The supermarket chain's relentless hunger for giant new stores is over, it has signalled. So what's the strategy?

Microsoft's Windows 8 software appears to be driving buyers away from PCs and toward smartphones and tablets, research firm IDC said last night. Global shipments of PCs fell 14 per cent in the first three months this year, it said, the sharpest plunge since the firm started tracking the industry in 1994.

Outlook A starving man will jump at anything resembling food, and so it's no wonder that the business community was cheering the £300m that Vince Cable's business department is making available for business lending.

The boss of the new Financial Conduct Authority, Martin Wheatley, will say in a speech tonight that he wants to bring a “more human” face to the financial regulator which has taken on many of the roles of the old Financial Services Authority.

British gardeners have suffered one of the slowest starts to the growing season for years with daffodils and snowdrops still crowding the flowerbeds where bedding plants would normally be taking root by now.

Freezing conditions across the UK haven't stopped people spending – but it was online retailers and the services sector that benefited.

Businesses are banned from today from automatically imposing excessive charges when customers use credit or debit cards to pay for a holiday, an air or train journey, a concert ticket or a visit to the theatre or cinema.

Almost 400 jobs have been saved after Metalrax, the Midlands-based maker of bakeware and kitchen accessories, was sold out of administration to the engineering group Bowman Birmingham.

Whether it’s PPI mis-selling, double glazing  or accident insurance claims, the plague of unsolicited calls has reached the status of No. 1 complaint to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Wealthy Chinese shoppers are beginning to ditch European shopping trips for Asian spending sprees.

On Monday, the Financial Services Authority ceases to exist, to be replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority. The offices will be the same and the overwhelming majority of personnel remain.

Four out of 10 families with children have cut down on food spend to pay housing costs

The supermarket chain Sainsbury's has emerged as the fastest-growing of the big four grocers so far this year, putting rivals Tesco, Asda and Morrisons in the shade.

Annoyed by hidden charges? I am. When I buy flights or tickets to concerts or football matches I expect to pay the advertised rate. But you never do. There’s always an “admin fee”, “booking charge” or even “credit card surcharge” added on top. It’s sneaky and misleading.