Economics / Markets

ASEAN

Managers Tony Lanning and Nick Roberts get on the PA soapbox

Labour will refer high street banks to the competition authorities if it is elected in 2015, Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is expected to say in a speech on Friday.

The UK's headline rate of inflation fell to 2% in December, meeting the government-set target for the first time since November 2009, official figures show.

FIVE THINGS

Britain's growth rate could reach as high as 4% this year as the recovery accelerates, economists have said.

Investors ditched fixed income funds - corporate bond portfolios in particular - and opted for UK and European equities in November as the great rotation becomes more and more visible, according to the latest figures from the Investment Management Association...

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has left interest rates unchanged again at 0.5%.

The Federal Reserve saw jobs growth in the US as the trigger to begin tapering QE, and has raised its economic growth forecast, the minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting reveal.

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.