Economics / Markets

Updated at 13.00: The FTSE 100 was 1.8% lower on Monday after poor German manufacturing data drove down indices across Europe.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has lost the first round of the presidential election to his socialist rival Francois Hollande.

Spanish and Italian bond prices have continued their decline as G20 leaders told European politicians responsibility for the debt crisis lies with them.

Monetary Policy Committee(MPC) member Adam Posen has revealed his reasons for abandoning his call for further stimulus to boost the UK economy, following the publication of this month's minutes.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised an additional $320bn (£199bn) in a bid to boost its firepower to deal with the eurozone debt crisis.

A former member of the Monetary Policy Committee has claimed Bank of England governor Mervyn King was "unprepared for the crisis" that wrecked the world economy and "controlled the bank with an iron fist."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the world faces a credit crunch similar to that of 2008/09 as the euro crisis forces banks to cut their balance sheets.

Each of the nine members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to hold interest rates at the historic low of 0.5% this month, minutes from their latest meeting show.

Reports suggesting Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney was being lined up to replace his Bank of England (BoE) counterpart Sir Mervyn King have been denied.

The government's "loose" monetary policy of quantitative easing (QE) and low interest rates is diminshing retirees' income, a report by MPs concludes.