The US Federal Reserve heralded the beginning of the end for its third round of quantitative easing as Ben Bernanke said it could slow the $85bn-a-month pace of asset purchases �in the next few meetings� if the labour market is strong.

Thursday 09.10 BST. Global stocks are in sharp retreat, led by a savage plunge in Tokyo, as traders are spooked by the prospect of reduced central bank support and a slowing Chinese economy.

Speaking after he delivered the annual British Retail Consortium lecture, Tim Steiner said the reaction of Waitrose to Ocado's tie-up with Morrisons has been a �joke�.

Flybe's made the announcement as it updated markets on its turnaround plan. This included pushing back the delivery of 16 new aircraft by three to four years to help it return to profitability by reducing pre-delivery payment charges this year.

Shares in car parts and bicycle retailer Halfords were hit after it posted a big drop in annual profits. Pre-tax profits for the 12 months to end-March fell almost 25% to �71m compared with a year earlier.

Mothercare posted another big loss in the last financial year, but the UK retailer said it was making good progress with its turnaround plan.

Thu May 23, 2013 9:37am BST. * Copper falls as much as 3 pct, oil down for third day. * China PMI shrinks for first time in 7 months-HSBC.

Calling for an immediate stimulus to �offset� the austerity scheduled for 2013, David Lipton, the IMF's deputy managing director, said: �We suggest the Government bring forward planned capital spending and consider measures such as reducing the effective ...

Pennon Group Plc (PNN), a U.K. water company, said fiscal full-year profit dropped 1.1 percent as sales shrank at its Viridor waste-management unit.

French judges began grilling Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, on Thursday over allegations that she acted illegally in approving a �400m pay-off for a businessman when she was finance minister under former president Nicolas ...