Despite a “slight improvement” in consumer spending, growth was hampered by “severe snowstorms” in many parts of the country, it found.

The book also reported labour markets remaining weak across the country.

But the book did highlight growth in the manufacturing sector, and an increase in demand for services.

“Manufacturing activity strengthened in most regions, particularly in the hi-tech equipment, automobile and metal industries,” it said.

The report painted a more downbeat picture of the property sector and the jobs market.

“Most districts characterised commercial real estate and construction activity as weak or having declined further,” it said.

And although some districts “reported an uptick in hiring or a slowdown in layoffs, labour markets generally remained soft throughout the nation”.

Leading US stocks lost early gains sparked by Greece’s additional austerity measures after the book was published.

It is buying the 40% of 2Entertain which it did not already own from the administrators of failed High Street giant Woolworths.

BBC Worldwide said the move “ended a period of uncertainty triggered by the collapse of Woolworths”.

Programmes published by 2Entertain include Planet Earth and Top Gear.

“This ensures that consumers can continue to enjoy their favourite BBC titles on DVD and Blu-ray as well as protecting the investment made by BBC Worldwide in 2Entertain over the past six years,” BBC Worldwide added.

It said the funds for the deal did not come from television licence fees. and that the sale offered stability to 2Entertain’s retail partners.

Paul Dempsey, boss of 2Entertain, said the firm looked forward “to a more settled period and playing an important role in BBC Worldwide’s future plans”.

Japan’s currency declined against all of its 16 most-active counterparts after costs to borrow in the currency fell in London and Nikkei English News said the central bank is likely to discuss more monetary easing measures at its next meeting. The South Korean won led Asian currencies higher as Asian stocks advanced on optimism a U.S. employment report today will show less job losses than economists forecast.

“Given the fact that the BOJ is already running far behind other central banks in exit strategies and prospects that interest rates here will remain low, the yen-carry trade may become popular again,” said Soichiro Mori, a Tokyo-based strategist at FXOnline Japan Co., a margin-trading company.

The yen fell to 89.27 per dollar as of 2:48 p.m. in Tokyo from 89.02 in New York yesterday, heading for a 0.3 percent loss this week. Japan’s currency dropped to 121.34 versus the euro from 120.91. The dollar traded at $1.3592 per euro from $1.3581. The won climbed 0.4 percent to 1,141.20 against the dollar.

Microsoft has kept a relatively low profile in China since Google announced its decision to potentially withdraw from the market over censorship issues and following an attack on its systems that it believes originated in China.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer previously said his company had no plans to pull out of China, indicating it was unlikely to follow Google’s lead in challenging a Chinese system that forces Internet firms to self censor their sites on sensitive topics.

“Regardless of whether or not Google stays, we will aggressively promote our search and cloud computing (in China),” Zhang Yaqin, chairman of Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific R&D Group, told Reuters on Friday on the sidelines of the opening of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.

Stripping this out, profits were £5.3bn with £2.5bn coming from its Barclays Capital investment banking business.

The bank, which did not take any direct state help during the financial crisis, also saw the level of its total bonus payouts rise.

But it said that chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond had turned down bonuses for the second consecutive year.

The large profits enjoyed by bankers have prompted widespread public anger because the banking sector was widely perceived to have taken dangerous risks which led to the global recession.

Barclays opted not to join the UK government’s bail-out scheme for banks, instead opting to rebuild its finances using funds from the Middle East.

The four-year deal, due to begin in July, will see Emirates become Serie A team AC Milan’s shirt sponsor in place of the Austrian betting company BWin.

Emirates already sponsors several football teams including Paris Saint Germain, Hamburg and Arsenal.

The airline has a pre-existing sponsorship deal with AC Milan that does not include shirt sponsorship.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, AC Milan’s vice president Adriano Galliani said the £52m deal could eventually be worth even more to the club if results on the field go its way.

Milan also has a sponsorship deal with German sports kit maker Adidas until June 2017.

Analysts had expected the central bank to increase reserve levels again, but were surprised it ordered a second increase so soon after January’s move. The bank has told commercial lenders to hike their reserve levels by 0.5%, to 16.5%, by 25 February.

China’s economy grew 10.7% in the final quarter of 2009 against a year earlier. For the whole of last year, it expanded by 8.7%.

“The central bank is sending out clear messages to banks that it wants more reasonable bank lending and it is paying close attention to inflation,” said Xie Xuecheng at Southwest Securities in Beijing.

Figures published by the central bank on Thursday showed that last month’s increase in reserves held by banks did little to rein in lending.

Lending by Chinese banks hit 1.4 trillion yuan ($205bn; £131bn) in January, one of the highest monthly totals on record.

This is the equivalent of an annualized increase of 4.6%. However, despite the growth in October to December, the economy contracted by 5% over the whole of 2009.

China now rivals Japan for the rank of the world’s second-biggest economy, and is on course to overtake Japan. China’s economy expanded by 8.7% in 2009.

“The Japanese population has become quite sober about themselves and relatively pessimistic about the country’s outlook,” said Takuji Okubo, chief economist at Societe Generale in Tokyo.

Japan’s return to growth has been led by exports, particularly to China, which is now its largest overseas market.

Air Products, which supplies gases such as argon, helium and nitrogen to industrial users in the metals, chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors, said the deal would be an immediate boost to its earnings and yield cost savings of $250 million.

The total deal value of $7 billion includes $5.1 billion of equity and $1.9 billion of assumed debt.

Mr Toyoda said he was “deeply sorry” for the recalls and admitted Toyota faced “a moment of crisis”. He added the firm was still deciding what to do about brake problems on some Prius hybrid models.

Toyota has already recalled more than eight million cars worldwide over concerns about accelerator pedals.

The US Transportation Department is investigating braking problems in the 2010 Toyota Prius after Toyota admitted brake problems with the model.

“There are reasons to believe that a recall could be put in place [in the US and Japan], but it’s still early hours and early days,” said Toyota UK’s managing director Miguel Fonseca.