dollar

The US dollar is closing in on a five-year high versus the yen, with gold heading towards a one-year low, ahead of the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's historic December meeting.

Investec Asset Management's John Stopford, manager of the Diversified Growth fund, outlines his five themes for investing for income in 2014, including a cheap dollar, inflation disappointment, and opportunities in EMD.

Delayed US jobs figures for September have missed expectations, a development which all but rules out the prospect of a slowdown in US QE before 2014.

Sterling rose to its highest level in nine months against the US dollar as the US government slipped into a partial shutdown.

The US Federal Reserve surprised investors and sent shares soaring after it unexpectedly opted to hold back on any tapering of its stimulus last night.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has named its top ten trades for this autumn as investors prepare for a tapering of QE in the US and a possible jump in interest rates.

The managers of Standard Life Investment's giant £18bn Global Absolute Return Strategies fund have put in place four key trades ahead of an expected uptick in volatility in September, which they expect to benefit investors into 2014.

CURRENCIES

The Nikkei tumbled 3% on Friday to touch its lowest level for almost three weeks as the yen strengthened against the dollar.

Fidelity's Trevor Greetham, who heads up the firm's tactical asset allocation team, has cautioned returns on emerging market equities will continue to disappoint as US monetary policy normalises.