Weekly review

Equity view

Tesla has agreed to snap up battery maker Maxwell Technologies, giving the electric car maker access to exciting ultra-capacitors technology that allows for fast charging and release of energy.

Canadian music retail chain Sunrise Records has been revealed as leading contender to take over HMV, which is also being tracked by Mike Ashley.

Collapsed café group Patisserie Holdings has attracted a number of suitors, its joint administrators confirmed on Monday.

Iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo expects full-year profits will be down less than in the first half but that it is investigating payments made to a connected charitable foundation called Blooming Land in Ukraine.

Ocado’s state-of-the-art fulfilment centre in Hampshire has been shut down following a fire, the online grocery specialist announced on Tuesday.

Oil giant BP posted a jump in fourth-quarter and full-year profit on Tuesday thanks to a strong performance across all of its businesses.

Canadian music retailer Sunrise Records took over the struggling HMV on Tuesday, saving around 1,500 jobs and beating Mike Ashley in the race.

Apple has paid back taxes to the French authorities totalling nearly €500m, it was reported on Tuesday.

Fracking firm Cuadrilla complained on Wednesday that its work was being deterred due to the current UK rules and called for a review of strict regulations on earthquakes.

Barratt Developments grew profits 19% in the first half of its trading year as Britain's largest housebuilder said it was in a "strong position" in spite of the uncertainty around Brexit.

Music streaming service Spotify posted a maiden profit on Wednesday as it announced two podcast acquisitions and promised further deals to come.

Large tobacco companies have been accused of not paying enough UK corporation tax compared to the profits they make.

Ocado shares dropped 10% on Thursday as the fire at its high-tech Andover warehouse continued to burn for a third day, with local residents having to be evacuated due to clouds of burning chemicals.

Shares in Petrofac tumbled on Thursday after the oil services group's former global sales chief pleaded guilty to eleven counts of bribery as part of an ongoing Serious Fraud Office probe into the company.

Bellway Homes reported record interim sales and an increase in house completions, expressing optimism despite remaining "cautious" on Brexit.

Travel operator Thomas Cook said that it could put its airline up for sale, as it posted a 1% rise in first-quarter like-for-like revenue but a deterioration in margins and a widening of its losses.

BAE Systems has won the contract to design Canada's next-generation anti-submarine warfare frigate, a modified version of the Royal Navy's Type 26 Global Combat Ship.

Tata Motors fell almost 30% in the stock market after its Jaguar Land Rover subsidiary dragged the Indian company to its biggest quarterly loss to date.

Nationwide Building Society posted a 21% drop in profit for the first nine months of the year on Friday as it took a charge for asset-write offs and increased investment in its digital banking.

Flybe warned shareholders to support a sale to a Virgin Atlantic-led consortium or the troubled carrier would be wound up.

Economic news

Petrochemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe has warned the UK is "heading towards an energy crisis" unless it loosens controls on fracking for oil and gas.

UK company finance chiefs have been forced to adopt their most defensive strategy stance in nine years due to the risk Brexit poses to business, a new survey from Deloitte has revealed.

Former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble is taking the UK government to court with a claim that the Brexit withdrawal agreement’s Irish backstop clause breaches the Good Friday Agreement.

UK gross domestic product will grow 1. 5% this year if Britain leaves the European Union on a soft Brexit scenario, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

Six major hotel booking websites have been ordered to end misleading practices after an investigation found some of them guilty of pressure selling and giving prominence to properties which paid a commission.

Cabinet ministers are planning to delay Brexit by eight weeks until 24 May, it was reported on Wednesday.

Jean-Claude Juncker and Theresa May held “robust” Brexit discussions on Thursday with no tangible progress on the Irish backstop, but agreed to hold further talks to break the impasse.

A row broke out within Labour ranks on Thursday after Jeremy Corbyn listed five demands for Brexit in return for his party's support on the withdrawal agreement.

Just over a month after the energy price cap was introduced, it will be hiked on 1 April due to increasing wholesale costs, the energy watchdog said.

House builders are cutting infrastructure payments to local councils for new developments while increasing their own profit margins and those contributions were failing to keep pace with property price rises, according to a report released on Friday.

International events

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on Monday said the UK, along nine other European nations, would recognise Juan Guaidó as the constitutional interim president of Venezuela unless fresh elections were called.

Australia’s biggest banks faced the prospect of criminal charges for ripping off customers as part of the findings of the Royal Commission into their conduct.

UN monitors claim that North Korea is trying to shield its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes from military strikes.

A study from the United Nations revealed on Monday that if the US and China go ahead with their plans to hike tariffs in March, the global economy could suffer a downturn.

Factory orders fell sharply in Germany in December, fuelling concerns that the eurozone’s powerhouse economy could be heading towards recession.

President Donald Trump confirmed that Vietnam will be the location for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un later this month.

Thousands of Venezuelan soldiers have deserted the nation's armed forces in the last five years, predating calls from caretaker President, Juan Guaido, for soldiers to lay down their weapons.

There remains "a sizeable distance" to go in US-China trade talks, US National Economic Council director, Larry Kudlow, said.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced on Wednesday that his committee would open an investigation into President Donald Trump’s personal financial interests and his links with foreign powers.

US President Donald Trump said he would not be meeting the Chinese leader Xi Jinping before the 2 March deadline when their trade truce reaches an end.

Jeff Bezos published a blog post on Thursday accusing the National Enquirer of trying to extort him by making intimate photos public unless he stopped investigating how other private photos and messages were obtained and whether the tabloid's reporting was politically motivated.