Swiss asset manager Pictet is planning to exploit an expected demand spike and supply squeeze in timber markets through hitherto neglected equities.

Banks have been encouraged to grow faster than was sustainable and the bonus system rewarding bankers has encouraged "excessive risk taking", which may have contributed to the financial crisis, the chairman of HSBC said.

The global banking system is past the danger of systemic meltdown following government intervention, but there will still be economic consequences, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority said on Friday.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said on Tuesday that the world's central banks must act together to give stability to the financial system while market turmoil persists.

Virgin Atlantic President Richard Branson said he was prepared to spend heavily to try to prevent a planned tie-up between British Airways Plc, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia.

Most of the news since August has been on the downside for both the growth and inflation outlook but this has to be offset against the fall in the pound, Bank of England policymaker Paul Tucker said on Friday.

Bank of England Deputy Governor Charles Bean warned on Monday that the global economic slowdown is likely to "drag on for some considerable time".

The brightest schoolchildren should be required to study three sciences from the age of 14 to counter a shortage in suitably qualified employees, the leading industry body said on Monday.

Television advertising in the United States is good and holding up well in Britain, while Asia is a long-term bet on the emergence of an educated and wealthy middle class, the chief of News Corp said on Monday.

Vivek Tulpule, chief economist at Rio Tinto has said that copper prices could each record highs this year due to the continuing expansion of the Chinese economy.

Marks and Spencer issued a shock profit warning on Wednesday and said a consumer downturn was likely to be deeper, and last longer, than previously expected, hammering its shares.

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England said on Thursday that he believed inflation would drop back down to the government's target of two per cent.

Office rents in London's key financial districts will not grow in the next decade, said a senior banker on Tuesday, who saw prime commercial property values falling by another 20 percent.

The economy is slowing and has to do so to help cool inflation, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Wednesday.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has said that there is "no doubt" the British economy is slowing and warned that it would be "disastrous" if we "allowed inflation to take hold".

The global subprime crisis has yet to run its course, the chairman of Barclays said on Sunday, amid concerns that big lenders will unveil more credit-related losses in coming weeks.

The chairman of oil major BP rejected as "apocalyptic" a prediction by the head of Russian gas giant Gazprom of oil prices soaring to $250 (128 pounds) a barrel by the end of next year.

Banks are likely to pursue cross-border acquisitions as opportunities arise to pick up underperforming rivals or to make up for slower economic growth, the head of Britain's Lloyds TSB said on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks could be close to an "important bottom" as moves by the Federal Reserve and the government to spur the economy begin to work, the manager of one of Fidelity Investments' best-known funds said.