Gold price hits record high (again) - today's papers

Gold advanced to a record after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero to bolster the recovery, weakening the dollar and boosting demand for precious metals as a store of value.

Immediate-delivery gold gained as much as 0.4% to $1,533 an ounce, and traded at $1,530.13 at 1:46 p.m. in Singapore. Bullion for June delivery in New York rose as much as 1.1%, $1,534, an all-time high, writes Bloomberg.  MORE...

Banks are misleading the public about how much money they are lending to small businesses, the business secretary said yesterday. MORE...

About 80 bankers have pocketed $140m (£85m) for just 19 months spent managing a raft of toxic assets for Barclays that caused the high street lender to suffer hundreds of millions of pounds of losses. MORE...

Japan's industrial output fell by record levels in March as disruptions in the supply chain continued to hit production. MORE...

The number of people employed in the UK's retail sector increased by just 0.5pc in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the year before, despite the number of shops growing by 5.3%, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). MORE...

Barclays Bank shareholders dished out a strong protest against pay plans for Bob Diamond and other top executives at the bank's annual meeting yesterday. MORE...

BP hopes to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico later this year it emerged yesterday, as the company revealed that last year's devastating spill continues to drag on profits. MORE...

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investment guru, sent a thunderous message to his chief lieutenants last night: deceive me and bring my company into disrepute and I will fire you, humiliate you and perhaps even pursue you in the courts. MORE...

Royal Dutch Shell has announced a 41% increase in first quarter profits on the back of higher world oil prices. MORE...

Berkshire Hathaway should consider legal action to recover the money former employee David Sokol made buying shares in US chemicals maker Lubrizol, a company that Warren Buffett's investment firm went on to buy, an internal report argues. MORE...

Banks are expecting an increase in repossessions because of the weak economy, they warned yesterday. MORE...

Europe's bailed-out economies saw their borrowing costs hit fresh records on rising concerns they will not be able to pay their debts. MORE...