International Monetary Fund

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as bailout talks in Brussels continued today.

The sexual assault charges against IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York and his arrest have sent shockwaves across Europe, but how will it impact on the French political scene?

Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, on the 25th of April 1949 he spent part of his childhood in Agadir, Morocco. He was raised by socialist parents and accumulated diplomas from France's most prestigious schools including from Paris' top business and political schools, HEC and Sciences-Po but failed the entrance exam to l'ENA, which grooms France's future presidents. He went on to get a degree in public law and a PHD in economics.

After being arrested on Saturday over allegations of serious sexual assault, Dominique Strauss-Khan has made his first public appearance handcuffed and surrounded by policeman. He was taken to an unknown location while waiting for his hearing to start in a Manhattan court later on today.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the shock arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, threatened to disrupt key talks on the eurozone bailouts of Greece and Portugal.

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading despite a report suggested that Portugal will need a larger EU/IMF bailout than was previously expected.

Part of an Associated Press release reads: "...angry crowds chanted 'All the whites out!'...French soldiers in boats plucked trapped countrymen from the banks of lagoons.....France commandeered commercial airlines after attacks on civilians, peace keepers and foreigners.

Read here the full text of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget speech to the House of Commons.

The equity markets began to deteriorate weeks before the devastating natural disaster in Japan. Food inflation in the emerging markets and the ensuing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa causing an unwelcome spike in oil prices, and hawkish comments from the European Central Bank at a time when the continent's peripheral countries are struggling, collectively weighed on equity prices. Now news from Japan that is troublingly fluid regarding the earthquake's aftermath, which has soc...

Central banks in the U.K., Europe, Australasia and Latin America, are focused on the ill effects of inflation, which is rising at a rate that threatens to impair economic growth in their respective jurisdictions. This follows a period where these economies were attempting to stoke growth through monetary stimuli that led to lower interest rates and sizeable gains in bond prices. This is now changing.

The IMF estimates the U.S. gross outstanding public debt to GDP ratio at approximately 100% for 2011. Not good, but the U.S. can point to Japan and Italy as having higher ratios. But probably not many think that Japan's dismal economic picture is one that the U.S. should try to model itself on. Italy also has more than its share of economic issues and an economic framework that not many countries aspire to.

A recent report on economic activity in Britain was stunningly anemic. It showed the U.K. economy actually contracted in the fourth quarter of 2010 by 0.5 percent. The troubling aspect was not just that it underwhelmed expectations, but that it comes at a time when inflation is rising to an uncomfortable level. Increasing prices have prompted discussions of a tightening in monetary policy by U.K. central bankers. Inflation rose to 3.7% in December, well above the official target of 2%, and s...

On Thursday, 20 January 2011, Brian Cowen, Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) announced that a general election will be held on 11 March 2011. Somewhat earlier than he and his Fianna Fáil Party would have liked - their preference was the 25th - it is unlikely to make any significant difference to their expected trouncing at the election by a Fine Gael/Labour coalition.

Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as investors started to regain some confidence.

The daisy chain of events manifesting from the European fiscal crisis that initially consumed Greece then Ireland in its wake has skipped into Portugal. This is not being greeted by market participants as much of a surprise since this development had been foreshadowed for months. Portuguese bond yields had risen above 7%, roughly 4% higher than the benchmark 10-year German bund. This is the inglorious territory of Greek and Irish bond yields just as they were teetering on fiscal insolvency. ...

Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as strong company results helped offset fears about sovereign debt in the eurozone.

Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 as positive broker comments outweighed mounting concerns about sovereign debt in the eurozone.

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as concerns about sovereign debt in the eurozone continued to dog investors.

If a week is a long time in politics, then Brian Cowen must be wishing that the relatively short time remaining between now and the next general election in Ireland feels like a decade to the electorate. With the latest polls showing his Fianna Fáil Party's ratings to be around 13 per cent after a lost by-election in Donegal and the first stage of an austerity Budget being passed on 07 December 2010, the Party needs all the time it can get to restore its fortunes.

The shade of Éamon de Valera must be having a wry smile. The party he founded in 1926, Fianna Fáil, was well and truly hammered in the Donegal South West by-election, losing to the candidate of Sinn Féin on 26 November 2010. As Fionnan Sheahan, Political Editor of the Irish Independent newspaper on Saturday, 27 November points out: "The party brand name hasn't won a by-election since 1925, when the post Civil-War version of the organisation was led by Éamon de Valera -- so the result wil...

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as concerns about the eurozone debt crisis continued.

The British Prime Minister had a good visit to China but received no praise for his part at the G20 Summit in Seoul, South Korea, immediately after. On his return to the Commons on 15 November 2010, Harriet Harman, standing in for Ed Miliband, hurled the jibe at Mr Cameron: "Britain needed to send a statesman to this summit but all we sent was a spectator."

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 as the eurozone debt crisis continued and tensions erupted between North and South Korea.

The British government looks likely to loan Ireland around seven billion pounds as part of a bailout deal for the debt-struck nation.

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 following news last night that Ireland will accept a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The Irish government has confirmed that it will receive a bailout from the European Union, following a week of speculation and pressure on the country.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 as Ireland's ongoing debt crisis appears to be coming to a resolution.

The governor of the Irish Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, has become the first public official in the country to state that he expects a bailout to save the nation from bankruptcy.

Shares in British banks were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after some stability beckoned for the eurozone, which is once again in the midst of a debt crisis.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone continued to fray investor nerves.