Economics

The FTSE 100 has shed almost 2% after US employment numbers for March came in well below expectations.

The Bank of England has opted not to implement further quantitative easing and held interest rates at 0.5% for the 49th consecutive month.

The Bank of Japan's announcement of aggressive growth stimulus measures on Thursday pushed up the flagging Nikkei and caused the yen to fall sharply against the US dollar.

David Nish, the chief executive of Standard Life, saw his remuneration hit £5m last year, up from about £2.5m in 2011.

Japanese shares have slumped in this morning's trading as equity markets struggle to consolidate gains seen in the first quarter of 2013.

Q4 2012 US GDP has been revised up from 0.1% to 0.4%, though the figure remains the lowest level of quarterly growth seen since Q1 2011.

Cyprus has implemented a series of stringent capital controls as it seeks to prevent assets fleeing the country when its banks reopen today.

Shares in Prudential have fallen over 4% today after the FSA fined the insurer £30m over the failed AIA deal in 2010.

The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has said UK banks had a £25bn shortfall in their capital requirements at the end of 2012, as stricter capital requirements impacted balance sheets.

The third reading of UK's GDP growth for Q4 2012 has confirmed a 0.3% contraction between the third and fourth quarter.