News

Social networking giant Facebook is set to begin the process of becoming a publicly listed company this week, with reported valuations of between $75bn (£48bn) and $100bn dwarfing Google's $1.9bn IPO in 2004.

Lindsell Train founder Nick Train has revealed hefty positions in some of the more defensive stocks in the FTSE 100 helped him outperform the market substantially last year.

The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland Stephen Hester has bowed to mounting public anger and agreed to give up a £1m bonus.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has unveiled plans to introduce a tax on financial transactions.

Brett Williams, the former head of platforms Cofunds and Skandia, has launched a private equity firm with targets including financial services groups.

World renowned financier George Soros has outlined a fresh proposal for tackling the eurozone crisis, involving short-term loans for Italy and Spain.

Three years into Barack Obama's term as US president, how do equity market returns under this administration compare with those seen under previous leaders?

London-based investment manager Exotix - the emerging and frontier markets specialist - is urging clients to buy into Greek debt and the country's stock market before it reaches a deal with creditors.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde has ramped up the pressure on Greece's private creditors to put a better offer on the table as debt swap negotiations continue this week.

Investors who took advantage of a €7.5bn rights offering by troubled Italian bank UniCredit are reaping the benefits as the company has delivered the largest equity return of any stock in the Euro Stoxx 50 index since 10 January.