Economics / Markets

Bank of England chief Mervyn King said the shock contraction in GDP figures proves the UK recovery will be "choppy" but he appeared to rule out immediate interest rate rises.

Tidjane Thiam, group CEO for Prudential, is to chair the G20 High Level Panel for Infrastructure Investment until the November 2011 G20 Summit.

Attempts by the coalition government to reach an agreement with the UK's biggest banks on the amount they lend to small businesses have stalled.

Kaupthing approved loans worth €2bn (£1.69bn) for Alisher Usmanov, the billionaire behind Arsenal FC, less than two weeks before the Icelandic bank went bust.

Tax bosses are facing an inquiry into how they strike deals with multinationals following accusations that Vodafone was let off a £6bn bill.

London's leading share index was down 0.37% at 5954.39 in early trading on Thursday, stemmed by disappointing results from US companies and weakness in Asia.

Goldman Sachs is lifting the £1m bonus cap imposed on its 100 London-based partners last year as the firm begins to hand out multi-million pound payouts to staff around the world.

Inflation edged closer towards 4% in December as the rising cost of food and oil products continued to hit the price of goods and services.

The BoE risks making the UK's debt problem bigger if it raises rates above 0.5% in the near-term to tackle "one-off" inflationary pressures, says the head of portfolio management at Prudential.

Caution has set in for investors in early trading on Monday as traders await the outcome of today's eurozone finance ministers' meeting in Brussels.