Ahead of the much anticipated address to the US Congress by President Trump later and following slightly disappointing trade and GDP figures, Wall Street has slipped back from its record highs.

If the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at a new record high, it will equal its best ever winning streak of 13 days. But in early trading the Dow is down 18 points or 0.09%, while the S&P 500 opened down 0.16% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.12%.

On that note, it’s time to close for the day. Thanks for all your comments, and we’ll be back tomorrow.

Sir Philip Green has agreed to pay £363m to rescue the BHS pension scheme from the pension protection fund.

The US economy grew by less than expected in the final three months of 2016, according to new figures from the Commerce Department.

With Donald Trump promising a “revved up” economy, the last growth figures under the old administration showed GDP rising by an annualised 1.9% in the fourth quarter. This was in line with initial estimates, but less than the 2.1% expected by economists and well below the 3.5% seen in the third quarter.

For the whole of 2016, the US economy grew by 1.6%, as expected, its worst performance since 2011.

The Commerce Department said:

The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, nonresidential fixed investment, and state and local government spending. These increases were partly offset by negative contributions from exports and federal government spending. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

The deceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected a downturn in exports, an acceleration in imports, and a downturn in federal government spending that were partly offset by an upturn in residential fixed investment, an acceleration in private inventory investment, and an upturn in state and local government spending.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high for the twelfth trading day in a row on Monday, and is two days off its longest ever winning streak.

If it closes higher on Tuesday it will equal the 13 day run in January 1987, and a similar move on Wednesday will see it set a new record.

At the moment, the US futures are indicating a flat open, but much will depend on how investors feel ahead of Donald Trump’s address to Congress after the market closes - and their reaction to what he has said when trading begins on Wednesday.

There is also the small matter of some new US data due shortly, in form of growth and trade figures. Mihir Kapadia, chief executive of Sun Global Investments, said:

Economists have been forecasting a growth rate of 1.6% for 2016, something which the current government has constantly criticised as being too pessimistic. The trade deficit is also expected to widen to $66 billion, from $65 billion in December, which may be used by the administration as supporting arguments for protectionism.

Back with Trump, and in his Fox interview he is asked how he will fund the extra spending on defence.

He is told that saving money from the environment and state department budget is not enough to cover his proposed increases.

He says, “Well, I think the money is going to come from a revved up economy.

“I mean you look at the kind of numbers we’re doing, we were probably GDP of a little more than 1% and if I can get that up to three or maybe more, we have a whole different ball game...And that’s what we’re looking to do.”

Here he previews the topics for his address to Congress later:

President Trump is giving an interview on Fox News ahead of his address to Congress later.

In the pre-recorded interview, he was asked whether the $54bn increase in defence spending he was proposing was enough, and he said it could be $30bn more, but he would be involved in negotiating the contracts. “There are many boats and planes we are, individually spending too much on...We will get a lot more product for our buck....We saved $700m plus on a F35 after I got involved... We saved a lot of money on aeroplanes and that money will substantially increase.”

Here’s our report of a pre-released segment where Trump accuses Barack Obama of organising protests against him.

Over in Greece bailout monitors are resuming a stalled compliance review that recently reignited fears over the country’s ability to remain in the euro. From Athens, Helena Smith reports:

In a long-awaited moment for Greece, the anxiously awaited return of monitors has finally begun. This morning, inspectors representing the European Commission, euro zone bailout fund, IMF and European Central Bank all filed into the finance ministry to discuss energy reforms, fiscal issues and privatizations.

Testing Athens’ compliance with agreed reforms is at the heart of the review, a review that once completed will be key to releasing the €7bn plus the country requires to honour debt repayments in July. But, so too, are differences over a raft of new reforms that creditors want Athens to adopt once its current three-year €86bn rescue programme in August 2018.

Without further pension cuts and tax hikes, the IMF does not think Greece will be able to achieve the high primary surplus of 3.5 % that eurozone lenders are demanding as of next year. The monitors, who are backed by technical teams, are keen to make enough progress so that the IMF – which has advised but not formally signed up to the bailout – finally participates in the programme.

For leading lenders such as Germany and the Netherlands, IMF oversight is key to easing concerns in an electoral year that good money is not being thrown after bad when it comes to Greece. Prime minister Alexis Tsipras believes the review can be concluded by March 20 when the eurogroup next meets. Auditors have signalled they do not wish to be in Athens for more than a week.

But it is a tight deadline that many also recognise will be a tall order. Although both sides will be working on an initial agreement reached in Brussels last week, a great deal of bargaining over the type of counter measures Athens can expect to reduce the impact of further cuts is likely to dominate the days ahead. Lenders also want to liberalise the energy and labour markets – reforms that are highly controversial for leftists in the governing Syriza party. “Our hope is that we can deal with collective bargaining and other sensitive issues after we have made enough technical progress to complete the review,” said one Syriza insider. “There is a feeling that we are being pushed a great deal but the alternative [euro exit] would be worse.”

Charlotte Hogg is up before MPs being quizzed about her appointment as the Bank of England’s deputy governor.

(There is a live link here)

She says low interest rates are a global phenomenon and not just in the UK.

The prospect of an imminent US rate rise is supporting the dollar, and putting a dampener on any chance of the pound regaining lost ground.

Sterling is currently virtually flat at $1.2440 having earlier fallen to $1.2413. Against the euro the pound is down 0.05% at €1.1743.

Back with the US, and the chances of an interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve’s March meeting are increasing, whatever Donald Trump may announce about his tax and spending plans.

On Monday, Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan - who had previously said a rise should come sooner rather than later - clarified his point at a meeting in Oklahoma:

Sooner rather than later means in the near future.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, believes the Fed should get on with it. He said:

For the last few weeks markets have been weighing up the prospect of whether the US Federal Reserve will look to raise rates at its March meeting.

The odds of a move have fluctuated between lows of 24% at the beginning of February and a peak of 44% in the wake of Fed Chief Janet Yellen’s testimony to US lawmakers on Capitol Hill when she said that it would be “unwise” to wait too long before raising rates.

Since that January Fed meeting it has been clear that the US economy has continued to show signs of improvement, and while the probability of a Fed rate rise has now risen to 50%, certain members of the committee appear paralysed by concerns about what the new US President might look to do with respect to his tax and fiscal policy...

Today the President is due to address a joint session of Congress, and it is clear that we can expect to see him flesh out in greater detail of his new fiscal plans, with the eyes of the markets and the world on him, and with US markets continuing to push to new record highs on an almost daily basis.

We already know that he intends to spend $54bn on defence and infrastructure whilst making cuts elsewhere to pay for them.

Is the US economy so weak that a 25 basis point rise on the upper band from 0.75% to 1% will spook investors? I think not.

Fed policymakers have already acknowledged that a substantial fiscal boost in terms of tax cuts could prompt a much sharper policy response which would suggest that irrespective of what Mr Trump announces today higher rates are already needed, so why wait?

Improving its product range - away from just sausage rolls and pasties and on to healthier items - has helped food retailer Greggs beat expectations with its full year figures.

But signs of a slowdown in like-for-like sales so far in the current year have knocked its shares back more than 3% to 980p - albeit they have risen 10% in the past three months.

Overall, profits for 2016 rose 105 to £80.3m, compared to forecasts of around £79m. Like for like sales climbed 4.2%, and while the company said trading in the current year was in line with expectations, like for like sales slowed in the eight weeks to February 25, up 2%. Analyst Darren Shirley at Shore Capital said:

Current like for like trading in the 8 weeks of the year-to-date has been subdued relative to recent years, with company managed like for like sales up 2.0% (said to be 2.9% excluding the New Year trading pattern), which is said to be inline in-line with management expectations. However, total sales are reported up 5.8% which is ahead of our full year expectation of 4.8%, so Greggs are a little ahead of our expectations at this still early stage of the year.

Bus and train operator Go-Ahead has warned on its outlook, mainly due to the continuing strike actions on Southern Rail.

It said its full year expectations were lowered due to “challenges in GTR [which runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express rail franchises] and a slowdown in passenger numbers in regional bus.” On the strike, which has inconvenienced and angered commuters for months, it said:

Lengthy and significant industrial relations issues at GTR related to the modernisation of working practices, required by the contract, have caused months of disrupted travel. We are working towards a resolution so we can provide a reliable service for customers.

Rail profits for the half year fell by 35% due to the Southern dispute, and the company’s overall profits dropped 11.7% to £67m.

Even so, the company has raised its dividend to shareholders by 6.5%, justfied by “stable bus profits.”

That has failed to save its share price, however, which is down 14% at £19.66. Analysts at Investec said:

Go-Ahead has reported half year results broadly in line with our forecasts at the divisional level, with the exception of GTR which was weaker due to industrial action. However, expectations for the full year have been lowered given the slowdown in passenger volumes in Regional Bus, higher insurance costs and additional costs and delays to expected efficiencies for GTR as the industrial action is ongoing. We therefore reduce our forecasts, cut our target price to 2300p and lower our recommendation to add.

Jefferies, which remains a buyer of the shares, has cut its 2017 profit forecast by 4% and its 2018 prediction by 7%.

As expected, the record close on Wall Street has given a lift - albeit a slight one - to European shares.

The FTSE 100 is up 0.06% in early trading, Germany’s Dax has opened 0.2% higher, France’s Cac has climbed 0.4%, Spain’s Ibex 0.5% and Italy’s FTSE MIB 0.3%.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

The US is in focus today, with trade figures for January and the final reading for fourth quarter GDP. The trade deficit is expected to widen to $66bn from $65bn in December, something which is likely to exercise President Trump with his protectionist tendencies. As for GDP, analysts expect an annualised rate of 2.1% for the quarter, up from 1.9%. Overall the US economy is forecast to have grown at 1.6% in 2016, a growth rate Trump’s team have consistenty criticised as too slow.

But Republican financial John Bogle, who founded the world’s second largest investment group Vanguard, told the BBC’s Wake up to Money that Trump’s plans to grow the US economy at 4% annually were unlikely to succeed. He said:

There are certain limits, irrespective of whoever sits in the White House.

He added that building trade barriers would be madness and reducing immigration would harm the US economy.

Meanwhile, after the US markets close - at 9pm Washington time, 2am GMT - Trump will be making his long awaited address to Congress with the promise of spelling out some of his plans in detail. We already had a flavour on Monday, with Trump’s talk of increased defence and infrastructure spending, probably at the expense of the environment and foreign aid.

But it seems that Trump’s “phenomenal” tax reforms might have to wait. Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK, said:

Was there any disappointment yesterday when some details were released ahead of Mr Trump’s most anticipated speech? Well, yes. It turns out that we are not going to receive any details about the anticipated tax plan and the timeframe for said plan is also vague. All we know is that it will happen sometime after a new healthcare bill replacing Obamacare has been introduced, again, something we have yet to receive a date for.

This was not something the markets were expecting especially after rousing the rally by describing his tax plans as “phenomenal”. What we saw last night was disappointment across the board when the news hit. But it would be wrong to write off Mr Trump yet, as he is never short of surprises. Despite his lack of information, the market rallied, recording another record high.

Indeed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high for the twelfth day in a row, and European markets are expected to open higher as a result.

Also on the agenda, the British Chambers of Commerce holds its annual conference in London, with regional development and Brexit on the agenda and appearances scheduled from former chancellor George Osborne, mayoral hopefuls Andy Street and Andy Burnham and shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

Elsewhere Charlotte Hogg will be at a Treasury committee hearing to discuss her appointment as the Bank of England’s Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking.

And there are results from Go-Ahead and Greggs.