The ONS says in April 2014 median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £518, up 0.1% from £517 in 2013. "This is the smallest annual growth since 1997," it adds.

The Bank of England's interest rate setting body, the Monetary Policy Committee, voted 7 to 2 for the fourth month in a row to hold interest rates at their current level of 0.5%, the minutes of the latest meeting show.

Yet again Royal Mail has complained about the universal service obligation. Royal Mail states: "We believe the current regulatory framework does not fully address the problem posed by unfettered direct delivery competition." It has called on Ofcom to speed up its review of direct delivery competition, which is planned for next year.

Shares in French nuclear giant Areva have plunged 23% this morning, after it dropped its financial targets for 2015 and 2016, blaming delays to a Finnish nuclear project, the slow restart of Japan's reactors and a lacklustre nuclear market. Shares have fallen to a two-year low of €9.33. Areva says it is undertaking a review of its strategic outlook and mid-term funding plan and will present a new financial outlook for the 2015-2017 period before it releases its 2014 annual results.

BBC Breakfast

On Breakfast, Jan Jenkinson is remarkably calm about being whacked with that £100 bill for leaving a bad review on Trip Advisor. Simon Calder, travel journalist of the Independent is less sanguine: "This is completely out of order... Until the BBC found this story I hadn't heard of this happening" but it looks like it's happened before, he adds.

Image source, Google

Here's one to get your blood up in the morning. A couple say they have been "fined" £100 by a Blackpool hotel for leaving critical comments on travel review website Trip Advisor. Tony and Jan Jenkinson later found £100 charged to their credit card. The hotel said its policy was to charge for "bad" reviews. Trading Standards are investigating, somewhat unsurprisingly.

London's blue chip index is down by 0.17% to 6,697.53, while Frankfurt's Dax has risen 0.06% to 9,462.43 and France's Cac 40 is lower by 0.09% to 4,258.34. In London:

• Intertek Group fell 7.8% after saying "organic" revenue growth declined 0.7%

• Anglo American fell 2.8%

• Rio Tinto fell 2.6%

City broker ICAP, which acts as a matchmaker between buyers and sellers of bonds, currencies and bets on markets, said first-half revenue fell 9%. Excluding foreign exchange movements, sales were £620m vs. £726m a year earlier. The broker also confirmed that its shipping business, ICAP Shipping, is in merger talks with rival Howe Robinson.

Kamal Ahmed
BBC Business editor

Lurking on page 8 of today's numbers is the real story in Royal Mail's results - a warning of a "material risk" to the universal service obligation. Some may dismiss this as special pleading but Royal Mail's chief executive, Moya Greene, is clear - if action isn't taken now, Royal Mail's ability to fund the six day letter delivery service across the UK will come under possibly unmanageable strain.

Image source, Science Photo Library

Enterprise Inns ventures forth after the commons vote which affects tied pubs. "We continue to believe the tie offers the best operating model for the vast majority of our publicans," says chief executive, Simon Townsend. "This amendment is a disproportionate response, which proposes fundamental change that is wholly contrary to the findings of the consultation, from which the Bill was drawn up."

Royal Mail says total revenue grew by 2% to £4.5bn. But the vast majority of revenue growth came from its overseas operations which rose 7% to £813m. Its UK letters business saw revenue of £2.2bn, up 1% on the same period last year but UK parcels revenue was down 1% at £1.4bn, leaving total UK revenue flat.

BBC Radio 4

Steven Hannon, chief executive of Postal and Logistics Consulting Worldwide tells the Today programme the issue the Royal Mail is facing - as are many of its competitors - is increased competition. "One of their biggest customers, Amazon, has set up their own logistics system and they are actually delivering a lot of their own goods now," he says. "Royal Mail believe that is impacting on their profits by between 1% and 2%. Margins are pretty tight in the parcels business and customers are becoming more demanding," he adds.

BBC Radio 4

A bit more from Baroness Shields. Tech City UK is launching a new academy to help combat the digital skills shortage. She says her organisation has developed a massive online open course, or Mooc, in partnership with Cambridge University and University College London. It's free and Baroness Shields says this kind of course will help people brush up on their skills. The lack of digital skills is also constricting economies around the world.

BBC Breakfast

Jane Howard of the Royal Bank of Scotland, is on Breakfast, talking about credit reports. Get a copy of your credit rating; make sure you keep up to date with bills; avoid applying for lots of credit at the same time and keep your electoral information up to date for a good credit rating, she says.

BBC Radio 4

Baroness Joanna Shields, chair of Tech City UK and an adviser to the the government tells the Today programme the UK economy is the most digital economy in the G20 - one wonders if the US might dispute that - and has "an acute need for people with digital skills" - she means people who can code. There is massive shortage, she says, and between now and 2017 "we need 750,000 more people with these digital skills" just to keep up.

Image source, PA

The Royal Mail figures strip out "transformation costs" which include a management reorganisation programme - otherwise known as job losses - which it says is expected to deliver costs savings of around £70m per year from next year. That's more than originally forecast and Royal Mail says at least £25m will be saved in the second half of this year as well.

Royal Mail has reported pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of September fell to £218m from £233m a year earlier.

BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics, tells the Today programme Japan "has to get its house in order". That's after the country fell into recession on Monday. Japan's deficit is 250% of GDP. That compares with the UK's 75% of GDP. "For now that's not a problem," he says, "markets don't seem to be too concerned." The interest Japan pays on its debts are at "rock bottom" levels.

Radio 5 live

Andrew Webb from Equifax is talking about credit reports on Wake Up to Money. Sometimes payments that you've settled and other erroneous data end up on your credit report, so it's worth checking out, he says. Charities are calling for a free look once a year for consumers so they can manage their credit rating. You can get a statutory report for £2, he says.

Radio 5 live

"It's a case of the tail wagging the dog" investors demanding support from central banks leading to rising shares, says Gemma Godfrey from asset manager Brooks MacDonald on Wake Up to Money. US stocks rose Tuesday, delivering the latest record highs for the Dow Jones.