Returns on a typical 60/40 US equity and fixed income portfolio over the next decade may be half those seen over the previous 50 years, according to Morgan Stanley strategists.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has offered help to financial advisers who want to build simplified advice models, saying it is prepared to give 'individual guidance' or an 'informal steer' as part of its Project Innovate.

Lloyds Banking Group has set aside an extra £900m in payment protection insurance (PPI) provisions and confirmed it will cut 9,000 jobs as part of a switch from high street to digital banking.

Environmental Markets

Lack of profitability among EM corporates has dragged the sector down in the last several years, but the poor performance has reached its trough and the only way is up, argues Emma Bullock from Saunderson House.

Software, chemicals and industrial suppliers are among the under-appreciated European stocks that can survive the worst of the slowdown, explains Swiss & Global's Can Elbi.

Debt levels remain extraordinarily high, and UK growth is being driven by debt-fuelled consumption and the wealth effects of overheating residential property, says Miton's Eric Moore.

The risk that Europe is facing a Japan-style 'lost two decades' is increasing, and the euro will likely fall further, says UBP's Jean-Sylvain Perrig.

Peripheral Europe economies are diverging and investors should think of Spanish and Italian sovereigns as a rate trade, not a credit play, explains Carmignac's Sandra Crowl.

The golden age of exceptionally low bond volatility is drawing to a close, and investors would be wise to lock in any handsome profits before monetary policy shifts, explains Lombard Odier's Grant Peterkin.