Economics

IFA and discretionary wealth manager AFH Financial Group plans to list on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange as it eyes future expansion.

Average annual investment returns over the last decade were similar to those of the last century, despite several global wars and a financial collapse, according to analysis from Brewin Dolphin.

Sterling fell slightly against most major currencies this morning after the Office of National Statistics reported higher-than-expected unemployment figures.

Angela Merkel's government is the latest to back the US Federal Reserve's withdrawal of monetary stimulus despite continuing emerging market turmoil, reports have suggested.

The Bank of England will not hike interest rates until well in to 2015 at the earliest, according to Hawksmoor Investment Management's head of research, Jim Wood-Smith.

The UK's consumer prices index fell to 1.9% in January, bringing it under the Bank of England's 2% target rate for the first time in four years.

It is "not unreasonable" for investors to anticipate a 2% base rate as early as 2016, but increasing rates is still considered a last resort to tame the housing market, according to Bank of England policymaker David Miles.

The Nikkei has closed 3.1% higher at 14,843 after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said it would double the size of two lending programmes in a bid to prop up credit growth.

Britain must see a business recovery before interest rates can begin to rise, according to Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England.

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