WTO slashes world trade forecast as manufacturing slowdown bites – as it happened

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as WTO warns that global economic fragmentation is hurting trade growth

• Amazon and Microsoft's UK cloud computing dominance faces investigation

Metro Bank has just issued a statement to the City, in which it notes the recent press speculation regarding a potential capital raise".

[As flagged earlier, there are reports that Metro is in talks about an urgent capital raise of 600m in equity and debt]

The Company is evaluating the merits of a range of options, including a combination of equity issuance, debt issuance and /or refinancing and asset sales. No decision has been made on whether to proceed with any of these options.