Europe

Bank of England governor Mervyn King has urged investors and public authorities to pay less attention to ratings agencies, which he said have often "rushed" to downgrade.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded the EU bailout fund to AA+ from AAA.

The decision by Standard & Poor's to strip France of its prized AAA-rating came as no surprise to a number of fund managers.

The UK is already back in recession and will not see any interest rate rises until at least 2016, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

The financial crisis engulfing the eurozone took a fresh twist last night after Standard & Poor's cut the credit rating on nine eurozone countries, including France's AAA rating, and Greece's debt talks collapsed without agreement.

The British economy just managed to achieve growth in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

Philip Saunders and Max King from the Investec Global multi-asset team give their predictions for the year ahead.

Britain can expect an imminent market crash when building work on skyscraper The Shard near London Bridge is completed, according to Barclays Capital.

The UK economy has "significantly weakened" with domestic demand at a two-year low, but a recession is not inevitable, the latest quarterly survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) concludes.

France's minister for European affairs, Jean Leonetti, has signaled plans for a Europe-wide financial transaction tax will be legalised by the end of 2012, despite opposition from countries including the UK.