quantitative-easing

Managers of the £276m Ruffer Investment Company have increased their exposure to gold on hopes global central banks will act soon to collectively expand their balance sheets.

Markets are hoping for further economic stimulus as the European Central Bank and the Bank of England embark on policy meetings later today.

Developed nations are stuck in a "never-ending cycle of recession" which will lead to a huge growth crisis in the summer of next year, Ignis' chief economist Stuart Thomson has warned.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted five to four to maintain quantitative easing (QE) at £325bn this month, overruling the governor and three colleagues who called for further expansion.

The UK Chancellor George Osborne and the Bank of England's governor Mervyn King have unveiled a £100bn package to prop up the UK's flagging economy and protect it from the encroaching eurozone crisis.

The Bank of England is preparing to inject £50bn into the economy to provide a growth boost, and is also contemplating cutting interest rates, amid fears of a global slump.

QUANTITATIVE EASING

Société Générale strategist Albert Edwards has warned investors who own Australian government debt they face the 'mother of all hard landings' if China's economy slows down as they expect.

RBS has revised its Bank of England forecasts, scrapping its prediction of further QE and forecasting an initial hike in UK interest rates in the second quarter of next year.

QUANTITATIVE EASING