Economics / Markets

A decade of poor returns will be replaced with 10 years of strong performance in the stock markets, Fidelity International says.

Strong Christmas sales at Tesco helped keep the FTSE in the black with a slight rise of 0.02% to 5,539.38 in early trading.

A survey of 5,400 businesses by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) concluded that while improvements were evident in some parts of the economy, momentum was not sufficient to drive a recovery in the final three months of the year.

The UK may face further inflationary problems in the coming months after figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed increases in two leading indicators.

US shares fell in early trading on the back of interest rate concerns following the Chinese Central Bank's decision to increase its inter-bank rate for the first time in four months.

Today's decision by the Bank of England (BoE) heralds a period of low interest rates stretching into the medium to long-term, say experts.

Miners are pulling down London's main index in early trading, offsetting strong demand for supermarket groups.

The Dow Jones opened trading in the red on the back of disappointing employment figures showing the number out of work increased to 84,000 in December.

Interest rates could start to rise in two months' time, says Henderson New Star's Simon Ward.

Hopes the UK exited recession in the fourth quarter of last year have been given a welcome boost by figures showing an upturn in the services sector during December.