And finally, the FTSE 100 has ended the day at its highest closing level since the first week of March.

The blue-chip index has closed 60 points higher at 6550 points, a gain of 0.9% today.

Miners and oil companies led today’s rally, showing increased optimism about economic prospects -- with Covid-19 vaccines being rolled out imminently, and pressure building on Congress to agree a new aid deal.

The FTSE earlier hit an intraday high of 6559 points, which is also its highest level since the pandemic sent markets crashing in February and March.

BP was the top riser, up 3.9%, with Royal Dutch Shell up 3.3%.

Gambling firm Flutter gained 3.4%, adding to Thursday’s surge after it announced a $4.2bn deal to increase its control of the daily fantasy sports company FanDuel.

The smaller FTSE 250 index, which contains medium-sized companies, crept up by 0.25% to its highest level since February.

European markets also rallied, with the Stoxx 600 ending 0.5% higher. Most European indices posted their fifth straight weeks of gains.

Wall Street is holding onto its record highs too, with today’s weak US jobs report driving stocks higher.

The news that just 245,000 new jobs were created in America last month has alarmed economists, but bolstered hopes that Capitol Hill might get its act together on the stimulus package.

It feels like bad news is good news again, as Neil Wilson of Markets.com explains:

Markets are ending the week on a firm footing with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average climbing to fresh record intraday highs.

The soft employment report though is seen as a positive for stocks since it ought to incentivize Congress to pass a stimulus bill this year. When you have over 9m fewer jobs since the pandemic hit you’d want an economic recovery to be developing at a faster rate and the disappointing numbers underline the urgency in getting stimulus to those who need and act as a bridge until vaccines are rolled out.

So, in other news....

Oil has risen to its highest level since March, with Brent crude approaching $50 per barrel after Opec and Russia agreed to only increase production slightly next month.

Denmark has brought an immediate end to new oil and gas exploration in the Danish North Sea as part of a plan to phase out fossil fuel extraction by 2050

UK construction firms have warned of lengthening delays for materials, and stretched supply chains, as new business hits a six-year high.

The English lockdown hit the car industry, though, with sales falling 27% in November

Lidl and Pets at Home have decided to repay their business rates relief granted during the pandemic. That pushes the total surrendered this week by companies who traded through the pandemic to nearly £2bn.

Primark, which had to shut, says it experienced a “phenomenal” jump in sales this week since stores were allowed to reopen.

The pound has hit its highest level against the US dollar since May 2018, but then fallen back below $1.35 as UK-EU negotiations continue.

Goodnight, and have a lovely weekend. GW

Boom. Wall Street has hit another record high.

Investors seem to be anticipating that Congress could agree the new bipartisan $908bn coronavirus aid plan produced this week, given the warning signs flashing from the jobs market.

This has pushed the S&P 500 index up to 3686 points, a new peak.

As Reuters puts it:

The S&P 500 jumped to an all-time high on Friday as data showing the slowest jobs growth in six months reinforced expectations for a new fiscal stimulus bill to help revive the economy from its worst downturn in decades.

Analysts said the dismal report could spur policymakers to push harder for a stimulus bill as more than 13 million people were due to lose their government-funded unemployment benefits on Dec. 26 without quick action by Congress.

“The bad news of the weakening jobs picture is potentially good news for investors because it means that the stimulus bill is much more likely to take place in a fairly short time frame,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in North Carolina.

The Dow has also just nudged a new record high too.

Sterling has climbed to its highest level against the US dollar in around two and a half years.

The pound has jumped by over 0.5% today to $1.3539, the highest level since mid-May.

That’s partly because the US dollar has weakened to a two and half-year low against a basket of currencies after the dire Non-Farm Payroll report on the US jobs market.

But it may also signal some optimism of a breakthrough in the UK-EU free trade deal talks.

Thomas Pugh of Capital Economics reckons a deal is largely priced in, and warns that the pound could fall sharply in a no-deal scenario...

The Brexit negotiations may finally come to a head this week before the next EU summit on Thursday 10^th December. We still think that a deal is more likely than not and with the pound already at our year-end $1.35/£ forecast it seems like the market agrees.

However, a Brexit deal is far from nailed on and a breakdown in negotiations could send the pound down to $1.15 in a “cooperative” no deal or $1.10 in an “uncooperative” no deal.

The pound is also up against the euro, gaining around 0.3% to €1.112 (only a two-day high).

Here’s our US business editor Dominic Rushe on the slump in US job creation last month:

The recovery in the US jobs market collapsed in November as cases of Covid-19 hit new records, government figures revealed on Friday.

The US added just 245,000 new jobs in November, less than the 638,000 jobs added in October, the 672,000 jobs added in September and the 1.4m jobs added in August. The unemployment rate fell to 6.7%.

Jobs growth has now slowed month on month since June and the latest report highlighted another worrying trend – the growth in long-term unemployment. In November, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 385,000 to 3.9 million, accounting for 36.9% of the total unemployed.

The unemployment rate has fallen sharply from a record high of 14.7% in April but is still 3.2 percentage points higher than it was in February, before the coronavirus struck the US.

The downturn also continues to disproportionately affect people of color. The unemployment rate for black Americans was 10.5% in November, for Latinos it was 8.4% and for whites 5.9%.

November’s figures were dragged down by the loss of temporary hiring for the government’s latest census, which accounted for the loss of 96,000 jobs. But other sectors also lost jobs, notably retail which shed 35,000 jobs.

Just 245,000 new jobs were created across the US in November, weaker than expected, as the Covid-19 pandemic hits America’s economy.

That’s a sharp slowdown on October, when 610,000 new jobs were created (that’s been revised down from 638k).

Economists had expected the Non-Farm Payroll to rise by around 440,000 (although there were a wide range of forecasts), so this is a significant miss.

It will fuel concerns that America’s economy is faltering, and raise more pressure to agree a stimulus deal quickly.

The jobless rate has fallen, to 6.7% in November from 6.9% in October.

But, in another worrying sign, the labor force participation rate has also dropped - to 61.5% from 61.7%. That suggests that more people are stopping looking for work.

Major UK supermarkets and retailers have now agreed to waive around £1.9bn of business rates relief this week.

That’s a handy windfall for ministers, which could be used to help firms in real distress.

Here’s the latest tally, following Lidl and Pets At Home’s announcements today:

• Tesco: £585m
• Morrison’s: £274m
• Sainsbury: £410m (and not take up £30m next year)
• Asda: £340m
• Aldi: More than £100m
• Lidl: More than £100m
• B&M: £80m
• Pets At Home: £28.9m

Just in. Discount supermarket chain Lidl has decided to repay more than £100m business rates relief which it received in the UK during the pandemic.

Lidl insists that it has been considering the issue for some time, but has now “brought forward plans to return the relief” to the UK government and the Devolved Administrations.

This comes two days after Tesco became the first to bow to pressures from critics, who argued that supermarkets -- who kept trading through the pandemic and saw a boom in sales -- didn’t deserve or need the tax relief.

Lidl (echoing similar comments from its rivals), says it was “incredibly grateful” for the support, which let it quickly introduce safety measures, buy 4 million masks and 5,000 protective checkout screens, raise stock levels and hire 2,500 temporary staff.

But, with footfall in stores continuing to grow, the firm is “well placed” to manage any further changes due to the pandemic, so it’s going to waive the business rates relief.

Christian Härtnagel, CEO Lidl GB said:

“The business rates relief that was provided to us, and the rest of the supermarket sector, came with a lot of responsibility that we took extremely seriously.

“We’ve been considering this for some time, and we are now in a position to confirm that we will be refunding this money as we believe it is the right thing to do. We feel confident that the business is well positioned to navigate and adapt to any further challenges brought by COVID-19.”

Britain’s building industry grew at a faster pace last month, thanks to new orders surging to a six-year high.

However, construction companies also report that it’s harder to get hold of raw materials and building products -- meaning longer delays, and higher prices.

That’s the message from IHS Markit’s healthcheck on the sector. It found that output accelerated in November, led by housebuilding.

Across the sector, new order volumes expanded at the quickest pace since October 2014, but overall headcounts continued to fall.

Markit says:

Employment remained a weak spot, but the latest fall in staffing numbers was the slowest since February. Despite rising business activity and incoming new work, some firms reported ongoing job cuts amid efforts to reduce overheads.

Overall, the construction PMI rose to 54.7 in November, up from 53.1 in October (anything over 50 shows growth).

House building was the best-performing area in November (with a PMI of 59.2, showing strong growth. Civil engineering returned to growth in November (52.3), while commercial work increased only marginally (51.9), which is the slowest rate for six months.

But this increased growth is means higher demand for construction products and materials -is putting pressure on supply chains.

Tim Moore, economics director at IHS Markit, explains:

“Supply chain challenges remain on the horizon, as signalled by another sharp lengthening of lead times for construction products and materials.

Transport delays and low stocks among suppliers were reported by construction firms in November, which led to the fastest increase in purchasing costs for over one-and-a-half years.”

Duncan Brock, Group Director at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, is disappointed that builders keep cutting staff, creating a “cheerless” employment picture.

In a bid to dampen down the effects of the sharpest rise in input costs since April 2019, builders were reducing headcounts to keep their own heads above water leading to another fall in job numbers.

As more work fills the sector’s pipelines, the necessity to recruit is likely to become more urgent, and the shortfall could be reversed barring further disruption.

Car sales across the UK have gone into reverse again, as the latest Covid-19 lockdown restrictions hit the economy.

New car registrations slumped by 27% in November - when England was in lockdown - to 113,781 new registrations, taking trade back to levels last seen during the 2008 recession.

Although a blow to the industry, it’s less severe than in April when registrations fell by a record 97.3% [making Tesla briefly the market leader for sales, as it doesn’t rely on showrooms].

This time around, car dealers were better prepared, and had lined up deliveries or click and collect schemes. But still, private demand slumped by 32% while registrations by large fleets saw a decline of 22.1%

2020 has been a rough year for the car industry (like so many others), with sales down 30%,or 663,761 units.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said,

“Compared with the spring lockdown, manufacturers, dealers and consumers were all better prepared to adjust to constrained trading conditions. But with £1.3 billion worth of new car revenue lost in November alone, the importance of showroom trading to the UK economy is evident and we must ensure they remain open in any future Covid restrictions.

More positively, with a vaccine now approved, the business and consumer confidence on which this sector depends can only improve, giving the industry more optimism for the turn of the year.”

Pets at Home has followed UK supermarkets and become the latest high street retailer to repay the £28.9m it received in business rates relief during the pandemic.

It comes a day after Sainsbury’s, Asda, B&M and Aldi joined rivals Tesco and Morrisons in repaying business rates relief, bringing the total handed back to the Treasury to £1.8bn.

The pet store chain said it was “extremely grateful” for the financial support it received in March but had decided to repay the entire sum “in full”, after its status as an essential retailer meant it was able to keep its doors open throughout the pandemic.

Pets at Home said it was confident that the business was strong enough to absorb the £35m costs thrown up by the pandemic, without taking the emergency government support.

Pets at Home chief executive Peter Pritchard said:

“We were very grateful for the rates relief provided back in March during a time of significant uncertainty, which helped us to take the decision to keep our stores, online operations and veterinary practices open. Recent positive news around the launch of vaccinations for Covid-19 has led us to reassess the level of uncertainty ahead.”

He added:

“Our decision today demonstrates our clear commitment to acting responsibly and treating all of our stakeholders fairly.”

Oil companies are helping to drive the FTSE 100 to a nine-month high this morning, after the Opec group and Russia agreed a production deal.

After much wrangling, the oil producers agreed to only raise production by 500,000 barrels per day from January. That’s rather less than the 2m bpd they’d previously inked in.

The decision means that oil output will only increase modestly next month, when existing supply cuts end.

The news pushed Brent crude as high as $49.92 per barrel this morning, close to the $50 mark for the first time since early March.

Shares in energy firms are rallying too, with Royal Dutch Shell and BP both up 2%.

However, Opec+ also agreed that future output levels will be decided at monthly meetings, creating the possibility of tensions in 2021.... especially if crude prices keep rising, tempting suppliers to pump more.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

After a rough year, Britain’s FTSE 100 is ending 2020 on the front foot.

The blue-chip index has jumped to a new nine-month high this morning, as investors hope that 2021 will bring better economic times.

The FTSE 100 has gained 40 points, or 0.6%, to 6,530 points -- its highest level since the first week of March, when global markets were in meltdown as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the globe.

The rally comes as momentum builds behind a new proposal for a $908bn coronavirus stimulus bill in America. The bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus told CNBC on Thursday.

Republican Representative Tom Reed told CNBC last night that the tide on Capitol Hill is shifting in favor of compromising to pass a new economic stimulus package

“The bottom line is, this is right in the range of reason. It’s not a perfect bill, but it is a compromise bill that can bring people together.”

Optimism that Covid-19 vaccines will roll out soon are also lifting stocks in London (despite a report in the Wall Street Journal that Pfizer has suffered some supply chain problems).

Fiona Cincotta of Gain Capital explains:

News that Pfizer has cut its rollout target for the covid vaccine by half, owing to supply chain obstacles has knocked risk sentiment. Vaccine optimism put the markets on a stellar run across November as investors priced in the end of the pandemic and a return to pre-pandemic growth, regardless of the dire few months expected before the vaccine becomes widely available. Then news from Pfizer means that it could now take longer to reach the end of the pandemic tunnel, but with other vaccines also coming, this is more of a setback rather than risk reset news.

However, optimism surrounding a large US economic stimulus package is helping lift US futures after the close. A $908 billion rescue package in the world’s largest economy now appears within reach, offering support to the global risk sentiment picture, off-setting some vaccine disappointment

The wider markets could be muted until the latest US unemployment report is released (1.30pm GMT), showing how many jobs were created in America last month.

There’s a wide range of guesstimates, from over 700,000 to below 200,000, as economists try to assess the impact of its worsening pandemic.

But on average, job creation is expected to slow, to below 500,000 new jobs in November from 638,000 in October, as Covid-19 cases and deaths rise relentlessly higher in the US.

The agenda

• 9.30am GMT: UK construction PMI for November
• 1.30pm GMT: US Non-Farm Payroll jobs report for November
• 3pm GMT: US Factory orders