By James Saft. Thu May 23, 2013 3:58pm EDT. (Reuters) - For months, markets have been dancing to central bankers' tune, but that may now be changing.

Mothercare is crawling towards a recovery as chief executive Simon Calver insisted the UK company was on target to break even within two years.

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, entered the political debate surrounding Britain's EU membership on Thursday, telling a City of London audience that Europe needed �a more European UK�.

A day after the International Monetary Fund urged the government to do more to spur growth, Britain's official statisticians have reminded economists of just how far the UK economy remains from full health.

Business leaders and politicians have raised concerns over the future of Inverness's links with London Gatwick. A three-times-a-day service operated by Flybe is in doubt following the airline's decision to sell all of its take-off and landing slots at Gatwick.

The yen strengthened sharply on Thursday, after weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data prompted investors to sell Japanese stocks and buy yen.

The annual report from Britain's biggest retailer revealed that Richard Brasher, the former head of Tesco in the UK, was paid �1.3m to leave and Tim Mason, who led the company's US arm Fresh & Easy, collected �1.7m in �liquidated damages�.

Revenues at United Utilities in the year to March 31 advanced from �1.56bn to �1.64bn, partly thanks to an inflation-beating 5.8 per cent increase in prices agreed with the regulator Ofwat, but offset by reduced volumes and more uptake of metered supplies.

David Cameron has appointed a former lobbyist for British Gas to be his personal advisor on energy and climate change. Tara Singh, whose previous role as public affairs manager at British-Gas owner Centrica involved frequent contact with the Conservative ...

Cash and carry group Booker has benefited from the horsemeat scandal as more caterers have turned away from processed meats and started making meals from scratch, according to the company.