"We saw a sharp increase in the cost of fixed-rate mortgages around the second/third week in June, which was on the back of a big increase in swap rates," Ray Boulger from John Charcol said. "Since then, fixed rates have still been going up despite swap rates coming down a little."

Digital Marketing Group saw a 45% rise in its fiscal full-year pretax profit but warned of tough trading ahead. The company launched a pay-per-click search project and a new research agency Monday. "2008 was good," CEO Ben Langdon said, adding that he found a marked difference from January onwards.

The UK is facing a saxophone-shaped recovery from the recession, which is likely to last into the third quarter of 2009, according to the latest business trends report from BDO Stoy Hayward. Peter Hemmington from BDO Stoy Hayward discusses the report's findings.

New car registrations fell nearly 16% in June, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders. The decline was the slowest since July 2008. Paul Everitt, CEO of SMMT, and Guy Pigounakis from Hyundai Motors discuss the auto sector.

Investors should stick to dull, high-quality assets, which are gold, Gilts and great stocks, Charlie Morris from HSBC Global Asset Management told CNBC Monday.

The Saudi Royal family is mulling a £700 million ($1,127 million) UK real-estate deal, according to the Financial Times. Florence Eid from Passport Capital considers the move.

Sponsorship for the London 2012 Olympic Games is approaching capacity. One company behind the Games is Deloitte, the exclusive provider of professional services in its category of sponsorship. Annabel Pritchard from Deloitte discusses the sponsorship.

As the global economic slowdown and ongoing financial crisis continues to take their toll on financial hubs New York and London, Simon Wong from Tomorrow's Company considers which of the financial centers has weathered the storm best.

The ECB left interest rates unchanged at 1% for the second straight month on Thursday. “For those of us who are sort of keeping an eye on the health of the European bank system, I think the clues are to be found in what happens in the money markets,” Neil MacKinnon from ECU Group told CNBC.

The ECB must wait until it’s certain that the global economy is pulling out of the recession before it adjusts interest rates again, Ansgar Belke from University of Duisburg-Essen told CNBC Thursday. “It’s not really a surprise that there was no change in interest rates (today),” he said.