News

Slovakia has become the final eurozone nation to approve the expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility after its parliament ratified the plan at a second vote.

Minutes of last month's meeting of the Federal Reserve's open market committee have raised the prospect of a third round of quantitative easing to boost the US's sluggish recovery.

The S&P 500 has opened down 0.85%, with financials under pressure after J.P. Morgan reported its third quarter results.

Zimbabwean investment company Masawara, which is backed by Neil Woodford in the £18.6bn Invesco Perpetual income funds, has raised $50m towards its capital target since IPO last year.

Banks shares extended losses this afternoon as Fitch Ratings downgraded Lloyds and RBS' long-term credit rating from AA- to A and placed Barclays on a negative watch.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has boosted its real estate offering with the hire of five investment managers.

Jayesh Manek's £40m Manek Growth fund has soared to the top of the UK All Companies sector, losing just 2.5% in the last three months of excessive market volatility.

Eurozone banks may have to raise €200bn to boost their capital reserves under a proposal from the European Banking Authority (EBA).

Barings' head of Asian equities Colin Ng is rotating his portfolio away from industrials and petro-chemical stocks that took a hit in the summer sell-off, and has been adding to banks.

Ten-year gilt yields have approached a two month high as signs eurozone leaders are closer to resolving the crisis cooled demand for the relative safety of Britain's government debt.