I was helpfully reminded the other day that recessions run in ten-year cycles and that, in theory, we are closer to the next recession than we are to the last. So as we enter 2016, we could be only a couple of years away from another trigger, as when financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2008.
The UK has entered a period of deflation for the first time in 55 years, with prices falling by 0.1 per cent in the year to April. However, experts say it won't last.
Slumping oil prices and rising competition have led to a growing number of British businesses issuing profit warnings this year.
Michael Hewson takes a market-wide look at the major oil companies round the world, and analyses the impact sliding oil prices will have on their revenues and dividends.
The fall in global oil prices is leaving the Government with very few options for increasing the tax yield. If oil prices stay low for another four months, there will be huge pressure on the Treasury to increase taxes soon after the election whichever party or coalition takes power.
Malcom Webb, CEO of Oil and Gas UK has recently made a bid to scrap one of the industry's most important taxes. This can't come any sooner, as well-known Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talan suggests that the $100-a-barrel threshold will never be achieved again.
According to BP, businesses have been urged to make claims to earn a commission. The incurring costs, however, might make BP vulnerable to a takeover. Now they turn to the prime minister for help.
The escalating unrest in Libya has seen oil prices soar to more than £57, fuelling fears that global recovery could be derailed.
