Over the next three days, Financial News will bring you news, views, features, profiles and analysis of the big themes raised by the conference agenda in order to prime you for the day ahead and help you catch up on what you have missed.

While the buoyant markets of January were welcome - US equities scored their best January for almost two decades - there has been no let-up in the underlying issue of pension schemes languishing in deficit while investment returns look hard to come by. Last month's fall in the UK inflation rate, for the fourth month in a row, was reassuring for those worried about runaway prices, but not so good for those concerned about another economic downturn.