The stock market has delivered a brutal verdict on Hargreaves Lansdown’s heavy backing of Neil Woodford, wiping £1.6 billion off the value of the UK’s biggest stockbroker in the three days since the embattled fund manager was forced to suspend dealing in his flagship fund. Its shares have been rooted to the bottom of theaaa

The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold but given a firm signal that an August rate rise is likely. In a decisive move, Andrew Haldane, the Bank’s chief economist, joined two other Monetary Policy Committee members in voting to raise rates to 0.75%. The nine-member MPC was split 6-3, with Bank governoraaa