UK trade deficit jumps in March, ONS says

The UK’s trade with the rest of the world worsened in February by the most since January 2014.

AIM explorers hail 'significant' oil discovery in Horse Hill, Southern England

Small cap oil exploration firm UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) has made a ‘significant’ oil discovery in the South of England, said to be the largest onshore find in the country for 30 years.

Treasury yields edge higher after release of Fed minutes

When they met last month there were considerable divisions among policy-makers at the US Federal Reserve as regards the timing of the first increase in interest rates, records of the meeting showed on Wednesday.

Friends Life forced to comment on share price drop

On Wednesday morning Friends Life issued a statement saying its stock should not trade ex-dividend ahead of the 9 April Scheme Record Time and Friends Life Dividend Record Date.

BG Group shares rocket on recommended £47bn takeover offer from Shell

Shares in BG Group rocketed on Wednesday after the natural gas company recommended a £47bn cash-and-shares takeover offer by Royal Dutch Shell, sparking speculation about a fresh wave of M&A activity in the sector.

Aldi overtakes Waitrose as UK's 6th biggest grocer

German discount retailer Aldi has leapfrogged Waitrose to become Britain’s sixth-largest supermarket chain.

Lifting sanctions on Iran could lower crude price by $10 per barrel, EIA says

Should the current oil sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran be lifted then world crude oil prices could be pushed between 5 and 15 dollars lower than would otherwise be the case, a US government agency said.

Fed must wait until 2016 to raise rates, Kocherlakota says

The US central bank must wait until next year to raise its main policy rate, according to one policymaker.

UK services sector accelerated in March, Markit says

Activity in Britain’s services sector accelerated in March.

US job growth misses forecasts by wide margin in March

The rate of job creation in the US slowed down sharply from the blistering pace seen since last summer, which may lead the Fed to delay its first increase in interest rates.

US service sector cooled slightly in March, ISM data shows

Activity in the US service sector cooled slightly in March, the results of a survey showed, but there was no indication of a broad slowdown in the economy nor in hiring, according to economists.

Brent crude drops 4% ahead of Iran press conference

Oil prices plunged on Thursday ahead of a press conference in Switzerland over Iran’s nuclear programme.

The flight data recorder from Germanwings Flight 9525 has been found, French investigators say

Market overview: Goldman expect US nonfarms below the consensus

1430: Goldman Sachs is taking a bearish view on the major US jobs report due out on Friday. "We expect nonfarm payroll job growth of 220k in March, below the consensus forecast of 245k," it said in a note to clients.

Market overview: FTSE 100 pares gains to close up 0.5%

1630: Close London's FTSE 100 finished the session up 36. 46 points, or 0. 54%, at 6,809. 50, trimming earlier gains after a weak start on Wall Street following worse-than-expected ADP payrolls and ISM manufacturing reports. "From manufacturing this morning, the focus has shifted to employment, particularly the all-important US jobs situation, with the picture looking a lot less optimistic as we head towards the Friday jobs report," said analyst Chris Beauchamp from IG.

UK manufacturing sector PMI rises to mid-2014 high in March

Activity in the UK’s manufacturing sector recovered to a mid-2014 high in March, according to one the of the most widely-followed surveys.