Papers

Pearl Assurance, the closed-life business, has been given the green light to buy a further 3.5% holding in Resolution Group as it prepares to launch a bid for its rival, reports The Telegraph.

The House of Commons' powerful Treasury Committee will quiz the Governor of the Bank of England and the heads of the Financial Services Authority this month The Independent reports.

Mortgage lender Nationwide is predicting that interest rates in the UK will now peak at 5.75pc as the threat from a slowdown in the US economy increases and inflation eases, The Telegraph reports.

The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, sought yesterday to keep his options open in the face of intense pressure to say whether the ECB will indeed raise interest rates (as previously signalled before the credit crunch) at its...

Pressure on the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates intensified today after leading industry figures said they saw no let-up in the slump in the American housing market and suggested the economy was heading into recession, The Times reports.

Signs emerged for the first time yesterday that the credit crunch which began in American sub-prime mortgages is hitting home among UK domestic banks, The Independent reports.

Nasdaq signalled an end to its ambitions to take over the London Stock Exchange yesterday in a move widely seen as a precursor to a raised bid for OMX, the Nordic exchange that it is vying for with Dubai, The Times reports.

Britain's housing market has continued to cool during August, figures revealed today show, with prices in London falling for the first time in a year, The Independent reports.

One of the world's biggest hedge funds was organising an emergency injection of cash yesterday after a week of turmoil in the financial markets, while another fund attempted to bolt the doors to prevent investors from taking out their cash, The Independent...

The sub-prime mortgage crisis may yet claim more victims before the extent of the liabilities of US lenders is fully uncovered, The Independent reports.