Bank of England governor Mervyn King has not ruled out another round of quantitative easing and has reiterated his belief the UK recovery will be choppy.

The Dow Jones is trading in the red after lower than expected US retail sales figures weighed on investor sentiment.

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.5% and kept its quantitative easing programme at £200bn.

Sales of Global Growth funds on Cofunds hit a record high in January as advisers turn to equities for income at the expense of bond funds.

There is a "real chance" the Bank of England will raise interest rates as early as next week, says Skandia, with subsequent hikes pushing rates up to 3% by the end of next year.

IFAs think Global Emerging Markets will be the top performing IMA sector in 2011 - a year which will see equities trump bonds.

Sterling has surged to a three-month high against the dollar following buoyant growth figures for the construction industry.

The FTSE 100 has started the week in negative territory as the crisis in Egypt continues to unsettle investors.

UK dividends shrank by £2bn last year as BP scrapped its payout in the wake of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Barclays is looking to close its financial advice arm next month due to declining returns and shifting investor trends.