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.

A day after the FTSE 100 came within 90 points of its December 1999 all-time high, the index slumped 143 points yesterday to 6696, wiping �36bn off the value of Britain's top companies.

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 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.

British households will save �45bn, or �1,600 apiece, if the government hitches its electricity supply to low-carbon sources such as wind and nuclear rather than gas, a parliamentary advisory committee has estimated.

Online deliveries have powered a surge in profits at Booker, which revealed its first figures yesterday since sealing a buyout of a smaller cash-and-carry group, Makro.