Markets

US markets soared to new all-time highs on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve made a surprise early move to gradually scale back quantitative easing.

Rathbone Brothers has filed an appeal against the latest ruling in its ongoing Jersey trust legal battle.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned on the complications of withdrawing monetary stimulus - just hours before the US Federal Reserve may announce a tapering of its own asset purchase programme.

A year hyped as the start of a great rotation from bonds into equities actually saw more of a trickle out of fixed income, but it was not plain sailing for bond funds.

All bets are off on when the Federal Reserve may begin tapering, and investors should therefore prepare themselves for a taper as early as this week, said M&G's Anthony Doyle.

ON ASIA

Saxo Bank has published a list of ten 'outrageous predictions' which could play out in 2014 and impact global investment markets.

The UK's headline inflation rate has fallen to its lowest level in four years after edging down to 2.1% in November.

Since the news Neil Woodford is leaving Invesco Perpetual next year, investors have been prompted to review their asset allocation in the equity income space.

Aggreko's share price shot up more than 8% yesterday, after the firm won contracts to supply power at next year's World Cup in Brazil and Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.