Economics / Markets

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Barclays has confirmed the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has started an investigation into payments between it and Qatar's sovereign wealth fund.

Henderson's Richard Pease has predicted a ‘stampede' into European equities as soon as the government bond bubble bursts and investors begin demanding better real returns.

The Spanish region of Catalonia has asked the central government for a €5bn pay-out to help the struggling region, amid the country's latest GDP data showing it is in a deeper recession than feared.

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Apple shares hit a new record of almost $681 a share in US trading overnight as investors continued to digest the fallout from a $1bn patent lawsuit.

HSBC is in talks to settle with US regulators over a money laundering investigation, but increased regulatory scrutiny has led to S&P cutting the bank's credit rating.

Bank of England monetary policy committee member Martin Weale has said he would prefer a base rate cut to further quantitative easing, were the Bank to unveil more stimulus measures.