The weekly roundup of the headlines most affecting your personal finances.
Defined benefit pension deficits fall by £21bn
The combined deficit of the defined benefit pension schemes of Britain's largest companies fell by £21bn over the last 12 months on the back of rising equity values.
Bank of England resists more QE, holds rates
The Bank of England has left interest rates unchanged at 0.5pc and will not restart its money-printing programme this month.
Austerity 'will cost 1.6m jobs'
Government spending cuts and the VAT rise will lead to more than 1.6 million job losses over the next six years, a report says.
BP back to profit after oil spill
Oil giant BP has announced a return to profit in the three months to September after last quarter's record loss.
Times readers fall after paywall
More than 100,000 people pay to go behind the Times and Sunday Times' new online paywalls but visits to their websites have fallen by about 87%.
Lloyds upbeat on its 2010 results
Lloyds Banking Group says its had a good third quarter and is on track for a decent performance in 2010 as bad debts fall and margins improve.
Fed pumps $600bn into US economy
The Federal Reserve announces it will pump $600bn into the US economy to try to boost the fragile recovery.
State pension age rise confirmed
Plans to raise the state pension age to 66 by 2020, first announced in October, are confirmed by the government.
Cuts 'deliverable', says Osborne
Chancellor George Osborne hits back at claims by a group of MPs that the government's spending cuts are not deliverable.
A third of households in three UK cities are jobless
Nearly a third of households in Liverpool, Nottingham and Glasgow contained nobody in work last year, official figures show.
Budget date set for 23 March 2011
Chancellor George Osborne will announce his second Budget on 23 March 2011.
House prices rebound but Halifax stresses overall decline
House prices rose 1.8% in October but three month trend shows a falling market.
Bank of England holds steady on printing presses
The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will not follow the US with an expansion of its economy-boosting measures this month, opting instead to take no further action.
Home sellers slash asking prices
Stagnating housing market sees more than a third of vendors in the UK reduce the asking price of their property Homeowners are being forced to slash their asking prices.
Air passenger tax increases again
Airline passengers flying from the UK face more expensive flights after another controversial rise in Air Passenger Duty.
Npower has started to repay customers overcharged for their gas following a two-year battle. Are you due a refund?
Graduate unemployment at a high
The unemployment rate among 2009's graduates is 8.9% - the highest level for 17 years, a higher education study says.
