Recession

The UK is officially back in recession as preliminary figures show the economy contracted 0.2% in Q1.

The UK is back in recession, according to the latest growth projections from the OECD, while the recovery in the G7 economies remains ‘fragile'.

Ireland fell back into recession in the last quarter of 2011, according to official figures released on Thursday.

Developed economies face a minimum of two further recessions before a recovery pushes equities into bull market territory, according to SocGen's Albert Edwards.

Britain's dominant services sector grew at its fastest pace in 10 months in January, reflecting a more optimistic company view, the Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed.

The UK and Europe will both slip into recession in 2012, according to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

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The UK is already back in recession and will not see any interest rate rises until at least 2016, according to economic thinktank the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

A likely hard landing in China will bring the financial crisis of the past five years to a climax in 2012, a leading City strategist has warned.

Germany's economy shrank by approximately 0.25% in the fourth quarter of last year, raising fears Europe's second largest economy is on the brink of recession.