Markets

Standard Life has risen 5.5% in early trading after impressive interim results, helping push the FTSE 100 up 0.7%.

UK CPI inflation has risen to 2.6% in July, up from 2.4% in June, surprising economists who had expected a fall to 2.3%.

A solution to the European debt crisis will not be enough to turn around global economic performance, at least for the next few years, according to a report by thinktank the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR).

Better-than-expected German and French GDP figures have failed to offset peripheral weakness as the eurozone contracted by 0.2% in the second quarter.

The Accounting and Actuarial Discipline board has launched an investigation into the accounting errors discovered at RSM Tenon earlier this year.

SLOW MOTION COLLAPSE

Henderson is to close its Japan Absolute Return fund and merge away two other vehicles in the latest phase of its fund rationalisation process.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has slashed its forecasts for corn production and predicted sharp price rises, warning a drought and heatwave have destroyed much of the country's crop.

Japan's GDP grew by 0.3% in the second quarter of the year, down from 1% in Q1, as the eurozone crisis hurt exports and domestic consumption remained subdued.

ON UK INCOME