There are some 1,585 fewer residential mortgages now available than there were just three weeks ago, according to financial experts Moneyfacts.

AIM-listed business Science Group has become the latest firm to design a ventilator from scratch. It has signed an agreement to provide 10,000 of them if regulators approve.

A record 6.65m Americans filed for help from the US Government last week, up from the previous record of 3.3m the week before, as measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak led to millions losing their jobs.

The recent stock market falls have been the worst since the financial crisis and, just as then, we are in new and sobering territory.

One in 17 chickens sold in Tesco contains the highest level of campylobacter, which is the most common cause of food poisoning. Lidl had the lowest amount of contaminated poultry of the top UK supermarkets.

Analysis of items sold in Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's reveal that customers often are paying a premium for loose produce compared to items packaged up in plastic.

Among the menial jobs the victims found at recycling plants, warehouses, farms or poultry factories were roles in the supply chains for Tesco and Asda, working at a farm in Pershore, Worcestershire.

Experts at YorkTest Laboratories analysed the nutritional content of all 528 ready meals sold by the five major UK supermarkets - Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, and Waitrose.

Asda Sainsbury's and Morrisons will drop the price of petrol by 2p per litre. The RAC has called on retailers to reflect a drop in wholesale cost of petrol.

Describing itself as 'a Great British institution', the Twitter account Escaped Trolley shares images of dumped shoppers around the country and turns them into works of art.

Major supermarkets including Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda will follow Morrisons in their pledge. Black plastic contains a carbon pigment that cannot be detected by recycling machines.

Budget supermarket Lidl took home ten of the 17 prizes for festive food at the Quality Food and Drink Awards, while Aldi picked up two, Asda was awarded one and M&S took home four.

Asda is to start selling avocados using plant-based Apeel coating in the New Year. Apeel is made from natural plant-derived materials and water, making it vegan and harmless to eat.

A new report, from trade magazine The Grocer, found the average cost of a Christmas shop at Asda, was £6.33 less than its nearest rival, making it the cheapest UK supermarket to shop from.

Customers are raging on social media that supermarkets across the UK are failing to deliver key festive ingredients, sparking fears online that they are running out of items.

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Sausage and Mash is the worst offender of shop bought microwave dishes, containing almost 3g of salt, which is  half an adults daily intake.

A man from Wigan, Greater Manchester, managed to capture the incident yesterday morning in the town's Asda Golborne store.

The average UK trolley of 53 branded groceries cost an average £107.01 over the year, according to Which? The trolley cost 64p more at Asda and £2.12 more at Morrisons.

The study by trade magazine The Grocer compared a shopping basket of 33 typical grocery items, such as skimmed milk, sliced bread, baked beans and dried pasta.

WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: Hoads Farm near Hastings, East Sussex, was suspended after animal rights activists found rotting corpses, bleeding hens and filthy conditions at the business.

Asda is set to launch Greggs counters selling the full menu in five of its UK branches across the UK on a trial basis, including Boldon, Corby, Huyton, Wigan and Eastlands.

Findus-style beef and onion crispy pancakes will be available in supermarket freezers in the UK from 25 February, after Birds Eye developed a new recipe for the classic treat.

Shoppers at the UK's 'big four' supermarkets have posted revolting pictures of 'foul' green chicken meat inside their roasts.

Pictures from one Asda store in London showed aisles that had been stripped of toilet roll after the Department of Health and Social Care this afternoon confirmed there were 273 positive cases.

In a move to ensure the supermarket has enough supply, they have decided to limit the amount of dry pasta, UHT milk and baked bean tins that each customer can purchase.

Mark Mattocks shared a video of a woman dressed as a Star Wars soldier, pictured, at his local store in Sittingbourne, Kent - which has now been viewed more than 1.3 million times.

The nation's supermarkets will now be allowed to help each other keep their shelves stocked as the government has temporarily relaxed competition laws.

A Daily Mail survey found no delivery slots available from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose and Ocado. Boris Johnson suggested Britons should arrange food deliveries

Shoppers were pictured squeezing together at supermarkets up and down the country this morning, ignoring social distancing rules from the government amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Tom Kelsey, 33, from Oxford, Tom Church, 29, from London, and Deepak Tailor, 32, from Essex, have created a free supermarket price comparison tool following rising prices.

Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda have all been allocating special shopping hours for people who are vulnerable of catching coronavirus or those buying supplies on their behalf.

Major stores have limited the number of people allowed inside a supermarket at once, with others asking customers to remain at least two metres apart amid the UK's coronavirus outbreak.

One man alleged he was stopped from entering an unnamed supermarket in Derby because he was 'unable to guarantee' he could remain a distance from the nearest person.

All the major supermarkets imposed restrictions this month keep shelves full after Brits panicked due to the pandemic and stocked up on supplies.

Ahead of Bank Holiday weekend, Wales Online have reported the current restrictions in place for buying Easter eggs at the likes of Sainsbury's, Tesco, Aldi and Asda.

The shopper was spotted in an Asda supermarket in Fife, Scotland, wearing a sanitary towel over his face as a mask. Shocked fellow shoppers did double takes and one took a video of the unusual mask.

Anglo-Australian miner BHP said global steel production - excluding China - could drop sharply this year due to the pandemic. Steel is often seen as an economic bellwether.

On a day of wild swings on global markets, brent crude briefly fell below $16 a barrel - the lowest level this century. It later recovered, surging 10 per cent to more than $21 last night.

The utility giant was among the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 after US investment bank Jefferies downgraded its stock from 'buy' to 'hold' and slashed earnings forecasts by a third.

Taylor Wimpey was the top riser on the FTSE 100 after it said it was still selling homes virtually, adding its order book was at £2.7bn at the end of last week, up from £2.4bn the same time last year.

The education group will hand back £102m to shareholders - or 13.5p per share - after boss John Fallon insisted the company was in a 'strong financial position'.

Novacyt has inked a deal with the Department of Health to provide it with 288,000 tests a week. And Omega Diagnostics has made fresh strides in the race to roll out antibody tests.

Royal Mail is poised to benefit from the new reliance on web sales. Citigroup Analysts bestowed a rare double upgrade on the 504-year-old postal service, moving it from 'sell' to 'buy'.

Over the last 17 years Rolls (pictured) and his business partner, chief exec Tim Warrillow , have transformed the market for tonic waters - and created a stock market darling.

Stephen Lansdown found the company's stock was so sought after that, when he launched his latest sale of shares, he had to increase the amount up for grabs twice.

According to the FTSE All-World Index, which measures the performance of thousands of companies around the world, global stocks grew at their highest monthly level in nine years.

Carnival has been asked to give all the documents relating to the pandemic and its response to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Serial investor Vin Murria, an adviser at Hgcapital, bought 13.25 per cent of the AIM-listed company's shares on April 30, according to a stock market announcement yesterday.

The Lloyd's of London insurer was a top FTSE 250 riser after placing the 57.6m shares, priced at 650p. This was 6 per cent cheaper than its share price the day before the fundraising launched.

FTSE 100 closed up 1.4 per cent or 82.22 points at 5,935.98 and the pound was at $1.23 against the dollar.