Economics

Balfour Beatty shares have plunged over 20% this morning, after the UK's biggest construction company issued another profit warning.

Protests in Hong Kong caused the country's stock market to tumble today, while sharp drops in its currency forced the country's monetary authority to announce emergency measures to provide support.

George Osborne is expected to announce cuts to a so-called 'death tax' which applies to the untouched pension pots of over-75s at this year's Tory conference.

Aberdeen Asset Management today said outflows from its business had slowed significantly following a sustained period of redemptions, with the group also seeing better than expected flows from recent acquisition SWIP.

Deflation defeated

UK markets opened lower Friday after a tough session in the US where stocks suffered sharp losses on the expectation of an imminent rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Lloyds Banking Group is to sell another 11.5% stake in its TSB business, leaving it with a 50% holding in what promises to become a challenger to the UK's existing retail banking industry.

Shares in D2C giant Hargreaves Lansdown fell today after analysts at RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock on fears its share price will continue to struggle in the face of increasing competition.

Tesco has confirmed former CFO Laurie McIlwee has not been working the final six months of his contract, encompassing most of the period currently under investigation by the firm following its profits overstatement.

RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton is to leave the bank in order to take up an identical position at GlaxoSmithKline, according to reports.