• Dour company, consumer views cast recovery doubt


• U.S. consumers turn gloomier on economic worries


• British GDP shrinks faster than expected


• Ericsson, Microsoft, Schlumberger outlooks downbeat
  Reuters 27 July 2009
  


• The price of oil has risen towards $69 a barrel after investors were buoyed by rallying stock markets in Asia.


• The chancellor is to quiz bank bosses over how much they charge small firms for loans, saying he is "extremely concerned" their rates may be too high.


• The first meeting of the Obama administration's US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue is due to get underway in Washington.

BBC Business news 27 July 2009

Weather slightly cooler in Malta at 30 degrees.

Lewsis Hamilton wins the Hungarian Grand Prix, Jensen Button still leads the Championship.