Share Sounds presented by Ed Bowsher

The Bank of England has raised its forecast for economic growth this year, the bank now expects growth of 2% this year up from the previous 1.4% forecast. The base rate has been left unchanged at 0.25% and the quantitative easing programme will continue this year as planned. Share Radio's Ed Bowsher spoke to Philip Booth, Professor of Finance, Public Policy and Ethics at St Mary's University to get some analysis on this. Philip is also a former adviser to the Bank of England on financial stability issues.

The Government has now published its Brexit White Paper. David Davis, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, reiterated a 'mutually beneficial' exit would be crucial. To discuss this in more detail, and the wider Brexit situation, Share Radio's Ed Bowsher was joined on the line by Joe Owen, Researcher at the Institute of Government.

Investors are already feeling Brexit's impact but this hasn't dampened growth prospects. Consultancy EY found more than half of global investors want to grow their presence in Europe despite uncertainty. Andy Baldwin, EY area managing partner for Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, explained more with Share Radio's Peta Fuller.

Donald Trump's made his Supreme Court nominee - Judge Neil Gorsuch is now in line for a seat on the nation's top court and would replace Justice Scalia. And the appointment looks to be filibusted in what's been a chaotic week for the new President. Robert Singh, professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, joined Share Radio's Ed Bowsher to discuss this story.

As Brexit Bill debate continued in the Commons today, the Prime Minister told MPs the promised White Paper on the subject would be published on 2 February. For the latest on parliament, Share Radio's Ed Bowsher was joined by John Ashmore, Chief Reporter at PoliticsHome.

Despite positive figures, why are profits not going up at Apple? Plus management shuffles at the top for TalkTalk, Wizz Air profits double but share price still falls, and gold miner Centamin gets generous with dividends. For analysis on this and more, Financial Orbit's Chris Bailey joined Share Radio’s senior analyst Ed Bowsher.

TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding to depart, UK house prices inch upwards according to Nationwide and good days for both the FTSE and pound - what's driving that? For these and more Chris Justham, relationship manager at Seven Investment Management, joined Share Radio's Ed Bowsher to discuss the day's need-to-know economic stories.

Shares in Ocado are up 9 percent today after the internet grocer announced a 20 percent rise in profits last year. On such strong results, why hasn't Ocado seen more deals with other grocers yet? Nick Carroll, Senior Retail Analyst at Mintel, joined Share Radio's Ed Bowsher for more detail.

There was no shortage of European economic data today - but the most important was the overall figure, with the Eurozone growing 0.5 percent in the final quarter of 2016, taking annual growth to 1.8 percent for the year. That's behind UK growth for 2016 at 2.2% but ahead of the US, at only 1.6 percent. For more detail, Share Radio's Ed Bowsher spoke with Jennifer McKeown, Chief European Economist at Capital Economics.

Donald Trump's executive orders continue to cause headaches for Theresa May but the PM is standing her ground on his state visit despite protests. And Brexit debate kicked off in parliament ahead of the Article 50 vote. For analysis on today's political news, John Rentoul, chief political commentator at the Independent, joined Share Radio's senior analyst Ed Bowsher.