Weekly Review

The FTSE 100 finished up 18.92 points on the week at 6,654.37p.

Equity view

Lonmin said that its full-year performance was "dominated" by the impact of a five-month strike in South Africa, which resulted in a 71% drop in profits as production slumped and costs soared.

Under-pressure outsourcing group Serco delivered a profit warning to investors and said it is planning a rights issue after writing down the value of its business by £1.5bn.

Real estate group Land Securities reported a massive increase in profits in its first half and a higher net asset value, saying that its portfolio is "now in much stronger shape"

Building materials group CRH saw a slowdown in growth in the third quarter as like-for-like sales in Europe slipped, but said it still expects profits to grow around 10% this year.

Interim results from mobile telecoms group Vodafone showed evidence of growing stabilisation in its European markets, with the company now guiding towards the higher end of expectations for full-year earnings and revealing it will launch a UK residential broadband and TV service in spring 2015.

Burberry on Wednesday reported a 14% increase in total revenues for the first half to £1.1bn.

G4S said its trading in the third quarter was in line with expectations with organic revenue growth up 4.2% compared to a year ago.

Tullow Oil is reviewing its costs in light of low international oil prices as it scaled back its exploration budget for 2015.

Due to increased investment in lowering shop prices, Sainsbury warned that its full-year profits and dividend would be lower than last year's. Underlying pre-tax profits fell 6.3% in the first half but came in ahead of analysts’ estimates.

Utility group SSE said that full-year adjusted EPS would be at the lower end of its guidance range and flat year-on-year due to a “challenging business environment”.

Bwin.party shares jumped this week after it confirmed speculation that it has started discussions with various parties about potential business combinations.

Peroni and Grolsch maker SABMiller missed analysts’ forecasts by reporting flat operating profits in the first half as a stronger US dollar had a $71m negative impact on its bottom line.

ITV revenue growth accelerated in the third quarter as the broadcasting and television production group continued to generate net TV advertising revenues well ahead of the market, although they were at the lower end of consensus analyst forecasts.

Sky will drop its formal name of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) once the imminent acquisition of Sky Italia and a majority interest in Sky Deutschland has completed.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) this week issued its largest ever fine, slapping a £1.1bn penalty on five banks for the alleged rigging of forex markets.

Economic news

Sales from retailers in the UK rose at an annual rate of 1.4% in October, according to the Retail Sales Monitor from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG, recovering after a fall of 0.8% in September.

House purchase lending levels were down in September, the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed. The amount lent to first-time buyers declined by 3% since August, but this was still 16% higher than in the third quarter of 2013.

UK jobless claims fell more than expected in October while employment gained between July and September, official figures revealed on Wednesday. The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance last month dropped by 20,400 to 931,700.

The UK unemployment rate held at 6% for the three months to September.

The Bank of England’s Inflation Report was closely watched by investors on Wednesday, as policymakers sounded a dovish tone by revising down their forecasts for growth and inflation. CPI inflation is now expected to dip below 1% within the next six months and will not return to the 2% target until the end of 2017. Economic growth in 2015 is also now forecast to be 2.9%, down from an earlier estimate of 3.1%.

International events

Telefónica, parent company of O2, reported better-than-expected third quarter earnings on Wednesday, despite a drop of 13% in its profit for the period.

Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba Group generated over $2bn in sales within the first hour of 11 November, dubbed 'Singles Day' in China. The day, seen as China's answer to Black Friday in the States and a sort of anti-Valentine's Day, was created by Alibaba in 2009 and is now thought to be the world's most lucrative shopping day for online retailers.

US jobless claims rose 12,000 in the week to 1 November to 290,000. The consensus estimate was for 280,000 claims, compared with an unrevised 278,000 the previous week.

New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said that it would be "premature" to hike interest rates soon. He called for monetary policy to remain "very accommodative".

A host of economic data disappointed this week in China, where growth in industrial production, retail sales and fixed-asset investment eased in October.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is thought to be preparing for a snap election next month to seek support for a delay in another sales-tax hike.. An increase in the sales tax from 5% to 8% in April has weighed heavily on growth in Japan and Abe is thought to be looking to postpone any future hike until the economy recovers.

Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, beat analysts’ forecasts with its third-quarter results. Earnings per share only rose to $1.15 from $1.14 but came in ahead of the $1.12 estimate. The group also said that US same-store sales increased 0.5%, the first time growth was recorded in the domestic market in around two years.