What ails Japan?

Within the emerging markets space, fears of a hard landing and shadow banking combined with poor performance have led many investors to avoid China.

As the oil price falls below $80 per barrel and other commodity markets also struggle with limited supply, investors are steering clear of resources funds, but some managers see these conditions as an investment opportunity.

Nigel Beidas, co-manager of the Marlborough Extra Income fund, takes a closer look at headwinds and tailwinds for UK companies.

The most recent global economic data suggests a general softening in growth activity - led particularly by Europe.

The gloss has come off the emerging markets' story in the past year or so. Performance has disappointed, and of the BRIC countries, only India appears to be a story investors want to talk about positively.

Now in their sixth year, Investment Week's Sustainable Investment Awards 2014, held at Le Méridien Piccadilly, London on 26 November, are aimed at fund managers and organisations at the forefront of sustainability investing.

Charles Stanley has reported a £3.9m pre-tax loss for the six months to 30 September, driven by costs arising from the ongoing "major upgrade" of its systems and processes.

Miton Group expects adjusted 2015 profits to be "significantly less" than current market forecasts after seeing further outflows in the second half of this year.

Legal & General (L&G) has secured a £2.5bn bulk annuity deal with the TRW pension scheme, taking total annuity transactions to £8.3bn year to date.