Economics

The Bank of England has held interest rates for the 50th month in a row and opted not to increase the size of its QE programme at its May meeting.

Shares in Manchester United have fallen at the start of US trading after it was announced manager Sir Alex Ferguson is to bring an end to his 26-year reign at the club at the end of this season.

Miton's Gervais Williams has been named as the new manager on the £12m Investment Company plc, prompting a near 30% rise in the trust's shares.

The UK is experiencing a slower economic recovery than 23 of the 33 advanced economies monitored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to analysis.

The Dow Jones index broke through the 15,000 point threshold for the first time ever on Tuesday.

Japan's main equity market surged to a five-year high on the first day of trading after the country's Golden Week public holiday.

The FTSE 100 has hit a new five-year high after better-than-expected US jobs data sparked a 50 point rise in the blue chip index.

AGRICULTURE

State-owned RBS has reported Q1 pre-tax profit of £826m and said its "substantially fixed" balance sheet means it should be ready to return to private hands next year.

Positive results from BG Group and Shell, alongside the completion of Glencore's long-running takeover of Xstrata, helped counter losses at UK engineers and propped up UK shares today.