It seems as though there is still hope in the banking world yet as Citigroup reports its first profit since 2007 with a $1.6bn underlying profit.

This in turn has helped to stimulate optimism around the other investment banks with the hope that the credit crunch may be easing even though consumer loan and credit card defaults are still increasing.

Revenue increased by $24.8bn and Citigroup’s increased performance was matched by stronger than expected earnings from both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

London’s blue-chip banks responded to the renewed optimism with Lloyds rising by 18 percent, RBS by 14 percent and Barclays by 9 percent which turn helped the FTSE 100 Index keep above 4,000.

The improvement is likely to ease the pressure off Citigroup’s chief executive, Vikram Pandit, given that last month shares had slipped to below $1 compared to last years high of $20.

Following fears that the bank could be thrown out of the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average index shares are trading at $3.59.

Despite the signs that the investment bank has emerged unscathed analysts are indicating that although the investment banking sector has shown improvement there are increasingly worrying signs in the consumer sector of the business.

Geneva and Davos saw crowds of angry protestors holding banners and throwing snowballs to try and provoke a reaction from the World leaders.

The protestors carried banners saying ‘You are the Crisis” and “Justice for ALL! No WEF.”

The meeting comes as fears grow as the threat of protectionism increases, and all are hoping for a trade deal.

Gordon Brown reiterated that we should not impede free trade.

“This is not like the 1930s. The world can come together,” he said.

“This is a global banking crisis and you’ve got to deal with it for what it is, a global banking crisis.”

Although the protestors do not disagree with the notions that are being created at this forum, the issue is how the global economy got to this stage.

Alex Protestor stated, “It’s the same people who came last year and said the world economic situation is fine, and now we’re in a financial crisis. Now it’s the taxpayer who has to solve the whole problem.”

France’s finance minister, Christine Lagarde said “We’re facing two major risks: The first is social unrest. The second is protectionist risks.”

It appears at the moment that both potential problems are becoming reality.

The police are handling the latter problem as they arrived in riot gear and fired tear gas and used water canons to disperse the crowds that had gathered.

However will the World leaders come to an agreement about trade?

Harpal Kumar said the “dramatic decline in the economy” has caused “a substantial reduction” in predicted donations and this statement from the UK’s biggest cancer charity shows the extent of the situation. Read more

The Children’s Charity Baranardo’s has rallied to protect children living in poverty and reduce the effect of the recession.

It is predicted that up to 1 in 9 children will be suffering from the recession due to further neglect because of even tighter budgets as Barnardo’s reveal that there are around 750,000 children living in fuel poor households in England alone. Read more

In what is finally some good news for the British economy as the supermarket chain has entered into an agreement with Co-op to buy 13 stores and open another 9 new branches.

Following the buyout of Somerfield the Co-op has had to sell some stores.

Within the current economic downturn supermarkets are one of the few sectors that are actually stepping up their recruitment rather than cutting back after scary profit warnings. Read more

A recent report has revealed that up to 1,800 jobs are under threat at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). If British factory workers do not agree to a pay freeze then further cut backs will be taken.

It has been a difficult time in the automotive industry of late as many car manufacturers have discussed the possibility of short terms governments loads to counter to fall in demand for cars. Read more

Mr Lebedev is likely to pay £1, about two news papers worth and take the British newspaper into foreign hands with a majority 76 per cent stake of the Daily Mail & General Trust (the owner of the Evening Standard).

Lebedev is currently in talks with the chairman Viscount Rothermere, as the newspaper has been loosing money due to the competition of two free London newspapers.

Most have heard of the Abramovich who bough Chelsea FC 5 years ago and Lebedev is worth $3.1 billion as is currently the world’s 358th-richest person, according to the 20008 Forbes list of the World’s Richest People 2008.

The former KGB officer made his money through investments in banking and insurance as well as the Russian airline Aeroflot.

Similar to Abramovich many journalists see the potential purchase of a British institution as by Lebedev as a campaign to help him into Britain, although most are curious to see if he can turn the newspaper into profit again.

He already has a 49 per cent stake, in Novaya Gazeta, a newspaper that focuses on investigative journalism even thou there is tight state control on the Media, and so his experience may be enough to change the15 million loss that the paper is heading for this year.

The turbulent decision by the government to go ahead with the new runway at Heathrow has flown into more opposition.

The Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon announced the go ahead of the nine billion dollar investment.

Gordon Brown believes that this investment into the economy is what the doctor ordered. Well, if the doctor was John Maynard Keynes.

This new project is going to create 65,000 jobs and should be done by 2019/20.

The pro-expansion lobby of the government, which includes airlines, big businesses and unions, have stated how important this expansion is for the progression of the economy.

As Mr Hoon stated, “This third runway will help secure jobs now and in the future and ensure that Britain remains a place where the world can come to do business.”

However the government face opposition in the form of environmental groups, local councils, local residents and other parties.

The 7,200ft runway is set to be constructed north or, and parallel to, Heathrow’s existing two runways. For this to be done the village of Sipson and Cherry Tree cemetery must be destroyed.

To try and please the protestors Mr Hoon stated that only planes complying with noise and pollution regulations would be allowed to fly on the runway.

In addition the extra flights would be limited to 125,000 rather than 220,000 previously stated. This would mean a total of 605,000 flights a year at Heathrow alone.

Mr Hoon also announced that there was a possibility of a north-south high-speed rail line in conjunction with the runway.

This will silence both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats complaints, as they promoted improved rail links to Heathrow rather than the third runway.

Transport is a key issue with our economy and one Mr Hoon is confident he will address, “Transport is the lifeblood of Britain’s economy. In spite of record levels of investment over the last decade, increasing demand means that in many places our transport infrastructure is operating at, or very near, capacity.”

The UK’s biggest construction firm has ignored the current recession as it revealed a further order book boost. It received a 12.1bn workload just half way through 2008 and in recent trading has seen solid progress.

Ballfour Beatty is going to become the first contractor to join the FTSE 100 index since Tarmac 15 years ago. The news come as the firm celebrated its 100 year anniversary this week.

The construction firm has registered an increase in workload for 2009 because of the  governments decision to pump money into infrastructure projects.

Eighty percent of the work is expected to be funded by the government or from regulated clients. Only the private sector of the business has been affected by the credit crunch, which has seen as 20 percent drop.

This replacement is going to happen on the 19th of Jan following HBOS’s takeover by Lloyds TSB.

Balfour Beatty’s position in the FTSE 250 will be taken by the oil exporter Emerald Energy. 

In the FTSE Eurofirst 100 index Belgian telecoms group Mobistar is going to take up the position left by the banking giant.

Yesterday was the last day of trading for HBOS and stock will be held in the indexes today and tomorrow based on its last trade price yesterday.

The UK labour market has been made more and more unstable as the economic conditions have pulled some companies such as Zavvi into administration or made others such as Barclays more cautious.

Barclays has said that 2,100 jobs will be cut in both the retail and commercial banking which have proved to be the least profitable.

In order to cut costs Jaguar Land Rover said it would cut 450 jobs with 300 managerial positions lost.

Zavvi has flowed the way of Woolworths into administration and have closed down 18 stores so far with 355 jobs lost.

The threat of increased redundancies had meant that workers in the UK are worried about their jobs, which has further reduced consumer confidence as more people are being even more careful with their money.

A spokesman for Prime Minister said today that: “obviously, the Government is disappointed to hear this news” as all company losses were described as being regrettable.

The Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said that the government must act following the fact that 100 small businesses are going bankrupt.

As a result of the increased job losses Jobcentre Plus has announced that they have put together rapid response teams to offer help to those facing redundancy.