-German IFO surprises on the down-side

Value focused investment trust British Empire Securities and General Trust has much work to do in the second half of its financial year if it wants to outperform its benchmark index.

If the weather holds, it might be a good day to take off unless you are a shareholder of commercial property firm Helical Bar, as there is not much else on the corporate agenda, and precious little economic ...

-Dudley (Fed) now less pessimistic on US economic outlook -P5+1 conference scheduled to start soon in Baghdad

- JPMorgan suggest ECB rate cut, LTRO restart - EU leaders make little progress - UK contracts more than expected in Q1

A round-up of the biggest director deals today so far.

1630: Today's big news was of course the downwards revision of UK GDP, showing that the economy is further into recession than previously thought, according the ONS. The statistics show that GDP fell 0.3% ...

Stocks in the oil sector were the best performers on Thursday as crude prices rebounded from a seven-month low.

Pursuit Dynamics, a fluid technology firm, gave its investors a much needed cheer with the announcement of its half-year results, which saw revenue more than quadruple and losses remain stable following ...

Food wholesaler Booker was in demand after saying that increased customer numbers and higher internet sales helped revenue increase by 7.3 per cent in the 52 weeks to March 23rd.

Commodities prices improved on Thursday, buoying the share prices of some blue-chip miners and oil stocks, including Randgold, Vedanta, Amec, BP and BG Group.

Griffin Mining has continued to deliver 'excellent' results from underground diamond drilling at its Caijiaying mine in northern China. Some of the best results so far include 37.4 metres (m) at 6.55g ...

The UK remains in recession, only more so, according to revised figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which indicated that UK gross domestic product (GDP) fell more than originally estimated ...

Initial weekly unemployment claims fell by 2,000 to 370,000 last week in the United States according to the latest data from the Labor Department, in line with consensus estimates.

Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's largest computer maker, presented its fiscal second-quarter results at Wednesday's market close, in which it announced plans to cut 27,000 jobs over the next two years....

Pursuit Dynamics, a fluid technology firm, gave its investors a much needed cheer with the announcement of its half-year results, which saw revenue more than quadruple and losses remain stable following ...

The lone Bank of England (BoE) policy-maker which voted in favour of an expansion in the BoE's asset repurchase program at the monetary policy committee's last meeting, David Miles, has today explained ...

Baker Hughes, Big Lots, CareFusion, McGraw-Hill, NetApp, PPG Industries

Also covered by this round-up are: Oxford Pharmascience, Planet Payment, Hydro International, and International Greetings.

Spanish banking group Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) has announced to Madrid's market regulator CNMV that it has decided to begin studying strategic alternatives for it pension business in Latin ...

Spain's Finance Minister told Congress on Wednesday that the capital needs for the partly nationalised BFA-Bankia total nine billion euros, including 7.1bn euros for Spain's new provisioning requirements ...

Germany's business climate index as compiled by the IFO Institute fell to 106.9 points in May from 109.9 the month before.

The main US equity benchmarks have opened higher by 0.2% on average. That despite the release of what at first glance looks to be some weaker than expected macroeconomic data out today.

Online retailer ASOS has reason to celebrate after seeing a leap in earnings following a strong year of expansion of its International business, which more than doubled sales.

A Non-Executive Director of investment group Infrastructure India has sold 12.5m shares in the firm at 55p through an accelerated bookbuild secondary placing to satisfy certain personal financial obligations....

Investors looked beyond dramatically reduced profits at Mothercare to focus on the impressive performance of its international operation.

The experts all agree that last night's informal EU summit dinner provided little to no improvement to the state of the European debt crisis and the weakening economy.

Interim profits took a tumble at Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) but the newspaper publisher and exhibitions organiser is sticking with its full year outlook.

Peel Hunt has reiterated its buy recommendation and 650p target price for chip designer ARM Holdings, saying that the stock is a 'must-have' following its investor day yesterday.

Jefferies may have retained its hold rating and 33p target price for telecoms group Cable and Wireless Communications, but has said that its full-year results announced Thursday give more stability in ...

Panmure Gordon has upgraded its rating for food wholesaler Booker from hold to buy after the group substantially raised its dividend for the year to March 23rd.

International mobile operator Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) has announced it will halve its dividend in the coming year as it struggles against strong headwinds in its Caribbean market.

ARM, ASOS, Astra, Booker, Bowleven, C&W Comms, Dairy Crest, M&S, Reed Elsevier, SABMiller, United Utilities, Vodafone