In the first statement coming out of Labour election headquarters, current U.K. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has put up an argument stating that the sitting government has the constitutional right for the “first go” in trying to remain in power when no party wins a majority in the House of Commons.

“The rules are, if it’s a hung parliament, it’s not the party with the largest number of seats that has the first go, it’s the sitting government,” Mandelson said. “After three terms in office, of course many people have turned away from the Labour Party but they haven’t embraced the Conservatives.” He added

According to a recent survey, manufacturing output and exports in the UK expanded at their fastest rate in 15 years. These findings meant that whichever party eventually wins the right to govern in the UK, are liable to inherit an economy already showing signs of recovery with manufacturing output growing by as much as two percent in the past three months. A growth level that suggests the manufacturing sector will make a significant contribution to second-quarter gross domestic product growth in the UK.

Recent figures also show that the next government are set to inherit a jobs market that, while currently still looking a little weak, looks is poised for recovery but still fragile. Unemployment stands at 2.5 million, or eight percent of the work force, far below the three million-plus predicted last year.

Channel 4 announced the public service broadcaster would boost the budget of its film division by a fifth this year to 10 million pounds. The decision returns Film 4’s budget to its 2007 level before the recession, and partly reflects a cautious confidence at the group. Chief executive David Abraham said the Digital Economy Act had also influenced the decision to increase investment in Film 4. The Act formally stated that as part of its public service remit, Channel 4 should make "high quality films" for cinema release in the UK.

Alliance Boots has replaced Marks & Spencer at the top of an annual ranking of UK companies by the strength of their corporate reputation. Boots, which enters the Reputation Institute’s UK Pulse Report for the first time, ranks first in the survey that measures corporate reputation among the general public. Other companies in the top 10 include Cadbury, Morrisons and Rolls Royce, with John Lewis Partnership, Debenhams, Sainsbury’s and Tesco among the top 20 places. In broadcasting, the BBC came ahead of ITV and BSkyB, and HSBC has become the top-ranked bank. Companies are selected by the organization based on revenue and visibility among the general public, but can decide whether or not to be included. There is no fee for inclusion.

Followers of Google’s UK-based email will now be able to have @gmail.com addresses, rather than @googlemail.com. The news comes after the search engine marketing giant won an arduous trademark battle with a British research company that had applied for the "gmail" name prior to Google launching its email service. After finally reaching a settlement, Google are now able to offer users that registered after 2005, a change to the shorter address of @gmail.com Google went on to use the @googlemail.com address for those that had registered after this time.

A spokesman for Google stated that the company was satisfied with the conclusion of the proceedings, saying:”We know how important email accounts are to users and we wanted to provide the best user experience possible. We engineered the infrastructure to enable users to switch their accounts to @gmail.com accounts should they choose, as well as directing all new users to set up @gmail.com accounts in the UK.”

Power and oil firm Essar Energy were left wishing that they had timed their entry onto the FTSE a little better than this week, after suffering the worst debut of a big London flotation since the early noughties. The group’s shares plummeted 7.2 percent to 389.5 pence on its first day of trading. The fall from the UK’s largest stock market listing in more than two years is the worst seen since HMV, the music retailer, dropped 7.5 percent in May 2002. Essar’s listing came on a challenging day for the markets, with the FTSE 100 index closing down 2.5 percent on the day

The Euro remains under heavy pressure, falling to below 1.27 against the dollar. The pound strengthened took a late slump against the dollar to 1.463 and at 1.550 against the Euro.

International rating agencies continue to voice concerns over the crisis of confidence which is spreading across Europe, with countries such as Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Britain looking unstable, as the public and politicians in Athens attempt come to terms with the harsh economic conditions which have come with the EEC and IMF bail-out. The European Commission has said it expects the Greek economy to shrink by 3% this year, amid continued market jitters over the country’s debt crisis.

Banking systems still face "very real, common threats" if doubts were raised about their governments’ abilities to pay debts.

Fears of another round of instability meant another volatile session for the FTSE 100 index, which saw it shed 80.9 points to close in 5261 as the UK also went to the polls, with the prospects of a hung Parliament looking very much a reality.

US mortgage giant Freddie Mac announced a loss of $8 billion (£5.3 billion) for the first three months of 2010. Reports from the company hint that they are liable to ask for a further $10.6 billion in state aid. The firm has made a number of federal cash requests since it was taken over by regulators in September 2008, whilst stating that as the US housing market has not yet fully recovered they would continue to be in need of continued government funding. If the latest request is granted, it will bring the total cost of the Freddie Mac rescue to $61.3 billion.

Stock exchange bosses and regulators were last night scrambling to explain the cause of a plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which took the index down by the largest number of points in its history, setting off a short term panic in an already fragile financial market.

A little over an hour before the close of trading in New York. The result was a period of unprecedented chaos that also dragged in currency and credit markets. At 2.20 pm, EPT the Dow stood at 10,460, already down 400 points, when it suddenly tumbled 600 points with the space of just seven minutes to 9,869, a drop of 9.2 per cent, the largest points fall ever.

The Dow snapped back but continued to swing wildly until the close of trading, when it settled at 10,520.32, down 347.80 points on the day, a fall of 3.2 per cent. The NASDAQ also closed down 82.65 points to 2319.64.

US productivity grew at a better-than -expected annual rate of 3.6% in the first quarter of 2010, while a separate report showed that applications for jobless benefits dropped for a third week in a row.

The US economy has been growing since last summer, but firms have been reluctant to take workers back on, instead pushing smaller workforces to produce more, which has increased productivity – measured as the amount of output per hour of work.

Carmaker BMW has reported a return to profit compared with a year earlier and given an upbeat forecast for sales in the coming year.

The group reported a net profit of €324 million (£277 million) for the first quarter of 2010, compared to a loss of €150 million for the comparative period last year. Turnover was up 8% to €12.4 billion with the company reporting a 100% increase in sales in China as it did a year earlier

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Tags: Alliance Boots, Banking, BBC, BMW, British Economy, British Pound, BskyB, Cadbury, Channel 4, Conservatives, Credit Crunch, Currency, David Abraham, Debenhams, Digital Economy Act, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, election, Employment, Essar Energy, Film 4, Financial News, Freddie Mac, FTSE, Google, Government, HMV, House of Commons, HSBC, ITV, John Lewis Partnership, Labour party, Marks & Spencer, Money, Money Markets, Morrisons, NASDAQ, Peter Mandelson, Recession, Retail, Rolls-Royce, Sainsburys, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tesco, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Unemployment

UK airlines are expected lose at least £130 million ($200 million) a day in revenues as a result of the volcanic ash-linked disruption, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). IATA, the industry’s governing body has said. Said its members would also lose further money as a result of having to augment expensive contingency plans.

All UK flights in England and Wales were grounded on Friday Those airspace restrictions will remain in place until further notice, with widespread restrictions now in place across Europe.

Research the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has disclosed that almost three quarters of small and medium sized companies (SMEs) have suffered from late payments in the past year, leaving them burdened with £63 billion pounds in unpaid debt. The average amount of bad debt being written off by SMEs doubled in 2009 to £2,529 pounds.

According to a recent report by the UK Institute of Directors, At least £500 billion will need to be invested on infrastructure in the next decade in order for the UK to remain competitive, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD).

The IoD said that despite the fiscal deficit, public spending on energy, transport, and water and should be implemented as it is vital to economic growth.

The group of company bosses suggested that the proceeds from re-privatising the banks, which could be over £50 billion, should be spent on new infrastructure. In 2009 just £7.8 billion was invested on infrastructure. The IoD said that at least £130 billion should be spent on transport projects and that £300 billion will be needed for energy infrastructure, including investments in energy efficiency measures for housing.

Global credit checking group Experian has said UK banks are lagging behind their U.S. counterparts in terms of their willingness to lend to consumers in the six months to the end of March. Experian blamed lack of credit and consolidation in the financial sector for a seven percent fall in organic revenue at its main credit services operations in the UK and Ireland. Shares in the FTSE 100 listed company fell 18.5 pence to 616.5 pence, after it said that its main business of performing credit checks in developed economies had put a lid on revenue improvement

Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco will reveal record profits of around £3.3 billion pounds this week, on global turnover that will breach the £65 billion pound mark. This figure, which will represent an increase of 12 percent on 2009, and double the combined profits of competitors Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.

The John Lewis Partnership, which is seen as a barometer of British retailing, today announced that sales grew 10% in the week to 10 April, compared with the same period a year ago. The renowned employee-owned department store said customers are still spending despite the uncertainty over next months’ election. The firm has been outperforming its rivals this year and said it is optimistic that strong sales will continue. However, sales at its Waitrose supermarket chain fell 16.7% to £80 million in 2009. However, compared to the same period last year, sales surged 10.7%, highlighting Waitrose’s current position as one of the UK’s fastest growing supermarket.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s UK supermarket arm Asda Group Ltd have announced their aim to become the U.K.’s number one non-food retailer in five years, Asda set out plans for a huge expansion of its standalone general merchandise stores, with plans to increase the number of its ‘Asda Living’ with an average size of 28,000 square feet stores six-fold,, to 150 in five years time, up from 25.

Leading UK Energy provider Eon UK has predicted that European Union regulations are liable to expose Britain to energy shortfalls. The energy firm, which is part of German utility E.ON, has said that EU rules are forcing its oil-fired power station at Grain in southeast England to shut down. The announcement comes as the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) suggested Britain would need to increase its generating capacity by more than 40,000 megawatts to maintain power supply when output from renewable sources recedes. The BCSE said Britain is planning to install 8,000 offshore wind turbines over the coming decade.

Mobile phone operator Orange, have announced the signing of a deal with BT intended to provide an improved high-speed Internet service to its customers by abandoning its fixed-line network. The company will now compete directly with market leaders Virgin Media and TalkTalk, in a move that could lower charges. The deal with BT will place Orange in the same position as Vodafone who currently offer their customers broadband services using BT’s network.

Dreams, the bed and mattress retailer, have announced an increase in operating profits of 36 percent to £18.4 million pounds for 2009. Latest figures released by the company show sales rose by 23 percent to £280 million pounds. The 240-store chain has plans to open up to 450 stores in the coming years.

On the FTSE Royal Bank of Scotland added 5.11 percent to their shares, making for the best performance of the session. The increase came as a result of positive broker comment from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Competing UK banks did less well, with Barclays Bank dropping 2.56 percent on the news that the SEC has accused Goldman Sachs of civil fraud in relation to activities revolving around mortgage investments.

The U.K.’s second-largest software company Autonomy saw their shares drop to their lowest level for two months after issuing a pessimistic trading

Shares in British Airways understandably dropped 1.9 percent under a cloud of dust and ash.

The pound continues its slow recovery, despite closing down at $1.5396 before the weekend, while closing slightly up against the Euro at 1.140.

U.K. stocks retreated from a 22- month high before the weekend, falling 81.05 points to 5743.96 after having swung between gains and losses at least eight times on Friday. The FTSE 100 is heading for a seventh consecutive week of gains, the longest winning streak since July,

Bank of America (BoA) has returned to profit, reporting a net income of $3.2 billion (£2.1 billion) for the first quarter of 2010, compared with a $194 million loss in the previous quarter. However figures show a drop in profits of 24% than f the same period a year ago. The US bank said record sales and trading activity at its capital markets arm – including acquisition Merrill Lynch – had driven the latest results.

BoA also announced that they were also setting aside less money to cover anticipated losses on bad loans.

As was to be expected the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a step back on Friday, down 123 points to 11.018.66 while the NASDAQ Composite also lost some ground, down 34.43 points to close on 2,481.26.

Goldman Sachs has been accused of misleading their investors about subprime mortgage products before the US housing market collapsed.

The accusations came from the US Securities and Exchange Commission who charged the bank with failing to disclose crucial information about a synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) product that it structured, which was closely linked to the performance of the residential mortgage-backed securities market. The regulator said that Goldman allowed Paulson & Co, a hedge fund, to influence the portfolio selection process while hedging investment against the CDO.

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Tags: ASDA, Ash, Autonomy, Bank, Bank of America, Banking, Barclays Bank, British airways, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Dow Jones, Dreams, Economics, Economy, Eon UK, Experian, Financial News, FTSE, Goldman Sachs, International Air Transport Association, John Lewis Partnership, Money, Money Markets, Morrisons, Mortgage, Mortgages, NASDAQ, Orange, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, subprime, TalkTalk, Tesco, UK airlines, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Institute of Directors, UK Recession, Virgin Media, Vodafone, Waitrose, Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Lloyds Banking Group is to cut 5,000 more jobs by the end of next year as it continues to reduce overlap following its merger with HBOS last year.

While almost half of these posts are among staff, 2,600 permanent jobs would be lost. The union Unite accused the bank of "corporate arrogance" and short-termism following the announcement, which will mean that Lloyds will have cut 15,000 jobs this year.

Japan’s second- largest carmaker Honda Motor Co have announced that they will be widening job cuts at its UK factory in Swindon, due to a major fall in demand in Europe as the end of government stimulus programs draws close.

According to a company spokesman, Honda plans to expand their voluntary early retirement plan, which succeeded in reducing the number of workers at the factory by 1,300 last December, although the spokesman declined to say how many additional jobs would be cut. The plant, which builds the CR-V and Civic models for the European market, saw production plunge by 75 percent to 400,000 units in the year until end September 2009.

A rapid recovery in UK commercial property values conditions could see the sector turn positive this year. The recovery comes after the deepest slump on record that looks like leading to an almost boom like situation according to forecasts. Real estate values are set to overturn most of the losses suffered in the first half as booming investor demand has taken prices back to near peak levels in some sectors.

As was widely expected, Cadbury have rejected the formal bid from Kraft on Monday, going as far as to describe the US food group’s offer as “derisory”. Roger Carr, Cadbury’s chairman, declared the formal offer “worse than the proposal the board has previously rejected” as it made no attempt to improve the terms of its original offer of two months ago. In the meantime Kraft’s share price has fallen steadily since their offer in early September, reducing the value of the bid from 745 pence a share to 717. Cadbury’s shares closed up 3 pence to 761 on the FTSE, while Kraft’s shares fell 31 cents in New York in midday trading to $26.47. However, Kraft have not rules out making an increased offer during the formal takeover offer period, which could last up to three months as analysts predict that the company may wait until towards the end of the offer period before making a final offer.

Company management at Sainsburys will be feeling the pressure as recent figures show that the supermarket group sales were expanding at the lowest rate of the UKs "big four " supermarkets. Sainsbury’s sales were shown to have risen by 4.7 percent in the 12 weeks to October 31, making for the lowest turnover expansion, less than the 5.6 percent recorded by Tesco, with Asda and Morrisons leading the way.

Unofficial reports have it that Orange UK sold more than 30,000 iPhones on launch day. Orange is the second carrier to offer the iPhone in the UK behind O2, while Vodafone has announced plans to begin offering the handset early in 2010, as well as the iPhone, Orange UK have also launched a so-called business homescreen for the soon to be launched Samsung Omnia Pro B7330. The Omnia Pro is reputed to be a smartphone based on a different concept from the iPhone, featuring Windows Mobile 6.5 and a full QWERTY keypad. Orange’s new homescreen provide quick access to email, voicemail, contacts, calendar and so on, “ensuring vital business applications are right at their employees’ finger tips”. The Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 will be soon available through Orange, coming as the carrier’s first “business WM6.5 device,” targeted at medium and large business customers.

For more information about The Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 Visit Compare-Mobile.co.uk

Sterling lost ground on Tuesday after a ratings agency said the UK was the major economy most at risk of losing its AAA credit rating , Since then the pound has weakened in value over the last two days against all the major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6719
• Pound/Euro 1.1161
• Pound/Japanese Yen 149.468
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6852

The FTSE 100 has rallied strongly since the beginning of the week up 86 points to 5,230.55. The FTSE 250 also rose 38.3 points to 9,120.96. London equities principally made progress on Monday, largely thanks to strong trading in insurance stocks.

As US carmaker General Motors (GM) were seen to be making efforts to calm the waves after their surprise decision last week to retain ownership of their European plants, a spokesman for the company has forecast that Opel and Vauxhall will retain consider independence as well as receiving considerable financial support . The US carmaker has announced that that they will provide a “reasonable and sizeable” portion of the restructuring costs for Opel and Vauxhall, rather than seek 100 percent government aid. GM have forecast that they will need €3 billion ($4.5 billion) to restructure the Opel and Vauxhall operations and intend to raise at least partial funding from interested European governments.

The Dow Jones has made some major steps forward since the weekend, up 243 points to 10246.97, closing at the highest level since October 2008.

The NASDAQ also jumped, reaching 2151.08.

US software company Adobe Systems has announced that it is to cut almost 10% of its workforce, a total of 680 jobs. Adobe Systems best known for Photoshop, Flash and Acrobat, said the cuts were necessary to cut costs.

Gold extended its record-breaking run above the $1,100 mark on Monday while crude oil raised more than $2 a barrel as markets made a strong start to the new trading week. Gold hit a record at $1,110.85 a troy ounce, a rise of 26.5 per cent this year, before easing back to $1,107.00, up 1.1 per cent on the day as analysts digested the implications of India’s decision last week to buy half of the gold the International Monetary Fund has put up for sale.

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Tags: Acrobat, Adobe, Adobe Systems, ASDA, Banking, British Economy, Cadbury, Currency, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, Flash, FTSE, General Motors, GM, Gold, HBos, Honda Motor Co, International Monetary Fund, iPhone, Kraft, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, Morrisons, NASDAQ, O2, Oil, Omnia Pro, Opel, Orange UK, Photoshop, property values, Recession, Retail, Roger Carr, Sainsburys, Samsung Omnia Pro B7330, smartphone, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, Tesco, UK Banks, UK commercial property, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, Vauxhall, Vodafone

After an inquiry found they had taken unreasonably large rewards from the now bankrupt car maker MG Rover Group Ltd, UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson is seeking a ban on the investors involved in the collapse from running other companies

A recently released 800-page government-commissioned report into the demise of MG Rover, who went belly up in 2005 with debts amounting to £1.3 billion states that directors of Phoenix Venture Holdings, Peter Beale, John Edwards, Nick Stephenson, John Towers and Kevin Howe had drawn a combined 42 million pounds in pay and benefits over five years.

About 6,000 people lost their jobs when the car maker collapsed.

Lord Mandelson, business secretary, has also announced his confidence that following the sale of General Motors’ European business to Magna International, a Canadian car-parts supplier, and Russia’s Sberbank jobs were safe at Vauxhall’s plants in the UK. GM’s decision to sell Opel to the Canadian and Russian partnership ended months of uncertainty over the fate of the car maker.

Magna has already made a commitment to the German government not to shut any of its four factories there, however t there is still unease and uncertainty among Britain’s trade unions that either the Luton or Ellesmere Port plant, might be slated for closure by Magna. Without giving any specific reason why, Lord Mandelson, in a statement issued before the weekend. Said he was satisfied with the deal and that the immediate uncertainty about GM’s future in Europe has been removed.

The star of the show on the FTSE Friday was the rail maintenance group, Jarvis, whose shares jumped to their highest level in more than a year after the company reported an “extremely preliminary” takeover inquiry.

Their stock, which has been stuck below the 15 pence since a profits warning way back in November 2007 wiped 75 per cent off its value, has increased in value by close to 70 percent from 17 pence to 24 pence with two days of trading after the company released a statement to the markets on the approach

Analysts speculated that that any of the other companies involved the rail maintenance sector might be interested in the company, with others suggesting that an overseas buyer might also be a candidate.

The UK’s fourth-biggest supermarket group WM Morrison warned of lower sales growth on the back of more moderate rises in food prices, as it lifted profits and raised its interim dividend by 35 per cent.

Morrisons, who increased their underlying profits by 22 per cent, also announced that they are embarking on an expansion drive containing its fresh food shop within a shop concept, as it seeks expansion.

A spokesman for the company did warn that a natural reduction in comparative growth rates was liable to be caused by easing food price inflation, along with strong like-for-like sales growth. Shares in the group dropped by 0.8 pence to 283.7 pence.

As the market continued to digest news it was under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and Office of Fair Trading over allegations of anti-competitive business practices, shares in Sports Direct International dropped 0.9 per cent to 107.9 pence.

The FTSE 100 index made it back over the 5,000 points, rising. 23.79 points to close at 5,011.47

The FTSE 250 rose again on Friday, up 82.18 points to close for the weekend to close on 9,207.89

The pound rose against the dollar yet took a minor tumble against the Euro on Friday’s trading, as well as the other major currencies.

• Pound/US dollar 1.616
• Pound/Euro 1.1433
• Pound/Japanese Yen 150.5651
• Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7281

According to a recent declaration by Treasury secretary Tim Geithner, the US is starting to pare back its emergency support for banks and financial markets, stating that the US financial system was no longer in need of extensive government prop-ups.

Almost a year since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which triggered a financial panic that tipped the world into a deep recession, Geithner has announced that the time had come to ease the US economy from crisis to recovery mode.

Pointing to the evidence of a return to partial stability in global financial markets, Mr. Geithner announced that the US would allow their $2,500 billion guarantee for industry to expire as scheduled this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average faltered by just a little on Friday down 12.07 points to 9695.44 while the NASDAQ Composite rose by 0.2 points to close on 2080.9.

Fast-falling corporate inventories meant Japanese gross domestic product grew more slowly in the second quarter of this year than was initially forecast, according to government data released on Friday, but analysts stated that the world’s second largest economy’s recovery remained on track.

In the three months to June, GDP expanded 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, revised data issued by the cabinet showed, down from the 0.9 per cent growth initially estimated last month.

Global oil consumption will contract less than previously feared this year and grow strongly in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) the developed countries’ energy watchdog, another of the signs of optimism for the economic welfare of the World popping up on a regular basis these days.

The IEA now expect global oil demand to drop 1. 9 million barrels a day for 2009, less than the 2.3 million forecasts as recently as last month, making for the third revision since May, when the organisation forecast a contraction of 2.6 million barrels per day. .

Gold reached $1,011.55 a troy ounce on Friday, just 1.9 per cent below the record $1,030.80 reached in March 2008.

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Tags: British Economy, British Pound, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, GDP, General Motors, International Energy Agency, John Edwards, John Towers, Kevin Howe, Lehman Brothers, Lord Mandelson, Magna International, MG Rover, Money Markets, Morrisons, NASDAQ, Nick Stephenson, Office of Fair Trading, Peter Beale, Peter Mandelson, Phoenix Four, Phoenix Venture Holdings, Recession, Retail, Serious Fraud Office, Sports Direct, Stock Markets, Tim Geithner, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, US economy, WM Morrison