BlackRock chief executive Laurence Fink, who last year said he would invest 100% of his personal wealth in equities, said stock markets may decline as a result of the political debate over the debt ceiling.

The task of picking up the pieces of the fiscal cliff talks — and reassuring global financial markets — is likely to fall largely to President Barack Obama after Republicans abandoned their own proposed fix championed by House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner.

There is a real urgency to take investment in renewable energy to a new plateau and Jim Barry, as he moves from NTR to BlackRock Alternative Investments, is getting an opportunity to make a new name for himself, writes Kyran Fitzgerald