US Outlook: 'I'm Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, and I support marriage equality.'

Goldman Sachs handed its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, a bonus of $7m (£4,4m) in shares for his work last year, down from $12.6m in 2010 in line with the investment bank’s slipping profits.

The trailer concludes with the ominous tagline: "The world will be watching." Get ready for The Hunger Games, the new Hollywood blockbuster franchise which promises to trounce Twilight and replace Harry Potter in the box-office charts. Anticipation is mounting among millions of teenage fans ahead of the 23 March opening of the film, based on Suzanne Collins's bestselling novels. The trilogy, which has sold 30 million copies, is set in a post-apocalyptic world where children are chosen by the government to fight each other to the death in gladiatorial battles.

Tim Martin has been predicting the demise of the euro, sometimes with a reference to the pharaoh Tutankhamun (they are equally dead), since the day it was invented. Can't work, he kept saying. Won't work. Shouldn't work. The JD Wetherspoon chairman is now closer to being proved right, which might be cause for a celebratory pint down the local. His own business continues to do remarkably well. Yesterday he reported rising sales over Christmas, but took little credit. They're only up because we're comparing the sales with a period of bad weather a year ago, he said.

Outlook: Tim Martin has been predicting the demise of the euro, sometimes with a reference to Tutankhamun (they are equally dead), since the day it was invented. Can't work, he kept saying. Won't work. Shouldn't work.

A wipeout in its equity derivatives business helped push Citigroup's investment bank into the red, presaging grim news for staff awaiting their bonuses.

US bank JP Morgan Chase today revealed a higher bill for staff pay and bonuses in 2011 of 29 billion US dollars (£18.9 billion) despite a turbulent finish to the year.

Delays and uncertainty over new financial regulations risk upending long-term investments such as new mining projects or international trade, the head of Barclays' investment bank has warned.

The odds of a merger between the stock exchanges of New York and Europe dramatically lengthened last night after it emerged the European Commission competition regulator has recommended blocking the deal.

The US bank results season, which kicks off with JP Morgan Chase's full-year figures on Friday, could see bonuses slashed by up to a quarter after poor trading late last year.

World stock markets were mixed today, as encouraging signs about the US economy were tempered by investors' fears that time was running out for Greece to fix its debt crisis.

So did the Occupy Wall Street movement have any effect? No, says Stephen Foley

World stock markets fell today, with trading thinned by year-end holidays and mixed economic news out of the US and Japan.

Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, is staking much of his credibility on an approach for a majority stake in LCH.Clearnet.