Economics / Markets

Broker downgrades and companies going ex-dividend pulled the FTSE index 25 points, or 0.4% lower this morning.

A sudden sell-off in Greek sovereign bonds yesterday has pushed up the cost of borrowing for the embattled state to record levels, casting doubts on its ability to refinance up to €15bn of debt over the next two months, reports The Times.

The FSA's immunity from civil action under conduct of business legislation is fuelling poor regulation and failure in the financial services industry, says an IFA support group.

People returning to work after Easter face a series of tax bombshells from today as the Chancellor seeks to pay down public debt.

The FTSE 100 was marginally up in early trading, by 0.06% or 3.41 points to 5,748, only a few hours before the Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to call a General Election for 6 May.

Gordon Brown believes the large economies are close to agreeing a global tax on banks which would cost the financial sector billions of pounds a year - but he played down expectations of a final deal at the next G20 meeting in June.

Tesco has revealed it expects to gain a 10% share of Britain's financial services market, making it roughly as big as Abbey and more than half the size of Barclays.

Greece will this month launch a multibillion-dollar bond in the US, selling itself for the first time as an emerging market country as demand for its debt dwindles in Europe.

Former chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan believes there is "momentum building up" in the US economy and the chance of a double dip has fallen significantly.

Ken Clarke, Vince Cable and Alistair Darling have come out as more popular choices to fill the role of Chancellor than George Osborne, among City economists.