Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week up 211 points at 7,020.22.

Equity view

Morrisons is set to introduce paper bags and raise the price on plastic ones in another move to reduce plastic disposable items from its supermarkets.

Shares in technology company Nvidia tanked on Monday as it cut its revenue guidance due to "deteriorating macroeconomic conditions", mostly in China.

Tesco confirmed on Monday that up to 9,000 staff will be affected as it restructures its supermarkets and head office.

Lloyds Bank has unveiled a new mortgage that would allow first-time home buyers to borrow 100% of the property price without having to pay a deposit, but only if they get another family member involved.

Austrian low-cost airline Laudamotion confirmed on Tuesday that Ryanair completed the purchase of 100% of it from NL Holdings in late December, with Laudamotion now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ryanair Holdings.

Loss-making carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle has announced a 3bn kroner (£268m) rights issue as it seeks to shore up its balance sheet and turn a maiden profit.

"Business uncertainty" is hitting letter volumes and Royal Mail expects larger than usual declines this year and next, despite processing 164m parcels over the Christmas period, up 10% over last year.

Domino’s Pizza Group updated the market on its fourth quarter trading on Tuesday, reporting a 5.5% uplift in group system sales to £339.5m year-on-year, or a 5.8% improvement on an organic basis.

Sports Direct is said to be going head-to-head with ScS Group to acquire the struggling furniture company Sofa.com.

Shares in blue chip miners rallied on Wednesday after Brazil’s Vale said it was temporarily reducing annual production of iron ore by around 10%.

Lloyds Banking Group has cut a number of jobs across the UK as part of the next stage in its strategic review.

Unilever said underlying sales growth will remain at the bottom end of its guidance in 2019 after growth at the Marmite and Ben & Jerry's slowed in the fourth quarter.

Gold and silver producer Polymetal on Thursday said final quarter revenues jumped 11% to $652m year on year driven by record production after a full ramp-up at its Nezhda mine in Kazakhstan.

Britvic posted a rise in first-quarter revenues on Thursday as it said trading during the period was in line with the FTSE 250 soft drinks company's expectations.

Royal Dutch Shell posted a jump in full-year earnings on Thursday as it benefited from higher realised oil, gas and liquefied natural gas prices and cost cutting.

A study has warned that the decline of traditional TV viewing could accelerate to the point where UK broadcasters lose most of their advertising revenues as alternative services such as Netflix grow.

Paddy Power Betfair said it had bought an initial 51% controlling stake in Georgian betting outfit Adjarabet for £101m, adding that it expected to snap up the rest of the company within three years.

Off-licence chain Oddbins fell into administration on Friday, with its owner European Food Brokers (EFB) blaming difficult trading conditions on the High Street and Brexit-fuelled economic uncertainty.

Just days after confirming that it was in talks about the possible acquisition of Sofa.com, ScS said on Friday that the discussions had ended, clearing the way for Mike Ashley.

AstraZeneca said on Friday that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended marketing authorisation for its Forxiga treatment for use as an oral adjunct treatment to insulin in adults with type-1 diabetes.

Economic news

Ireland said the contentious Brexit backstop arrangement would not be renegotiated as British MPs prepared for a crunch vote on the UK's withdrawal agreement on Tuesday.

Cities in the north of England were hit the hardest by austerity in 2018 highlighting the differences between urban areas and rural areas, the latest report from the Centre of Cities highlighted on Monday.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May was on a collision course with the EU over her new withdrawal agreement demands on Wednesday as Brussels insisted the deal was not open for renegotiation.

Irish deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said the UK government was engaged in "wishful thinking" if it planned to try and renegotiate over the backstop part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Nervous British consumers spent sharply less on credit cards in December, choosing instead to save their cash or use it to pay down debts, official data showed on Wednesday.

British car production slumped to a five-year low in 2018 after Brexit fears halved new investment in the industry and left two thirds of the UK's global car trade "at risk", according to industry data released on Thursday.

Campaigners for UK citizens living in the European Union have called for the government to secure healthcare payments for pensioners for at least two years after the divorce from the bloc.

UK consumers remained in wait-and-see mode in January amid continued uncertainty over Brexit, with consumer confidence at a seven-year low, according to the latest survey from GfK.

UK manufacturing companies are stockpiling raw materials and finished goods at greatest rate since records began as they prepare for a potentially turbulent no-deal Brexit.

A new report from the Institute of Directors showed that nearly 30% of UK businesses could be forced to relocate abroad due to potential Brexit chaos.

International events

All eyes were on the US Monday morning, as the federal government reopened following the longest shutdown in American history.

The rate of growth in the euro area's money supply picked-up at the end of 2018, but some economists said that strength in the headline number was misleading.

Denmark’s foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said on Tuesday that the European Union should impose sanctions on Russia over what he termed as its recent “aggressive behaviour” in the Azov Sea.

The United States has approved sanctions against Venezuela's state-owned oil firm PDVSA as it ramps up efforts to force President Nicolás Maduro into relinquishing power of the South American nation.

French economic growth in the final quarter of the year remained surprisingly resilient to disruptions from the Yellow Vests protests that have swarmed around the country.

Trade talks between the US and China are progressing "well with good intent" but a final deal will have to wait until the American and Chinese presidents meet personally "in the near future", Donald Trump said.

Economic growth in the eurozone was stable in the fourth quarter, according to preliminary data released by Eurostat, but Italy fell into recession.

Consumer confidence in the States was at its lowest ebb since President Donald Trump took office, as Americans fretted over the potential impact of the federal government shutdown.

The US announced on Friday it would be withdrawing in the next six months from a missile control treaty it signed with Russia in the Cold War.