Paul Marriage, manager of Cazenove's £91m UK Smaller Companies fund, names five smaller companies set to outperform in 2012.

Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde has warned the world economic outlook is "gloomy" and no country is safe from rising risks.

Legg Mason Asset Management has unveiled its $34m Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income fund to the UK market.

Flagship UK Opportunities fund invests in unloved names with encouraging growth prospects.

Aberdeen Asset Management is set to consolidate its multi-manager range, run by co-heads of MM Graham Duce and Aidan Kearney.

Economic growth in the UK will be subdued and output will fail to reach 2008 levels until 2013, according to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman Jim O'Neill said BRIC investors are on tenterhooks waiting for this week's EU summit, as progress on solving the debt crisis will boost appetite for eurozone debt.

Today's oil price is a risk to global economic growth, particularly in the US, said BP chief executive Bob Dudley.

Asian markets rallied overnight as Moody's mulled raising the ratings of some Asian countries, while investors pinned their hopes on an EU summit to solve the debt crisis.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has threatened to veto plans for an overhaul to the EU treaty on grounds it could damage British interests.