Economics / Markets

HSBC is to cut 2,000 jobs in the UK by the end of next year as part of its cost-cutting drive, according to reports.

The fear of another financial crisis will drive regulatory thinking for the next two decades as the philosophy of light-touch regulation disappears, according to Royal London Asset Management (RLAM).

Industry commentators forecast an even gloomier second quarter after the Office for National Statistics revealed the UK slid back into recession in Q1, with negative growth of 0.2%.

RECESSION

The UK economy contracted by 0.2% in the first quarter of the year, meaning it has slipped back into technical recession, preliminary estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

Standard & Poor's(S&P) has put a 'negative watch' on Argentina's credit rating, citing "rising restrictions to international trade" and "steps to nationalise oil company YPF".

Two men and a woman have been jailed for a fraud where more than £4m was taken from private investors through a boiler room based in Spain and Ireland.

Former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde has been found guilty of one of four charges of negligence relating to the collapse of the country's banks during the 2008 financial crisis.

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.