Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week 67.06 points higher at 6845.17.

Equity view

Credit checking firm Experian has agreed to buy South African credit bureau and information services business, Compuscan, for ZAR3.72bn, or around $263m, in a deal that will be funded from existing cash resources.

Vodafone Group announced the results of its previously-announced invitation to bond holders to offer to sell their bonds for cash on Monday.

NMC Health said its cash flow generation was improving in the second half of the year, as the Gulf region hospital operator reaffirmed full year sales and profit guidance.

Equipment rental company Ashtead Group on Tuesday said it expected full year results to beat expectations after interim pre-tax profit rose 25% to £610m.

WPP will spend £300m over the next three years as new boss Mark Read's restructuring plan aims to make the marketing and advertising giant a "leader in creativity and technology" while keeping profit margins above 15%.

UK antitrust authorities launched an investigation into eBay's proposed acquisition of Motors.co.uk.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai testified before the House judiciary committee on Tuesday, where he committed to removing search results that violated hate-speech policies.

Rolls-Royce on Wednesday said it was still implementing Brexit contingency plans after the UK government pulled a vote on the withdrawal agreement.

Oil services outfit Wood Group warned of future market volatility as it reported 2018 results would be in line with expectations.

UK competition authorities have told Sainsbury's and Asda they must stick the the current timetable, after the pair pleaded for more time to argue the case for their proposed £12bn merger.

A day after its shares tumbled on the back of a broker downgrade, Superdry warned on profit again, pinning the blame on the weather as it posted a slump in underlying interim profit.

BHP Group called off the $320m sale of its smallest copper mine in Chile after a potential buyer did not meet a financial deadline.

Boosted by its new robot-operated warehouse in south east London, Ocado confirmed it was gliding serenely towards its full year sales targets.

Sports Direct posted a drop in underlying interim profit on Thursday, weighed by losses at House of Fraser, which it bought back in August.

Severn Trent welcomed a proposal from the water industry regulator Ofwat on Thursday, which would see the cap on waste water customer outcome delivery incentives (ODIs) lifted for the remainder of the current asset management period, AMP6.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is taking the lead in the race to take paying passengers into space as it prepares to carry out its first test flight with commercial pilots on Thursday.

General Electric has announced the launch of a $1.2bn Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) software business.

Capita’s attempts to operate an army recruitment drive have faced "significant problems" and failed to hit soldier targets every year, according to a report from the National Audit Office.

Long-suffering commuters in London, Surrey and the South of England were handed a dose of Christmas misery on Thursday evening, as the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT) confirmed two more 24-hour strikes on South Western Railway (SWR) would go ahead during December.

Aggreko said on Friday that its subsidiary, Aggreko Events Services Japan Limited (AESJL), has been awarded the supply contract for temporary electricity generation by The Tokyo Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

French luxury group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has agreed to buy Belmond, the owner of the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, in a $2.6bn deal.

Economic news

The European Court of Justice on Monday ruled that the British government can unilaterally reverse its decision to leave the European Union without the consent of other bloc members.

Prime Minister Theresa May called off a crunch vote on her Brexit deal in Parliament set for Tuesday after it became obvious that it would result in a massive defeat which some observers said might even destabilise her government.

Ofgem announced that its chief executive will stay on until 2020 to oversee the introduction of a price cap on gas and energy suppliers.

UK employment has reached a record high, official data showed on Monday, with nominal wages growing at a rate not seen for a decade.

Over a quarter of UK homes struggle with their broadband speed of less than 10Mbps and only 56% of households are aware they could access superfast broadband.

The UK government spends around one third (£284bn) of its total budget with private companies and could risk being unable to abandon current procurement arrangements even if politicians so wished, a new report has found.

UK betting firms confirmed on Thursday that advertisements will no longer be shown during sporting events in a “whistle-to-whistle” ban proposed responsible gambling campaigners.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she did not expect an immediate breakthrough on her troubled Brexit deal at the European Council summit in Brussels.

The UK telecoms watchdog kicked off a review of broadband pricing on Friday to find better ways for households and business customers to avoid paying more than others for similar services.

The average wages of UK workers are worth a third less in some parts of the country than they were ten years ago, new research has revealed.

International events

Over 450 asset managers present at the UN's climate change summit in Poland called on governments to cut coal use and place certain taxes on carbon emissions in order to tackle climate change.

US President Donald Trump is reportedly concerned there is a “real possibility” he could be impeached once Democrats take the House of Representatives, CNN said on Monday.

The broadest measure of credit growth for China's economy rose at its slowest pace in over a decade, according to figures released on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron doled out some festive sweeteners to his citizens on Tuesday, risking a new EU conflict as it may drive the country's deficit above European budget limits.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is seeking to present revised budget figures in order to end a deadlock with the European Commission in a meeting on Wednesday, a source told Reuters.

Germany is attempting to avoid a disorderly Brexit that will generate market turmoil in Europe by offering a last minute lifeline to UK banks and allowing them to maintain their EU rights after the divorce.

A European Union court ruled on Thursday that the European Commission's 2016’s decision to raise the limits of nitrogen oxide vehicle emissions in cities such as Paris Brussels and Madrid was illegal.

Following Canada's arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer at Huawei, earlier this week, the Chinese government confirmed it had detained another Canadian, citing a threat to national security.

China confirmed on Friday that it will suspend the additional 25% tariffs on US imported cars as of 1 January in the latest move to reduce trade tensions between the countries.

Bitcoin dropped on Friday to $3,262, a level last seen in September 2017, amid a sell-off in all major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, Stellar, and Bitcoin Cash.