Economics / Markets

UK business managers are preparing for a double-dip recession and also warn the private sector will fail to replace jobs lost to public sector cutbacks.

Standard & Poor's has maintained its AAA long-term credit rating for the UK and said the outlook remains stable, while warning GDP will be lower than forecast for the next three years.

News that Greece will fail to meet deficit reduction targets pushed the FTSE 100 down 2.8% at open, dragging it below 5,000 points.

Financial services will cut a further 8,000 jobs over the next three months, as the sector struggles under increasingly negative future prospects, according to a survey out today.

Chancellor George Osborne will extend the council tax freeze for another year in a bid to help ease the financial burden on households, it will be announced today.

Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Commons Treasury select committee, has criticised the government's long-term economic policies as "inconsistent and incoherent" and said other key parts of strategy were contradictory, and at best irrelevant.

Speculation is mounting the Bank of England may be close to cutting base rates to 0.25% and pumping at least £50bn more into the economy through quantitative easing.

The FTSE 100 has closed down 1.3% bringing a total loss for the quarter to 13.7%, its worst performance for nine years.

Germany's parliament has voted by a large majority in favour of supporting a more powerful fund to bail out troubled eurozone economies.

Market turmoil has eroded investor confidence but this presents IFAs with a prime opportunity, according to Axa Wealth.