All the day’s economic and financial news, as Britain’s blue-chip index rises to a new intraday high * Latest: FTSE hits record high in early trading * Blue-chip index hits 7460 points, led by miners * China’s ‘belt and road’ plan drives rally * Russia and Saudi back oil curbs * Introduction: Markets rally in Europe and Asia 10.28am BST BAD NEWS FROM GREECE... THE COUNTRY’S ECONOMY HAS SUFFERED ANOTHER CONTRACTION. Greek GDP shrank by 0.1% in the first three months of this year, following a 1.2% plunge in October-December. That puts Greece back into recession, in a reminder of its fragile economic state after years of austerity and political upheaval. #Greece #GDP Growth Rate QoQ Prel at -0.1% https://t.co/D0TuYOjUOR pic.twitter.com/iTMDZ40Bw7 #Greece back in recession as "flash" estimate shows #GDP edged down 0.1% q/q in Q1 2017 after Q4 2016 drop of 1.2% q/q. Down 0.5% y/y in Q1 10.02am BST CHINESE PRESIDENT XI’S AMBITIOUS INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS ARE DRIVING SHARES HIGHER AROUND THE GLOBE, SAYS KATHLEEN BROOKS, RESEARCH DIRECTOR AT CITY INDEX. As mentioned earlier, China has been proudly outlining its plans for new land and sea connections with the rest of the world. It aims to spend hundreds of billions of dollars improving ports, roads and rail links in Europe and Africa, to spruce up old trade routes and create new ones. The big news over the weekend was a Chinese government summit that announced the new “Silk Road” project, which aims to forge peace, inclusiveness and free trade across the world. China has pledged $124bn in infrastructure spending to bring this into action, and markets are cheering Chinese largesse, with Brent crude rising $1 on the back of this news at the start of the week. China’s spending pledge has underpinned risk sentiment more generally this morning, with European equities opening higher and US futures pointing to a stronger open on Wall Street. Nuova Via della Seta: #SilkRoad e il progetto “ONE BELT, ONE ROAD” renderà il Mondo un posto più sicuro https://t.co/VGHsuNnYOA pic.twitter.com/5YD0qq8Plz Related: The $900bn question: What is the Belt and Road initiative? Continue reading...
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com |