Fed raises benchmark interest rate to a range of 0.75% to 1%
US growth forecast at 2.1% in 2017 and 2018
Chancellor in U-turn on National Insurance increase
NI increase did not meet "spirit" of Tory manifesto
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Image source, PAUnemployment is down, but there's less good news for those in work.
Pay growth slowed to 2.2% in the three months to January, according to the ONS figures.
That's below analysts' expecations - which were for about 2.4% wage growth - and is an unpromising sign for the economy at a time of rising inflation.
Adjusted for inflation, total pay growth halved to 0.7% - the lowest since October 2014.
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Image source, Getty ImagesThe UK's unemployment rate fell unexpectedly to equal its lowest level in over 40 years in the three months to January.
The jobless rate fell to 4.7% from 4.8%, marking its lowest level since the summer of 1975, the Office for National Statistics says, external .
There were 1.58 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 31,000 fewer than the previous three months and 106,000 fewer than for a year earlier.
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Image source, Getty ImagesThe pound rebounded from eight-week lows on Wednesday.
It seems to have benefited from a weaker dollar, as well as a poll showing Scots still favour remaining in the United Kingdom and signs that EU exit talks will not be triggered for another two weeks.
However, the jobs figures, due imminently, could well have an impact on sterling, so we'll keep you posted.
The pound is at $1.2232, a a rise of 0.63%. Against the euro it's at 1.1503 euros, that's up 0.41%.
Image source, APThe markets think it's almost certain the Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates to a range of 0.75% to 1% this evening.
The decision from policy makers at the Fed is due at 18:00 GMT. A news conference, held half an hour later by Fed chair Janet Yellen (pictured), will be closely watched for any clues about future rate increases.
"The Federal Reserve is a dead cert to raise rates on Wednesday, so the key question is how far and how fast the US central bank will tighten monetary policy this year," says Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital.
"Fed officials believe there will be three 25-basis-point increases in 2017, the first of which is almost certain to be announced today. But the policymakers on the Federal Open Market Committee could raise this to four," he added.
Joe Miller
Europe business reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Bundesbank's Jens Weidmann gets to to the elephant in the room - populism - at the finance conference in Frankfurt.
He acknowledges "mounting scepticism of globalisation" and cites a recent poll in which 45% of Europeans said they viewed globalisation as problematic.
"It can’t be denied that globalisation puts particular pressure on certain groups of people," he adds.
"In advanced economies, low-skilled workers feel the pressure of globalisation, particularly those who work in industry sectors that are exposed to low-cost competitors from abroad."
His remedy? Less red tape and helping those who lose jobs to retrain or find another job quickly.
Would we be hearing this from one of Europe's leading financial figures if 2016 hadn't brought Brexit and the election of Donald Trump?
Image source, Getty ImagesThe FTSE 100 has moved "cautiously higher" ahead of an expected US Federal Reserve interest-rate rise tonight, says AJ Bell Director Russ Mould .
Traders are also waiting on UK jobs data - out in the next 20 minutes.
Top of the FTSE leaderboard is Hikma Pharmaceuticals, which makes generic and injectable drugs, after the Jordan-based group posted a 35% jump in revenue to $1.95bn (£1.6bn) in 2016.
"The acquisition of West-Ward Columbus is transforming Hikma's generics business and the group as a whole," Mr Mould says.
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Ministers have suggested the UK could fall back on World Trade Organization rules if it can't reach a trade deal with the EU in the next two years.
That's been dismissed by the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk. He's fired a warning shot on Twitter, saying such an outcome would be "bad for everyone", but particularly the UK.
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Joe Miller
Europe business reporter, Frankfurt
Movers and shakers in global finance are meeting in Frankfurt today at the IIF conference - an agenda-setting event ahead of the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Baden Baden over the weekend.
Opening the conference, Dr Jens Weidmann, the head of Germany's Bundesbank says the three priorities for the G20 this year are:
If you're struggling to understand what that means, fear not, because "the German presidency is seeking an agreement on a set of principles in Baden-Baden, rather than prescribing specific measures or reforms".
Okay then.
Image source, PASports Direct has issued a statement, external accusing a shareholder lobby group of "fake news"
The retailer said a report by Pensions and Investment Research Consultants, or PIRC, "incorrectly claims that Sports Direct had a chief executive-to-average employee pay ratio of 400:1, the second highest in the FTSE 350".
It added:“This is fake news that appears to have been either deliberately or recklessly circulated by an irresponsible organisation that is making headlines at the expense of Sports Direct. We have contacted PIRC to request a copy of the report and we will be writing to them to express our disappointment. It is incorrect to state that Sports Direct has the second-highest ratio of chief executive-to-average employee pay.”
It said the true executive-to-average employee pay ratio between 2012 and 2015 was "closer to 9:1". It added that current chief executive, Mike Ashley, "does not draw a salary and never has".
The FTSE 100 is higher in the first few minutes of trading - making back the losses it suffered yesterday.
The UK share index is up 18 points, or 0.2%, at 7,375 points, but generally trading is muted - as it was in Asia - ahead of the Federal Reserve's widely anticipated decision to raise interest rates later today.
Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Image source, PAA House of Lords report has warned the government to beware of hype around driverless cars and said semi-autonomous vehicles could lead to complacency among drivers.
Professor Paul Newman of Oxford University - who provided evidence for the report - says the cars are likely to start in city centres where they have a huge amount of information about the roads.
"It's some time before we'll have a vehicle that you can buy from a forecourt that has the full functionality of your current car which can take you anywhere, anytime, whenever, wherever, whatever the weather, but with no steering wheel and no pedals," he tells Today.
There are still issues around how to protect from hacking, he says. Plus we shouldn't just be thinking about driverless cars; but driverless tractors and underwater vessels too.
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Chancellor George Osborne suggested last night that sexism may have contributed to the resignation of Charlotte Hogg.
Ms Hogg - seen here at Goodwood between Dido Harding (left) and Shadi Halliwell (right) - resigned from the Bank of England after failing to disclose that her brother worked for Barclays.
But City historian Philip Augar thinks Osborne "doesn't have a point".
Diversity has many forms, he says, including gender diversity and issues of the establishment. Charlotte Hogg was "a child of the establishment", as well as a very competent executive, he says.
"I think Osborne is way off there," he adds.
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Today Programme
BBC Radio 4
Betsy McCaughey, a former economic adviser to President Trump, says that she has "not met any man or woman on the street who cares at all about what's in Donald Trump's tax returns".
Ms McCaughey, a Former Lieutenant Governor of New York, argues these tax returns are a "distraction from the essential mission of his Presidency, which is to restore economic growth in the United States".