The International Monetary Fund has toned down its explicit criticism of the UK's austerity strategy but urged the government to accelerate its spending on infrastructure this year to offset the drag on the economy.

Wed May 22, 2013 11:03am EDT. * Market operators had expected a 0.1 percent rise. * Sales rose by 0.7 percent in volume terms. By David Ljunggren.

George Osborne yesterday revealed that the Government will set out its strategy �to return RBS and Lloyds to the private sector� after the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards' final report is published next month.

Ben Bernanke struck a dovish tone in testimony to US Congress on Wednesday, asserting the merits of easy monetary policy and gave no hint that the US Federal Reserve will slow down its $85bn-a-month, third round of quantitative easing.

Nationwide has revealed plans to raise up to �500m of extra capital, prompting speculation that it may go shopping for acquisitions.

SSE Plc (SSE) plans to reduce its share of spending on renewable energy through March 2015 in favor of increased investment in its networks business, where rates for power and gas distribution and transmission are regulated.

Google will continue to invest in the UK even if the company is forced by law to pay more tax, the company's chairman Eric Schmidt said today, claiming �we love you guys too much�.

The soaring price of property in London's West End has boosted results from real estate groups Great Portland Estates and Shaftesbury, which both own prime buildings across the UK capital.

Investments in shale gas drilling could yield an industry worth nearly �4bn a year to the UK economy and create more than 70,000 jobs, according to a new report from the Institute of Directors (IoD), becoming a "new North Sea" energy business in the process ...

Ed Davey, the UK energy secretary, has warned that Scotland could lose billions of pounds in subsidies for renewable energy projects if it voted for independence, putting its green energy revolution at risk.