Market Pulse - Currencies
FX round-up: Pound near YTD lows against US dollar, won near 52-week highs
Sterling finished the session only slightly weaker, despite early sharp selling on news of Home Secretary Amber Rudd's decision, at the weekend, to stand down from her post.
Market buzz: Pound plunges on GDP slowdown, Koreas shake
1700:Close Stocks finished the session and the week sharply higher, boosted by equally large falls in the value of Sterling.
Market buzz: Barnier slaps down City's Brexit hopes, Draghi downs the euro
1830:Close A stinging rebuke for the City of London from the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, trashing Mark Carney's claim that bloc needs the square mile's financial services industry and tells Brits to stop "pleading" for mutual recognition and make do with 'equivalence' like Wall Street instead.
ECB says QE to run until September, or beyond, if necessary
The European Central Bank kept all its main policy rates unchanged on Thursday, reiterating its intention to continue its asset purchases until the end of September 2018, or beyond if necessary.
FX round-up: Sterling dips as US bond yields crawl higher ahead of GDP data
Sterling slipped further on Wednesday, weighed down by a further move higher in US government bond yields, against a backdrop of negative reports surrounding Brexit, including a threat from the DUP to topple the government in Westminster if Northern Ireland is not accorded the same treatment as the rest of the UK.
Market buzz: Trump's UK trip pencilled in, Twitter dumped after calling a top
1646: The FTSE rallied a little towards the close but still finished down 46. 08 points or 0. 62% at 7,379. 32.
Market buzz: US stocks slide as UST yields hit 3.0%, FTSE holds on
1639: London's blue chips remains in the black at 7,425. 40 on Tuesday, avoiding a late lurch lower as US markets open in the red amid the rise in Treasury note yields.
Manufacturing growth and optimism weaken, CBI says
Manufacturing growth slowed in the three months to April as optimism among factory managers weakened, the CBI reported.
Iran threatens to pursue nuclear weapons programme if US quits 2015 deal
Iran warned it's ready to retaliate and pursue its nuclear weapons programme should US President Donald Trump decide to withdraw his country from the deal that brought Tehran's nuclear programme to a halt in 2015.
BoE's Carney dials back on rate hike expectations, pound drops
An interest rate rise is "likely" in 2018 but any tightening will be gradual, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney told the BBC, highlighting the shortfall seen in investment versus what might have been expected were it not for Brexit.
Brussels reportedly set to offer a TTIP branch on trade to Washington
The European Union will propose a "miniature, simplified" version of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to the US administration in a bid to end trade hostilities and in order to avoid US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
EU shows increased support for proposed Iran sanctions
European Union member states have begun to show increasing support for Britain, France and Germany's proposed new sanctions on Iran as part of an effort to dissuade the White House from pulling out of the Obama administration's landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Morgan Stanley sees stocks topping-out in 2018
Stocks around the world will probably top-out this year, and sooner than most observers think, Morgan Stanley said.
Market buzz: Global growth speeding or slowing?
1635: After a year of strong growth and relatively tame inflation, investors have been caught off guard recently as growth momentum appears to have slowed while inflation is picking up in parts of the world, but today the IMF forecasts an acceleration of global GDP growth into 2018.
US and UK impose blocks on China's ZTE
The UK and the US have made moves against one of the largest telecommunications equipment makers in China, adding the firm to an ever-expanding list of companies facing restrictions put in place by western nations over national security fears.
PBoC cuts reserve requirement ratio by 100 basis points
China's central bank has announced a reduction in its legal reserve requirement for some of the country's main financial institutions, but some economists believed that would only partially offset the tighter financial conditions resulting from Beijing's increased macro-prudential measures.
North and South Korea close to ending 68-year war
The two Korea’s are discussing plans to finally bring an official end to their almost 68 year war according to the South Korean Munhwa Ilbo newspaper.
FX round-up: US president says China and Russia manipulate currency, bolsters pound
Sterling clocked in with broad-based gains ahead of the start of talks between Westminster and Brussels on the UK's post-Brexit trade relationship and ahead of Tuesday's February employment report.
Ripple 'could overtake bitcoin' and convert crypto-sceptics
Ripple could convert remaining cryptocurrency cynics to the blockchain craze due to its increasing uptake by established financial firms, but experts suggest that if bitcoin collapses it could destroy whole digital currency market.
Parliament's vote on Brexit deal could keep UK in the EU
Parliament has several options at its disposal in order to change the course of Brexit, an influential think tank said in a paper published on Monday.