The majority of Bank of England policymakers voted to keep rates at 5% this month, but one voted for a cut and another for a rise.
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The number of new mortgages approved by the major banks fell to a new record low in June, and is down 67% on the year.
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The price of oil keeps on sliding as US demand wanes and a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico takes a favourable course.
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Most mortgage advisers are doing a poor job when giving advice, according to research by the consumers association Which?
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Vodafone will buy £1bn of its own shares after a disappointing trading update saw its stock fall 14% on Tuesday.
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Car accessories and bike retailer Halfords defies the slowdown, saying profits for the first quarter have beaten its expectations.
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Yahoo reports an 18% fall in three month profits in a period when it was fighting off a bid from Microsoft.
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Workers at seven of Britain's regional passport offices go on strike to protest over pay and cutbacks.
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Half-year profits at car maker Peugeot rise 50% thanks to cost cutting, but the firm warns of a sales slowdown.
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Recent research found that 1.3 million unopened yogurts are thrown away in the UK every day - how on earth did they find that out?
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Small bookstores are trying to match the big boys
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What are the factors behind oil's recent price drop?
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The tax pitfalls of selling a second home
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The troubled saga of Argentina's national airline
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Morgan Stanley's lucky, but the City's rules must change
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Indian stocks rise more than 5% after the government wins a vote of confidence that could enable key reforms.
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The ex-chairman of South Korean firm Samsung appeals against his conviction for tax evasion.
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A street in Leeds is hailed the most energy efficient in the country as part of an experiment to reduce energy bills.
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A former sub-prime mortgage lender offers an 8% discount to borrowers if they redeem their home loans.
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General Electric seals a $8bn tie-up with an Abu Dhabi investment firm to provide finance in the Middle East.
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UK drivers are set to benefit after a number retailers including Asda, Morrisons and BP said that they would cut petrol prices.
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BP says the remaining 60 of its staff seconded to joint venture TNK-BP are being recalled from Russia.
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Falling beer sales and the need to help struggling landlords puts pressure on profits at Enterprise Inns.
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The Financial Services Authority tells lenders to step up their defences against mortgage fraud.
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Shares in mobile phone giant Vodafone fall 11% after it warns revenue will be hit by the global economic slowdown.
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The UK's tax authority may prosecute around 300 wealthy Britons with accounts in Liechtenstein as part of a tax evasion investigation.
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Severn Trent Water say former bosses will not face action over its £2m fine for giving false information.
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US technology giant Apple sees profits beat forecasts, but its shares fall as it warns of slower earnings ahead.
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Inflation and volatility in financial markets will slow growth in Asia during 2008, says the Asian Development Bank.
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The UK's biggest mortgage lender HBOS says only 8% of its £4bn share issue was taken up by existing investors.
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The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was divided over its decision to keep the interest rate on hold at 5 per cent in July but hinted that borrowing costs could rise next month.
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Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), the newspaper and information publisher, today reported total advertising revenue at its Associated Newspapers arm fell by 3 per cent in the third quarter as deteriorating trading conditions spread from its regional to national titles.
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Vodafone today startled the London market with a decision to buy back £1 billion of its shares in response to the near-£11 billion wiped off its market capitalisation on Tuesday after a downbeat revenue statement.
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Mortgage approvals dropped to a new low in June, falling 66.4 per cent compared with the same month last year, according to figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA).
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Water companies are pressing the Government to give them more powers to tackle unpaid water bills amid fears that bad debt will rise as the economic situation worsens.
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Jon Moulton, one of the best-known figures in private equity, suffered a setback yesterday when a company he invested in just 18 months ago called in the administrators after sales collapsed.
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A mortgage lender is offering a discount of 8 per cent to homeowners who repay their mortgage early in a new sign of the turmoil gripping the mortgage market.
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The Treasury was put on the defensive yesterday as its plans to overhaul banking regulation to prevent a future Northern Rock-style crisis came under fire from both the Governor of the Bank of England and a powerful committee of MPs.
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BP has conceded a fresh defeat in its struggle for control of TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture, saying that it would withdraw the last of its seconded staff from Moscow.
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Abu Dhabi’s state investment fund said yesterday that it would become one of the largest investors in General Electric (GE) and that the two companies would set up an $8 billion ($£4 billion) joint commercial finance venture in the Middle East and Africa.
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Oil prices slipped to their lowest level in six weeks yesterday as traders expressed relief that a tropical storm in the Caribbean looked unlikely to cause significant disruption to production in the Gulf of Mexico.
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America’s banking industry continued its rollercoaster ride yesterday as Wachovia, the country’s fourth-biggest bank, announced a record $8.9 billion ($£4.45 billion) loss for its second quarter, the elimination of 6,350 jobs and an 87 per cent cut in the dividend.
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Economics
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This is the point in the cycle when businesses that claimed they would sail serenely through an economic downturn suddenly find themselves on the rocks taking in water.
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The latest gastronomic sensation in France is the burger - and not just any beef patty in a bun. Only the McDo will do. You can ignore anti-globalisation protests, French cultural snobbery and antipathy over Iraq, the monkeys have not merely surrendered but are prostrating themselves at the Golden Arch.
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Great Portland Estates (GPE) has undergone a 17 per cent rise in its share price over the past three days largely, in common with the rest of the sector, amid takeover speculation. However, GPE’s interim trading statement, released yesterday, shows that it has some characteristics that set it apart from the crowd.
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The Bourne Ultimatum may have been the film of an American bestselling book about a renegade CIA agent, starring a Hollywood pin-up, filmed in cities around the globe and funded by a big US studio. But according to the annual report of the UK Film Council, it is a very British film.
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There are two ways to make a British film. Let’s call them the British way and the American way.
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Hollywood has been forced to face up to the tough reality of the credit crunch as a slew of film projects are expected to be forced on to the back burner because of tough new funding terms set by Wall Street banks.
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Savers with deposits in some foreign banks operating in the UK were this week given a sharp reminder that, in the unlikely event of a bank defaulting, they would not be entitled to the maximum £35,000 compensation payable to savers with UK banks.
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Mortgage approvals fell to a record low of 21,118 in June, a slump of 66.9% compared with the previous year.
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The Bank of England's policymakers were divided three ways when it came to voting on interest rates for July.
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Vodafone has announced a surprise move to buy back £1bn of its shares after the company's price plunged in the wake of a disappointing revenues forecast.
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Britons who need a passport in a hurry could see their holiday plans scuppered by a three-day strike beginning today.
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Oh they do like to be beside the seaside - and a study shows Britons are opting to spread a towel on their own beaches in record numbers this summer.
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