Barack Obama

Polarised views on the banking and financial sector have led flows to swing into and out of ETFs tracking this area. Alison Swersky looks at issues causing the split sentiment

Britain's gross domestic product is expected to have expanded 0.4% in the first quarter of 2010, according to a survey of City economists.

Fund managers have hailed the approval of a landmark healthcare reform bill in the US as a significant step in removing the uncertainty that has plagued the sector for the past two years.

George Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister, used a visit to the White House yesterday to press President Barack Obama for tighter regulation of the speculative trading blamed for intensifying the country's debt crisis.

Greece is prepared to turn to the IMF for help if its European neighbours fail to provide the financial assistance it wants after announcing the toughest spending cuts in decades.

Following the market lows in early March 2009, there was a strong rally in UK equities as confidence grew throughout last year over the increasing signs of a recovery despite the economy struggling to leave recession.

George Soros doubled his investment in the world's largest gold fund just weeks before claiming investing in the precious metal is now the "ultimate bubble".

A former partner at Cazenove, the Queen's stockbroker, who is due to stand trial on insider-dealing charges next week appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing yesterday.

The FTSE 100 opened slightly down, dipping 0.02% or 0.84 points to 5,246 in early trading, as BP posted worse then expected fourth quarter results.

George Soros has called for a radical break-up of banks which are "too big to fail".