Ben Bernanke’s warning that the US economy faced ‘unusually uncertain’ conditions led to a late sell-off on Wall Street, but better economic data out of Europe has turned sentiment around

General Motors agrees to buy AmeriCredit, a Texas-based vehicle finance company, for $3.5bn in cash

Lead role in overseeing the £750m e-borders project terminated after the government says it has “no confidence” in the US defence company

Policyholders with the collapsed UK life assurer could receive just £400m in compensation from the government for the losses they suffered, the Treasury has announced

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo demands that speculation about his future at the world’s largest mobile phonemaker be brought to an end because it is damaging the company

Manufacturing and services output grew faster than expected the single-currency area in July, driven by a strong performance in both sectors in Germany and in the services industry in France

Volumes rise with a boost from the World Cup, sunny weather and shops holding down prices

The Swiss bank reports a big fall in net profits for the second quarter from the much stronger previous three months, with investment banking hit by declining revenues

Venture will develop and have available in the waters of the Gulf equipment to prevent another spill on the scale suffered by BP’s Macondo well

Santander is gearing up to list its UK operations on the London Stock Exchange as soon as this autumn, in a deal that could raise an estimated £3bn to fund growth by the acquisitive Spanish bank

Global Markets Overview: Stocks surge and ‘havens’ retreat on the back of a strong Wall Street session overnight

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to hold rates at their current record low of 0.5 per cent and to hold off on any measures to expand demand through Quantitative Easing.

A handful of prominent figures, including Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd’s of London, and Sir David Walker, best known for his banking sector corporate governance report, plan to set up a new bank

Volatile markets led institutional and private investors to withdraw almost $1bn from Man Group’s funds during the three months to the end of June

The value of the assets held by the Singapore state investment agency rose to a record in the year to March, reflecting the fund’s dramatic recovery from the impact of the global financial crisis

Raul Castro, the Cuban president, has agreed to free about a third of the country’s political prisoners in the largest such release in more than a decade, according to the country’s Roman Catholic church

Walt Disney has lost a long-running court case against Celador Entertainment, the UK creator of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? television show, and has been ordered to pay damages of $270m by a California district court

Tough new rules restricting bankers’ bonuses in Europe have been approved by European Union lawmakers as part of a package that sets out how much capital banks must hold to support their operations

The fact EU commissioner has commented on the case for the first time since complaints were will do nothing to dampen speculation of a formal probe within months

In unusually blunt comments, the country’s ambassador to the US endorses the idea of US military action to halt the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme