Economics

Liontrust is set to launch an Asian Income fund on 5 March, managed by Mark Williams, who recently joined the group when it acquired emerging market boutique Occam.

The yield on gilts tumbled near to record lows this morning as investors piled into any sovereigns which have retained their AAA-status after widespread EU downgrades.

Eurozone bank dividends are poised to fall below the levels seen after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, as regulators push for lenders to bolster capital.

The UK is already back in recession and will not see any interest rate rises until at least 2016, according to economic thinktank the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

The financial crisis engulfing the eurozone took a fresh twist on Friday after Standard & Poor's cut the credit rating on nine eurozone countries, including France's prized AAA, and Greece's debt talks collapsed without agreement.

Standard & Poor's has downgraded the credit ratings of a raft of eurozone nations including Italy, Spain and Portugal as well as stripping France and Austria of their AAA status.

Talks between Greece and private sector bondholders have collapsed, with the two parties failing to reach agreement over the country's debt restructuring.

Veteran investor Jim Rogers said he is sceptical about the prospects for the US economy this year despite a recent string of positive economic data from the country.

Equity returns were poor in 2011 during a rollercoaster year for markets, but there were a number of bright spots in the alternative investments space.

A number of top fund managers took a hit on their portfolios this week as retail favourite Tesco issued a profits warning, sending its shares down 16% in a day - the largest fall since 1988.