‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ gives kids a 10-year head start in housing; IMF lifts global growth forecasts – business live

Dame Alison Rose admitted to serious error in discussing Nigel Farage's relationship with Coutts with a BBC journalist.

• BREAKING: NatWest boss Alison Rose resigns over Nigel Farage Coutts account row
• EARLIER STORY: NatWest stands by CEO after error' of discussing Farage with BBC's Simon Jack

Unilever has release a decent if mixed" set of half-year results this morning, reports Adam Vettese, analyst at trading and investment platform eToro.

Vettese explains:

One of the strengths of Unilever's business model is that it houses a lot of well-known brands that have come to be staples of many households. That means it can afford to put up prices in an inflationary environment - sensibly - without it impacting sales.

However, while overall sales growth has been solid, only 41% of its portfolio is taking market share from rivals, while volumes in Europe, a key market, have been disappointing.

Reasons to be cheerful: an increasing number of folk are convinced slowing US inflation and the economy's resilience means the Fed has achieved the improbable holy grail of central banking - a soft landing. That's got to be good news for stocks - er, maybe.

Reasons to be fearful: Others are delving deeply into the detail of rising credit card defaults, earnings problems, a property bust, and global slowdown (particularly in China and Europe) for proofs of how unsustainable the current happy-clappy market is.