Economists are speculating the outgoing Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, will greenlight one more round of quantitative easing before he steps down in June.

The Bank of England's latest thoughts on introducing negative interest rates to encourage higher lending from banks are 'somewhat schizophrenic', a leading economist has said.

Blue chip insurer Aviva's shares have fallen 14% after the group revealed a £3bn loss in 2012 caused by a huge writedown in its US business.

Andrew Formica, chief executive of Henderson Global Investors, has tipped the rally in markets to continue from here as flows from bonds into equities finally start to increase.

Jupiter's John Chatfeild-Roberts has warned investors not to get carried away with the euphoria surrounding equity markets, saying many companies are being kept afloat by low interest rates.

Henderson's chief executive Andrew Formica has teamed up with Nichola Pease and a range of asset managers to launch an initiative to get young people in the UK work experience - and potentially jobs - in the City.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average - one of the two most quoted indices in the US - has hit a record high above 14,200 points, surpassing its 2007 peak.

The UK's blue chip index is trading back near a five-year high this morning after a near 1% gain, as a bumper set of results lift shares.

EQUITY MARKETS

A leading equity manager warning on equity markets, the overhaul of the IMA's Absolute Return sector and Skandia's latest plans all made our top ten list of the most read stories last week.