Global

August 2011 has come to an end and the final week was a bit calmer than the preceding three. The Bernanke speech was the highlight and, in many ways, the Fed Chairman had no major surprises for us.

ON ASIA

ONE TO WATCH

Deven Sharma, the man who oversaw the downgrade of the US' credit rating earlier this month, is stepping down as president of Standard & Poor's.

Investec has launched an African bond fund for co-heads of fixed income John Stopford and South Africa-based Andre Roux.

ON ASIA

Morgan Stanley has warned the global economy is on the brink of recession as the US investment bank slashed its growth forecasts.

Ajay Argal is to join Barings as head of Indian equities, based in Hong Kong.

Recent market sell-offs have prompted Henderson's Emily Adderson to buy distressed European banking stocks after sharp share price falls.

The FTSE 100 climbed this morning and Asian and US markets rallied strongly overnight as the Federal Reserve announced it would hold interest rates at close to zero until 2013.