Senator Elizabeth Warren has taken the first major step towards launching a widely anticipated campaign for the presidency.

Wall Street has finished November with a broad rally that gave the Dow Jones industrial average its biggest gain since March and pushed it past the 24,000 mark for the first time.

David Petraeus, the retired four-star general renowned for spearheading military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned abruptly as director of the CIA after admitting to an extramarital affair.

Financial products could be made subject to licence if tougher inspections, bigger punishments and the publicising of violations fail to protect consumers, said ESRI research officer Pete Lunn.