Economics

One story dominated the headlines this week as Hargreaves Lansdown revealed its new pricing structure, but an insider dealing investigation and some fund tips for 2014 also enthralled readers.

Shares in oil giant Royal Dutch Shell have dragged on the FTSE 100 today, after the company issued a profits warning for Q4 this morning.

Labour will refer high street banks to the competition authorities if it is elected in 2015, Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is expected to say in a speech on Friday.

Aberdeen Asset Management this morning reported it had seen AUM drop 3% as outflows continued from its equity funds and inflows dropped back sharply, following its move to cap Devan Kaloo's emerging markets fund.

The FTSE 100 was down as much as 0.5% this morning, mimicking losses seen globally, as investors reacted to poor economic data.

The UK's headline inflation rate fell to 2% in December, rounding off a near one percentage point fall since the summer, official data has shown.

Neil Woodford has told Hargreaves Lansdown's head of research, Mark Dampier, he is wary of a re-run of the eurozone crisis which began in late 2009 and battered stocks across the continent.

Britain's growth rate could reach as high as 4% this year as the recovery accelerates, economists have said.

Wealth management giants including Rathbones, Towry and Quilter are said to be looking at a £50m acquisition of Jupiter's private client business, and a sale now could enable the group to pay a special dividend to shareholders, analysts have said.

The US added far fewer jobs than expected in December, according to latest payroll data, with the disappointing numbers partially blamed on bad weather.