Economics

Wall Street rallied at the start of the session today after non-farm payroll numbers from the US beat expectations.

The US economy added 175,000 jobs in May, beating analyst expectations, although the unemployment rate ticked up in what was dubbed the most important jobs release in years.

Emerging market fund flows have suffered their worst week since 2011, as investors fear a correction arising from the tapering of the US's QE program.

Asian markets fell again overnight over uncertainty around US employment numbers out later today.

Well-known economist Roger Bootle stands to make tens of millions of pounds from the potential sale of his consultancy Capital Economics, in a deal which could value the group at £50m-£70m, according to reports.

Leading bond managers have said the US Federal Reserve could start winding down its QE programme as soon as this summer, with treasury yields jumping as a result.

The Bank of England has opted against further quantitative easing at Mervyn King's final Monetary Policy Committee meeting, dashing the governor's hopes of more stimulus.

Wall Street extended losses on Wednesday as fears deepened that the Federal Reserve will pull back its quantitative easing programme.

Sir Mervyn King chairs his last ever MPC meeting today, but will his parting gift be one last blast of the QE tap?

London's leading equity index lost ground in afternoon trading, led by asset managers, as encouraging data from the services sector also failed to lift sentiment.