The UK should not set upon a further bout of quantitative easing to curb its economic problems, says F&C's Peter Lees, as inflation is already too high.

Threadneedle's top fund managers are standing firm on their asset allocation views for 2011, sticking with overweight equity and corporate bonds positions going into the new year.

Richard Timberlake and Paul Kim are set to join LVAM to run its multimanager range, Investment Week understands.

BlackRock's Bob Doll has hit back at those drawing comparisons between Japan and the US, saying the latter has actually learnt from Japan's misfortune.

Credit rating agency Moody's has placed Spanish government bonds under review for downgrade on concerns the country will face difficulty raising cash next year.

Schroders has closed a number of share classes on its $1bn Asian Total Return fund in order to protect performance for existing investors.

The US will lose its AAA credit rating in the coming years while the UK will struggle to maintain its rating, warns M&G's Jim Leaviss.

SECTOR ANALYSIS

Gold will be one of the best performing asset classes of the next decade and could return as much as 8% a year over this period, Castlestone's Angus Murray says.

Portuguese 10-year government bond yields were steady in early trading, ahead of a €500m bond auction by the country's government later today.