Top flight shares in the UK extended their gains today after broker upgrades and a rising copper price buoyed miners.

A golden decade for the UK economy is set to peter out this year, a senior economist has predicted.

UK house prices will slump 20% from their peak, spending will fall and interest rates will be slashed to 3.5%, a forecaster has predicted.

The economic slowdown in Britain which has hit manufacturing in recent months, with the loss of thousands of jobs, is spreading to the service sector, a new report warned today.