Economics

Britain's dominant services sector grew at its fastest pace in 10 months in January, reflecting a more optimistic company view, the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed.

A sharp contraction in the eurozone economy and further ECB intervention could put more pressure on the euro this year, said Philip Gibbs, manager of the £711m Jupiter Absolute Return fund.

The Walker Crips Group has seen its shares fall almost 15% after it issued a profits warning following a drop in AUM.

PERFORMANCE

The UK and Europe will both slip into recession in 2012, according to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

US markets were treading water this afternoon following a cautiously optimistic speech by US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

Fundsmith founder Terry Smith has criticised the ‘extreme' move by the UK's honours committee to strip former RBS boss Fred Goodwin of his knighthood.

Barings' multi-asset team has bought £350m in Italian government bonds in the expectation European banks will use the ECB's Long Term Recovery Organisation (LTRO) to buy government debt.

The UK's public finances face a funding shortfall of £114bn despite moves by the government to curtail spending, a leading economic thinktank has warned.

Stocks received a lift in afternoon trading as social networking giant Facebook prepares to make what could be one of the largest market debuts in history.