UNITED KINGDOM

Marks & Spencer, Britain's biggest clothing retailer, said it was cautious about the outlook for consumers ahead of expected tax rises as it met forecasts with a 4.6 percent rise in annual profit.

Prudential Plc shares fell on their Asia debut on Tuesday, hit by a global sell-off and concerns over shareholder support for the British insurer's planned purchase of AIA, the industry's biggest acquisition.

Shareholders have sued the board of BP Plc for failing to monitor safety and exposing the company to potentially enormous liability related to the Deepwater spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, according to court documents.

Volatility continued yesterday with the Aussie opening at 0.8320, then hitting an intraday low of 0.8184 before bouncing back to 0.8300 – and this was just the first few hours.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Consumers who opt for organic foods often believe they are improving their health, but there is currently no strong evidence that organics bring nutrition-related health benefits, a new research review finds.

In 2006 or even earlier the only way to connect retail clients with the Banking Market was what was used to be called the Retail Dealers or the Retail Aggregators. So, Retail Dealers are market makers to their customers; and they traded on a home sale basis with their banks. Obviously this lead to a lot of problems. The Retail Dealer chooses not to hedge the client's positions but to take the other side of the trade 100% of the times or a significant percent of the times. So they have a conflict...

Chocolate lovers may have something rare to sink their teeth into with the issue of the UK's first ever chocolate bond, where investors can make significant returns in the form of chocolate rather than cash.

The United States suggested Europe's debt crisis would have minimal impact on global growth, but China took a more pessimistic view, warning it would impact demand for its exports and other regions would suffer too.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Monday the United States and China need to work together to reduce trade barriers and develop a more balanced global economy.

The Aussie opens at 0.8310 on Monday. Unsubstantiated rumours of Reserve Bank intervention and technical support just above US80-cents halted the recent dramatic slide in the currency on Friday.

Volatility will be the name of the game on Wall Street this week as uncertainty over the euro-zone debt crisis remains and investors will need nerves of steel to make bets on risky assets like stocks.

Former Morgan Stanley banker John Hyman will not join Nomura to become its new co-head of global finance at its London operation as had been expected due to regulatory issues, a source said on Saturday.

Russian Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies, which bought a $300 million stake in Facebook last year, is preparing to buy stakes in dozens of well-known Internet companies, its chief executive said.

Europe's financial crisis should have only minimal impact on the global recovery as governments put in place necessary policy counter-measures, a senior U.S. Treasury Department official said Sunday.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said a strengthened global economy is now in better shape to handle the strains emanating from Europe's crisis, China's Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

The Senate approved a reform of Wall Street on Thursday and President Barack Obama may be signing into law the most sweeping changes to financial rules since the 1930s as soon as next month.

A federal appeals court on Friday threw out a ruling requiring Verizon Wireless customers to resolve disputes over alleged fraudulent cell phone charges individually through arbitration rather than as a class.

(Reuters) - People using cholesterol-lowering statins have a higher risks of liver dysfunction, kidney failure, muscle weakness and cataracts and such side effects of the drug should be closely tracked, doctors said on Friday.

Prudential boss Tidjane Thiam is struggling to make headway with skeptical investors who question the value of his $35.5 billion acquisition of AIA.

Good morning dear traders, EURUSD kept its strength and did not leave the morning range until 6:27 GMT when news of the FED according to EU policy and bad news from Wallstreet were published.