The People's Bank devalued the yuan sharply against the dollar on Tuesday, then again yesterday. Analysts are divided on how serious this is. There is a vocal camp arguing that we should all move along, as there is nothing to see here. Their thinking is that China is simply allowing its exchange rate to be set to a greater extent by market forces, as part of a master plan to win the status of reserve currency, along with the dollar and the euro.

A holding company called Alphabet will house two main divisions. One holds the older revenue-generating parts of Google such as search, advertising, mobile and YouTube.
The second arm, which will be run by Page and Sergey Brin, will house the plethora of ambitious, enterprising or plain wacko ventures that the company is pursuing.

Companies try to tempt
customers to buy the latest gadget, next season's fashions, a must-have phone - but perhaps ironically, the latest new thing is a dive into the past. Scan the High Street from shops and pubs, and 'retro' and 'heritage' names are popping up everywhere.

The recent productivity plan published by the Government mentioned a desire to mobilise the whole of Government behind exporting. This needs a massive shift in priority away from large business to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), and it starts with an export finance system to suit the demands of a 21st century business world.

Mixed messages have turned the rate rise debate into a boy who cried wolf tale. But the last thing anyone can afford to do now is relax and forget about rising rates - they are coming and the sooner we all adjust our financial expectations to meet that rise the better.

At 82.5p, Benchmark shares offer real, long-term growth prospects. The company is ambitious, operates in a fast-growing market and counts star investor Neil Woodford as an 18 per cent shareholder. About 10 per cent of the population is allergic to cats so the potential market is huge and is thought to be worth at least £250million a year worldwide.

Usually, if supply outstrips demand the Organisation of the Petroleum Export Countries will cut production levels to help shore up the price. But this time some countries have refused to reduce output. Some people have speculated that this move may be borne out of fear that quelling oil production would encourage users to move to shale gas instead.