US economic growth slows; Anglo American shares surge after BHP proposes £31.1bn takeover – as it happened

Time to wrap up… here’s today’s main stories:

Rupert Neate

Back in the UK, seats on Centre Court at Wimbledon are being sold to the global super-rich for £116,000 – each.

A total of 2,520 of the “debentures” are on sale, offering a reserved seat for each of the 14 days of the tournament for five years from 2026-30. Applications to buy the exclusive seats – positioned on the same level as the royal box – close at midday on Friday.

Back in the UK, BP’s annual shareholder meeting was marred by protest which led to the arrest of four climate campaigners outside the event in Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey.

The oil giant’s investors were accused by Fossil Free London of having “blood on [their] hands” after “profiting from the ongoing genocide in Gaza and climate breakdown”.

Joanna Warrington, a spokesperson for the group, which organised the disruption, said:

“Shareholders should be hiding their bloody hands in shame today, not lifting them to vote for more ecocide and genocide.”

Warrington said all attendees of the event faced “intense security”, led by around 60 security staff and police officers, which included obscuring phone cameras with stickers and placing phones in sealed bags. BP faced similar scenes at its AGM last year.

A BP spokesperson said:

“Our priority continues to be the safety and security of all attendees.”

The company added that it had “received overwhelming support” for the board’s resolutions from its shareholders, which reflects “the strong level of confidence they have in our strategy”.

The AGM was BP’s first since the board sacked former chief executive Bernard Looney over relationships with his colleagues last year. He has been replaced by former chief financial officer Murray Auchincloss.

The US economy performed below expectations in the first quarter, says Nathaniel Casey, investment strategist at wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, with today’s GDP report growth slowing:

Real GDP growing at 1.6% on an annualised basis represents the weakest quarterly gain for nearly two years. This figure was lower than the 2.4% expected by the consensus of economist forecasts and the latest estimate from the Atlanta Fed, which estimated GDP at 2.7%.

Despite consumption remaining strong, inventory accumulation was subdued, subtracting 0.4 percentage points from the figure. However, if consumers keep spending and consumption remains strong, we expect this will increase during the coming quarters as businesses look to replenish stock. A narrowing in net exports took 0.9 percentage points off the headline figure, while government expenditure added 0.2 percentage points.

Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, suggests today’s data could well be revised in future:

“We knew the economy was weaning itself off government support, we just didn’t figure that would cause GDP to drop this quickly. With government spending down, and consumer spending moderating as Covid-era supports disappear, GDP fell below all estimates. But consumers continue to spend at a healthy rate, especially as evidenced by big spending on imports, which drove down the topline GDP number.

First quarter GDP is often squirrelly and heavily revised—just look at last year’s—so all-in-all this shouldn’t be taken as a fundamental downshift in the economy.”

Richard Flynn, managing director at Charles Schwab UK, suggests the GDP report could dampen market optimism:

“Today’s figures show that the economy has grown less than what was expected. Robust economic data in areas such as manufacturing and the job market have set market predictions for GDP on an upward trajectory for the past few weeks, the numbers released today indicate that spectators may have jumped the gun with these estimates.

Looking ahead, we might expect to see these figures temper the bullish narrative that pushed the market to record highs in the first few months of this year. But for inflation, today’s report may be a more positive signal. High levels of economic activity also keep inflation elevated and to cut interest rates, the Fed is awaiting substantial evidence that inflation is trending lower. While today’s report might not be the full story that the Fed is looking for, it may be the prequel.”

Newsflash: Growth across the US economy has slowed sharply this year, suggesting high interest rates are weighing on the economy.

US GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024, new data shows, meaning it only expanded by 0.4% in the quarter.

That’s a slowdown on the fourth quarter of 2023, when real GDP increased at 3.4% per year (or by 0.85% in the quarter).

It’s also weaker than the 2.4% annualised growth which analysts had expected.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis explains:

Compared to the fourth quarter, the deceleration in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected decelerations in consumer spending, exports, and state and local government spending and a downturn in federal government spending.

These movements were partly offset by an acceleration in residential fixed investment. Imports accelerated.