Barclays

Banks led the FTSE to an early gain in Thursday trade following reports Bank of America (BoA) is poised to repay its $45bn US Government bailout.

Early trading saw the FTSE 100 fall after reaching a 12-month high on Monday.

With quantative easing measures contributing to strong market rallies, it could be that the worst of the cuts in dividends is over

iShares is offering fixed income ex-financials funds in its latest range of nine ETFs to be launched on the London Stock Exchange on Monday.

Foreign & Colonial Investment trust has appointed Simon Fraser as a non-executive director and chairman designate.

With no apparent likelihood of moving to an exchange-traded system, the main problem with bond fund performance figures is the need to improve disclosures

Diverse sector at the forefront of downturn over past year, with just eight funds producing positive returns to investors

The FTSE 100 rolled back some of yesterday's gains this morning, with Standard Chartered among the early casualties after announcing surprise plans to issue £1bn in new shares.

The FTSE 100 reached its highest level since October 2008 this afternoon, leaping more than 75 points to reach 4695.92 points.

Miners are leading the FTSE 100 higher this morning, as Barclays announced a near £3bn pre-tax profit for the first half of 2009.