Telegraph
Britain is heading for recession next year and the Chancellor is on course to miss his budget targets due to persistent slow growth, economists at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) have warned. The UK will contract by 0.4pc in 2012 as a result of an even deeper recession in Britain's major trading partner, the eurozone. The prediction makes LGIM the fourth leading forecaster to warn of an outright recession. UBS, Capital Economics and Standard Chartered all expect the economy to shrink over the coming 12 months.
Bloomberg
UBS AG, Switzerland’s biggest bank, set a target for profitability, announced its first cash dividend in five years and said it will shrink the investment bank to concentrate on wealth management. UBS will aim for a return on equity of between 12 percent and 17 percent starting in 2013 and plans a dividend of 10 centimes a share for this year, the Zurich-based bank said yesterday as top executives spoke to investors in New York.
The UK economy has shown a few signs of improvement in the first three months of this year, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said. The latest quarterly economic survey by the business lobby said that domestic orders and exports were all higher from the previous quarter.
BBC
The rate of Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation in the UK fell to 4.8% during November, down from 5% the month before, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The rate still remains well above the Bank of England's target of 2%. Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation - which includes mortgage interest payments - fell to 5.2% from 5.4%.
Reuters
Passionate, prickly, and deemed irreplaceable by many Apple fans and investors, Steve Jobs made a life defying conventions and expectations.
