Markets

Neptune manager Mark Martin is backing niche medical companies to outperform the UK's mid-cap sector this year.

Marks & Spencer has reported a slight rise in sales in the first quarter of the year, lifted by its food business, although sales of clothing continued to fall.

Charles Stanley saw its funds under administration hit a new high in the year to end March 2013, according to its pre-close trading update.

Global markets soared on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve inadvertently released minutes from its latest policy meeting five hours earlier than planned.

The UK will narrowly escape a triple-dip recession with economic growth for Q1 forecast to be 0.1%, acccording to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research(NIESR).

Nick Leeson, the trader whose wrong-way bets on Japanese stocks ruined Barings Plc, is joining a mediation firm to advise Irish borrowers looking to renegotiate debts following the real estate collapse, according to reports.

Ingis Asset Management has hired Mira Bhogaita as portfolio manager on the UK equity team.

Chinese and wider Asia stock markets were boosted today by better than expected inflation data from China.

Superficially attractive equity market valuations are concealing a number of warning signs for investors, according to RWC Partners' income managers Nick Purves and Ian Lance.

Japan's currency has fallen to its lowest level against the US dollar since May 2009, as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) shifts to a more radical monetary easing policy.