Walker Crips has agreed to sell corporate advice subsidiary Keith, Bayley, Rogers & Co to BMV Investments as it focuses on core businesses.

Lloyds Banking Group investors have shrugged off the bank's extra provisioning for PPI mis-selling, sending the bank's shares up 7% on better-than-expected progress on cost cutting.

UK equities have been surprisingly resilient this year, with the FTSE 100 and the FTSE All-Share each posting gains in the face of a raft of macroeconomic uncertainties.

Shares in BG Group have slumped 19% this morning after the oil and gas giant said it does not expect any production growth next year.

France's economy is looking increasingly troubled and it could be the next eurozone domino to fall, investors at Legal & General Investments and Carmignac Gestion have warned.

France is set to slide into recession imminently, sparking changes in government as soon as next Spring, according to Carmignac Gestion founder Edouard Carmignac.

FLAT IS THE NEW UP

The surprise 1% rise in UK GDP in Q3 points to only a slight improvement in the economy's growth outlook, according to forecasters.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to four years in jail for his part in a six-year old tax fraud case.

UBS Asset Management is to close its US 130/30 Equity fund, as well its Asian Equity fund, due to the uneconomical size of both portfolios.