The US electoral college met in 50 state capitals yesterday and delivered no unpleasant surprises for Republican president-elect George W Bush - giving him 271 votes, one more than he needed to claim his place as the 43rd US president.

The president-elect yesterday met the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan - the man credited with the longest period of growth in the US economy. Greenspan had previously been scathing about Republican plans to cut $1.3 trillion in tax over 10 years.

Stockmarkets on both sides of the Atlantic soared yesterday amid hopes that the US Federal Reserve will soon move to cut interest rates.