Economics / Markets

Royal Bank of Scotland could make a decision on the sale of its 315-branch Project Rainbow business this week amid reports one of the three bidders for the unit has had its offer rejected.

UK CPI inflation fell from 2.8% to 2.7% in August, in line with economists' expectations, as falling transport costs pushed the headline figure down.

It is "certainly possible" that the coalition government - the power-sharing arrangement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in place since 2010 - could break up before the next general election in 2015, Vince Cable has said.

The FTSE 100 has jumped almost 1% after former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers withdrew his candidacy to replace Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke next year.

Official consumer prices index (CPI) inflation is expected to dip this week when official figures are released.

Former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has withdrawn his candidacy to succeed Ben Bernanke as head of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve.

Mining stocks led a drop in the FTSE 100 today as falling commodity prices weighed on shares.

Mark Carney yesterday declared the British economy is ‘picking up' but warned that the recovery may prove to be another ‘false dawn'.

Analysts at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch have tipped the FTSE 100 to rise to 7,400 next year, citing the strengthening economy and an accommodating central bank as reasons why stocks can reach such highs.

SMART MONEY