Weekly Review
The FTSE 100 finished up 253.31 points on the week at 6,545.27.
Equity view
Building material group CRH has agreed to sell its clay and concrete businesses in Britain and its clay business in the US to funds managed by Bain Capital Europe in a deal worth £414m.
Rolls Royce will provide engines to power 10 Airbus A330ceo and 55 Airbus A330neo planes ordered by Asia's largest low-cost airline, AirAsia X. The deal has Rolls Royce taking care of the aircraft engines as well as supplying a long term support package worth $6.2bn.
Telecoms group BT has entered exclusive talks with Deutsche Telekom and Orange about buying their mobile operation EE for £12.5bn, the company said on Monday.
Royal Bank of Scotland is selling a portfolio of Irish real estate loans to a business controlled by private equity group Cerberus for £1.1bn.
Seven out of eight of the UK's largest banks and building societies passed the Bank of England's latest round of stress tests, with the struggling Co-operative Bank being the only lender to have failed.
British and German travel companies TUI Travel and TUI AG on Wednesday completed their €6.5bn merger to create the world's biggest tour operator.
Electrical retailer Dixons Carphone said a strong first half in the UK had put it in a good position in the run-up to Christmas, but it warned that trading in the Netherlands and Germany was still tough and it was taking action to review and restructure that business.
According to a report commissioned by Business Secretary Vince Cable, the government under priced the £2bn sale of Royal Mail by around £180m.
Lloyd's of London insurer Catlin Group officially confirmed the receipt of a possible offer from global conglomerate XL Group.
London Stock Exchange said it has made "good progress" over the course of 2014, with strong performances across all main business areas.
British drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline said its shareholders have given the green light to a deal with Swiss firm Novartis, which will see the two groups trade over £12.7bn of assets.
British Airways and Iberia owner International Airlines Group (IAG) has made a takeover bid for Aer Lingus, IAG said in a statement on Thursday, although the Irish flag carrier rejected it.
Philip Bowman, the long-running boss of Smiths Group, is to step down at the end of next year, the technology company revealed.
Economic news
UK construction activity declined unexpectedly by 2.2% in October, much worse than the forecast for 0.7% growth.
Consumer price inflation in the UK slowed by much more than expected in November. Annual price rises eased to just 1% from 1.3%, under the 1.2% forecast.
British house price rises slowed again in October. Prices increased by 0.1% between September and October on a seasonally adjusted basis, down from a 0.5% rise between August and September.
For the fifth month in a row, members of the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-2 in favour of keeping the cost of borrowing at 0.5%, minutes of the meeting revealed.
The number of unemployed people in the UK declined by 63,000 between August and October to 1.96m, while the jobless rate fell to 6% from 6.2% the preceding three months. Average weekly wage inflation picked up to an annual rate of 1.4% from 1%.
UK retail sales grew more than forecast in November, boosted by Black Friday sales. Sales rose 6.9% in November, accounting for the highest year-on-year increase since May 2004, beating analysts’ expectations for a 4.5% gain and following a 4.9% climb a month earlier.
UK consumer confidence hit its lowest level since March this month. The consumer confidence index from GfK fell two points to -4 in December after seven months of flat-lining within two points either side of -1.
International Events
Low-cost fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) reported a 10% jump in sales during November, after the firm switched its attention to online sales.
US industrial production grew at a 1.3% month-on-month pace in November, led by a jump in output from the manufacturing and utilities sectors, according to the Federal Reserve.
Russia's central bank hiked short-term interest rates from 10.5% to 17% in a bid to stem a recent rout in the rouble.
China's economic expansion is expected decelerate to 7.1% in 2015, as a slowdown in real estate investment continues, according to Ma Jun, chief economist of the People’s Bank of China’s research centre. This compares with estimated 7.4% growth this year.
Construction in the Eurozone rose at the fastest pace this year in October, as households and businesses look to be more inclined to invest. The EU statistics agency said that construction rose by 1.3% month-on-month in October, the biggest increase since December 2013.
Following the rouble's sharp decline, US car-maker General Motors has suspended the delivery of cars to dealerships in Russia.
US stock markets surged this week after the Federal Reserve modified its forward guidance regarding interest rates. The Fed didn't remove its “considerable time” language but added that it “can be patient” about tightening. Fed chair Janet Yellen said she doesn’t see the Fed raising rates for “at least the next couple of meetings”.