According to a recent survey, some of the largest companies in the UK are in fear of the financial effects of a hung parliament would have on the economy. The survey which takes in 141 chief financial officers of leading UK companies, among them 40 whose companies are quoted on the FTSE 100, fear that such as situation will have a negative effect on their own businesses. Current opinion polls suggest that, while the Conservatives hold a relatively strong lead, there is a strong chance that no party will win an overall majority in the rapidly approaching elections

Meanwhile a survey recently conducted shows that business confidence has reached its highest level in four years, with output back to levels not seen since before the recession. The report does go on to warn that a "significant increase" in investment in the private sector is needed in order to sustain the recovery, whilst stressing that business optimism could be "short-lived" without the investment.

Increases of y only 0.05 percent in the total value of UK exports have been reported on final quarter of 2009 compared to the same period of 2008 The figures came despite hopes that the weakness of sterling would be beneficial for the exports sector. According to government figures, the total number of companies exporting goods has fallen l by 3.4 percent to just less than fifty thousand. Both the UK government and the Bank of England have previously predicted that exports would help push the recovery.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union have met with Network Rail in an attempt to avoid strikes planned by thousands of rail workers. The dispute revolves around Network Rail plans to cut 1,500 jobs and alter rosters to allow more work to be carried out at evenings and weekends. The RMT executive is expected to agree to a timetable for fresh ballots after four days of planned strike action were called off last week when Network Rail launched a successful legal challenge.

BAE Systems (BAE) has topped a list of the world’s 100 largest arms manufacturers, marking the first time that the list has been topped by a company outside the U.S. Figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show that BAE arms sales totaled $32.4 billion in 2008. The record performance was largely down to increased sales at BAE’s U.S. subsidiaries, with sales at the company’s Land and Armaments group in the U.S. rising from $7 billion to $12 billion.

Shares in the Home Retail Group Plc rose to a four-month high in London trading after reports that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Asda may be interested in making an offer for the U.K. company. On the news, Home Retail’s shares gained as much as 5.6 percent and closed up 14.7 pence to 295.1 pence as, valuing the company at £2.59 billion pounds ($4 billion).

Home Retail, owner of the U.K.’s Argos catalog stores, had sales of just less than £6 billion pounds in the year ended Feb. 27. A spokesman for Home Retail, based in Milton Keynes, declined to comment on the report.

Liverpool Football Club’s U.S. owners have appointed Barclays Capital help find a buyer for the Premiership club. Current owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought the club in 2007 for £219 million pounds. Gillett and Hicks have in the past hired Merrill Lynch and Rothschild to attract minority investors and their decision to appoint Barclays indicates they are now stepping up efforts to achieve an outright sale.

A study has suggested that a permanent rise in the price of oil would leave the UK economy in better shape than the other major importers, especially Japan, the U.S. and the Euro zone. Although all big oil-importing economies would suffer from a higher oil price, Japan and the U.S. would be hardest hit, while the UK would withstand the shock relatively well, with a $10 price rise contracting its economy by just 0.4 percent.

The pound continues to make some slow momentum, remaining above the $1.50 level at $1.5374, while falling back in value ever so slightly against the Euro at 1.1308.

The FTSE 100 stuttered on some insecure trading, falling 15.99 points to 5761.66.

The euro has jumped sharply against the dollar and the pound after the Eurozone agreed details of a multi-billion euro loan package to debt-ridden Greece.

The Euro rose by more than 2 cents, against the dollar, to close on $1.3672. While rising to 88.408 pence against the pound.

The rise came after the Eurozone member nations eventually agreed to provide loans of up to €30 billion (£27 billion) in the first year of a three-year package. Greece hopes it will not have to ask for the emergency loans and Instead the implementation of an extensive package of austerity measures will help to cut its debt levels and restore confidence in Greek government debt.

In the US it was announced that the trade deficit has widened to $39.7 billion (£20.8 billion) in February, as import growth continued to outpace exports.

According to figures issued by the US Department of Commerce, the overall trade deficit increased by $2.7 billion from January. It also announced that imports were up 20.5% to $182.9 billion from the same month in 2009 while exports were up only 14.3% to $143.2 billion.

The trade figures confirm the trend of resurgent imports outpacing the rebound in exports as the US economy recovers from recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to rise, crossing the 11,000 point barrier at 11.0032.46 while the NASDAQ Composite was 21 points higher at 2,4664.86

US chip maker Intel has announced net record incomes for the first quarter of $2.44 billion (£1.59 billion) compared with $629 million reported for the first quarter in 2009, making for almost a quadruple increase. Intel’s turnover was up 44% to $10.3 billion showing recovery from the global recession is well under way in the computer hardware department.

The social networking site Twitter has announced their plans to allow advertising on their site; a spokesperson for Twitter said that for the first time.

Advertisers would be able to buy "Promoted Tweets" that will appear on Twitter’s search results pages, whilst going on to point out that "Promoted Tweets" will differ from traditional adverts. Instead these Tweets must "resonate with users" and delivered in a conversational tone.

Twitter have reportedly already signed up number of big name organisations such as Sony Pictures, coffee chain Starbucks and US retailer Best Buy to tweet.

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Tags: Argos, ASDA, BAE Systems, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays Capital, Best Buy, British Economy, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Eurozone, Financial News, FTSE, Home Retail, Home Retail Group Plc, hung parliament, Liverpool Football Club, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Network Rail, Promoted Tweets, Recession, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Stocks and shares, twitter, UK Banks, UK business, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, US Department of Commerce, Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Under threat of the first nationwide strike by signalmen in 16 years, Network Rail announced on Friday night that it would meet next week at conciliation service Acas to discuss two separate disputes with the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) and the TSSA, which represents managerial grades. The RMT is already threatening to strike over a proposed restructure of Network Rail’s maintenance operations which could lead to the loss of up to 1,500 jobs. However there are also worries over potential strike action by signalers in several areas of the country. The Acas talks will take place on either Monday or Tuesday.

In the air, British Airways have announced that their contingency plans for the first day of a three-day cabin crew strike have gone "extremely well".

A spokesman for BA said that according to their program, more than 65% of passengers would reach their destinations, with 1,157 staff working and some canceled flights reinstated. However the Unite union, representing the striking crew members has speculated that only a third of BA’s normal flights took off, with 125 out of its 250 planes grounded.

Another four-day strike is planned for 27 March in the pay and conditions row.

Within the next few days Chancellor Alistair Darling is expected to endorse plans for a global tax on certain financial institutions. These are institutions that are likely to pose a "systemic risk" by being dependent on government insurance schemes to stay afloat. Darling us expected to use the budget announcement to detail his backing of the proposals, with his key recommendations being that government revenue raised should go to national governments rather than an insurance scheme, which he believes would encourage banks to take more risk on lending and expansion. Darling’s views are similar to those expressed recently by Dominique Strauss-Khan head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who encouraged Europe to establish a system of orderly bankruptcy for cross border banks which would be less dependent on insurance schemes to fund bailouts.

In a recent survey conducted by Small Business Britain Entrepreneurs it was revealed that 40 per cent of small and medium, sized business enterprises (SMEs) would like to see a fall in employers’ national insurance contributions. In addition over 45 per cent would like to see banks to offer better rates to smaller firms. All in all they have called for Chancellor Alistair Darling’s budget to support small and medium-sized businesses, while at the same time, according to an unrelated survey small and medium-sized businesses are reported to be gaining increased confidence that the UK’s economic recovery looks likely to continue. The HSBC’s Global Small Business Confidence Monitor has reported that over three-quarters of SMEs now expected steady or increasing growth over the next six months

On the downside, the recent severe spell of weather has reportedly caused losses of around £7 billion pounds to SMEs. A survey showed that nearly two-fifths of those taking part stating that the harshest winter in decades had forced them temporarily cease operations, whilst more than forty percent said that weather conditions had cause some form of disruption to their business. Just less than a quarter of the firms surveyed announced that had not been affected by the severe weather in January.

Recent figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed that UK car production in February increased by almost two thirds against the same month in 2009, representing the fourth consecutive month that output has seen a year-on-year increase.

The SMMT announced that close to 100,000 cars came off the production line in February, with the majority going for export. In addition, around 10,226 commercial vehicles were also produced in February. A spokesman for the SMMT said the scrappage scheme continues to boost demand and production. The ‘cash for bangers scheme is due to expire at the end of this month with the SMMT predicting that the industry will be affected by the scheme drawing to a close.

Clothing retailer Next are expected to announce in their full year results due out on Wednesday that it has beaten many of its high street rivals. Pre-tax profits are predicted to have risen by £66 million pounds to £635 million pounds. Other companies due to release their results this week include supermarket giant Sainsbury, with their fourth-quarter trading figures due out on Thursday.

The pound continues to fall sharply against the dollar and the Euro, with the fall not being helped by a Bank of England (BOE) policymaker predicting that the UK could yet fall back into recession. On that piece of optimistic news the pound fell against the dollar, to $1.503. The pound fell against the Euro to 1.100. The prediction of the chance of double-dip recession taking place came from a BOE Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance.

On the FTSE, Banks were the biggest risers, with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group all on the up.

Partially state owned, Lloyds announced a return to profitability in 2010 after two years of heavy losses. Their recovery was helped by lower than expected bad debts and tight cost controls. On the news shares in Lloyds Banking Group s rose sharply after the bank announced that they had succeeded in reserving losses of £6.3 billion ($9.5 billion) in 2009

Energy shares were also on a high with BP and Royal Dutch Shell both among the early risers.

Meanwhile the FTSE was continuing to rose, aided by news that Lloyds Banking Group said it would return to profitability in 2010

The FTSE 100 index finished for the weekend at 5,650.13, after hitting a 21-month closing peak on Wednesday.

On Wall Street before the weekend close, the Dow Jones was still on the rise, this time by 83 points to close on 10741.98. The NASDAQ took a little dip, after enjoying a good week. It fell four points to 2374.41.

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Tags: Acas, Alistair Darling, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays, British airways, British Economy, Dow Jones, Economy, Employment, Financial News, FTSE, Global Small Business Confidence Monitor, HSBC, International Monetary Fund, Lloyds Banking Group, Maritime and Transport Union, Monetary Policy Committee, NASDAQ, national insurance, Network Rail, Recession, Retail, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Dutch Shell, Sainsbury, Small Business Britain Entrepreneurs, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, UK Economy, UK government, Wall Street