strongly and firms taking on more staff - details start here.
Earlier:
Nationwide: biggest annual price rise since June 2007
London: £1m+ sales have doubled
IHS: Justifiable to say there's a London housing bubble
9.51am BST
Another highlight -- Britain's factories cranked up their output to the third-fastest rate in two decades, says Markit.
April's PMI Output Index for UK manufacturing was the 3rd highest ever (since 1992). Sector set for 1%+ growth in Q2 pic.twitter.com/QWUq3VUhFf
9.42am BST
Activity in Britain's manufacturing sector has surged at the fastest rate in five months, bolstering hopes that the recovery is broadening.
Large beat on UK manufacturing PMI!
Supporting these efforts are a strong domestic market and improving global economic conditions, while the ongoing solid upswing in employment is providing the capacity to meet the needs of demand looking ahead.
9.29am BST
Manufacturing data from the eurozone, released this morning, showed that activity in Ireland's industrial base grew at fastest rate in three years. Its PMI, calculated by Markit, hit 56.1 - up from 55.5 in March.
But the Netherlands' manufacturing PMI dipped to 53.4, from 53.7 -- the slowest growth rate in nine months (but also the 10th straight month of growth).
9.26am BST
Lloyds Banking Group is preparing to float its TSB retail business on the London stock market before the end of June, as it strives to become a normal bank again.
Shares in TSB, which is challenging the Big Four high street banks, are to be offered for sale to the public in the next eight weeks.
The flotation of TSB is to take place following the aborted talks with Co-operative Bank to sell the 631 branches, after which TSB was spun out of the wider Lloyds branch network last year.
The sale must take place if Lloyds is to meet the requirements set out by the EU at the time of its taxpayer bailout in 2008, when the government took a 43% stake. This has now fallen to 24% after two placings with big City institutions since last September.
8.56am BST
Over in Greece, unions are holding anti-austerity protest marches to mark May Day.
A demonstration led by the communist PAME union has already headed towards the Athens parliament - here's some tweets from the scene:
#MayDay communist union PAME rally is reaching #syntagma sq. and #Greece's Parliament pic.twitter.com/zgj7OJatn8 pic.twitter.com/IEmqBkSrIi #1imgr
#MayDay rallies in #Greece called by all major labor unions. 11.00 (GSEE, ADEDY), 10.00 PAME (already there pic.twitter.com/yWarPOmiUm) #1mgr
#1mgr pic.twitter.com/qNs22kXpRQ
8.53am BST
Nationwide says UK house prices have increased by the most since 2007. Yesterday BOE Dale said he sees no sign of a bubble.
8.51am BST
In the City, the FTSE 100 has hit its highest level in seven weeks.
Growth in economic activity has picked up recently, after having slowed sharply during the winter in part because of adverse weather conditions
8.30am BST
Reckon there's a housing bubble in London? You're not alone. IHS economist Howard Archer says:
It is certainly justifiable to talk of a house price bubble in London (where Nationwide data show that prices jumped 5.3% quarter-on-quarter and 18.2% year-on-year in the first quarter)...
...but the strength of house prices is not yet a serious problem outside of the capital and housing market activity is still not unduly strong compared to long-term norms, so in these respects it is premature to talk of a general housing market bubble.
8.28am BST
Here's my colleague Hilary Osborne's take on today's housing stats:
The annual rate at which UK house prices are increasing moved into double digits in April, according to figures from the country's largest building society, as low mortgage rates and a mismatch between supply and demand for homes continued to drive the market....
8.27am BST
UK house prices have now been higher than a year ago for 14 months in a row, back to March 2013.
8.13am BST
In London, the proportion of house sales involving properties over £500,000 has almost doubled to 25%, from 13% in 2007.
Properties worth £1m or more now make up more than 6% of all sales, more than double the rate seven years ago:
8.07am BST
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the financial markets, the world economy, the eurozone and business...and a Happy May Day to you all too.
Britain's housing market has boom has picked up pace, with prices surging at their fastest rate in almost seven years. And expensive properties are leading the way.
Earnings growth is beginning to pick up, with wage increases finally outpacing the rise in the cost of living in February. Nevertheless, house price growth is outstripping income growth by a wide margin.
The risk is that unless supply accelerates significantly, affordability will become stretched.
Interestingly, price growth in London and the South East appears to be being driven by the top end of the market, with higher priced locations recording stronger price growth
Happy May Day! pic.twitter.com/j3WWXx4BVP
A quiet day seen ahead with share markets across Europe closed for the May Day holiday. London is open though. Financial bookies: FTSE100 +5
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