Round-up: Share carnage wipes £120bn off pensions

Bulls triumph over bears, Fed freezes short-term rates, and pension funds take a beating from stock market turmoil...IFAonline's round-up of the news from the nationals.

DAILY MAIL
SHARE CARNAGE WIPES £120BN OFF THE VALUE OF OUR PENSIONS
More than £120bn has been wiped off the value of Britain's pensions in the last month following the stock market turmoil. The National Association of Pension Funds released figures last night showing the true cost to the public of the crisis that has caused carnage in the markets.

FINANCIAL TIMES
FED MOVES TO TACKLE STRUGGLING ECONOMY
The US Federal Reserve attempted to tackle a rapidly weakening economy on Tuesday by freezing short-term interest rates for two years and opening the door to more quantitative easing, in a move that sent the dollar and Treasury yields sharply lower.

GUARDIAN
OSBORNE TO INSIST HIS PLANS WILL HEAD OFF NEW CREDIT CRUNCH
George Osborne will insists that the government is sticking to its tough deficit reduction programme when he updates MPs tomorrow about the turmoil in the global economy.

INDEPENDENT
HOPES FOR LOWER FUEL COSTS AS OIL'S ROLLERCOASTER RIDE CONTINUES
Jitters over the future of the global economy sent the oil price swinging down to multi-month lows and bouncing back up again just as quickly yesterday, ahead of a much anticipated economic policy statement from the US Federal Reserve. After opening at $103 per barrel, Brent Crude tumbled below $100 for the first time since early February and then jumped above $105 in later-afternoon trading.

TELEGRAPH
BULLS TRIUMPH OVER BEARS
The FTSE 100 endured its most volatile day of trading in recent memory yesterday, dipping 20.9% into bear market territory before rallying. After breaking through the symbolic 5000 mark, the FTSE rallied as bargain hunters bought up depressed shares.

TELEGRAPH
APPLE STEALS EXXON'S CROWN
Apple is likely to be crowned the world's most valuable company today after briefly stealing the title from Exxon-Mobile yesterday as stock markets on Wall Street rebounded. The toppling of Exxon caps a remarkable 14 years for Apple, which Steve Jobs pulled back from the edge of bankruptcy in 1997.

DAILY EXPRESS
TIME TO SNAP UP AN ANNUITY AS RATES FALL
Savers nearing retirement who are looking to turn their pension pot into an annuity are being urged to act now. Workers who are close to taking their pension face a double whammy of tumbling rates from annuities, which turn funds into a guaranteed income for life, as well as falls in the value of funds with global markets plummeting sharply.