Economics / Markets

Gold funds were standout winners in August as investors' appetite for risk waned amid concerns of a tapering of monetary stimulus in the US and potential military action in Syria.

Positive data pointing to the increasing pace of the UK economy is putting the Bank of England (BoE) under greater pressure to rein in market expectations of an interest rate rise.

Top fund managers have expressed anger over Co-operative Bank's £1.5bn rescue plan and warned its risk a full-scale investor rebellion if it fails to deal with its bondholders.

Fears over US monetary tightening, rate hikes, and recession triggered the 1987 stock market crash, and there are parallels with today's market environment, according to Société Générale's Albert Edwards.

As the summer draws to a close, Smith & Williamson's James Burns provides a round-up of macro events around the world and takes a look at what to expect next.

The new Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, has said he will step in to prevent a house price bubble caused by low interest rates and the Government's Help to Buy scheme.

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The US economy expanded at a much greater rate than expected, according to latest figures released this afternoon, helping push benchmark US treasury yields back up to 2.82%.

The Co-operative group has been hit with more than half a billion pounds worth of losses in the first half of this year, after sizeable write-offs at its troubled banking arm.

Sterling dropped and then recovered sharply minutes after new Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told the world he has no plans to raise rates any time soon, but was upbeat on UK growth.