Weekly review

Equity view

Paragon Group has acquired Five Arrows Leasing Group through its subsidiary Paragon Bank for £117m.

Legal & General America is to provide retirement payments under a group annuity contract to 14,000 Royal Philips US retirees and other former employees in its first American pension risk transfer deal, the company said on Friday.

Soft drinks group Britvic has completed the acquisition of Brazilian sector peer Empresa Brasileira de Bebidas e Alimentos SA for £120.8m.

Shares in oil exploration and production company Tullow Oil surged after it said its lending banks have completed the routine six-monthly reserve-based lend redetermination process and available debt capacity remains unchanged at $3.7bn.

HICL Infrastructure Company has completed the acquisition of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters in Canada’s British Columbia region for CA$ 54m (£26.9m).

Food producer Cranswick said revenue in the first half of the year was slightly ahead of its expectations and the business remains well-positioned to deliver further growth this year.

Johnson Matthey has completed the sale of its Alfa Aesar Research Chemicals business to Thermo Fisher Scientific for £256m in cash, the company said on Thursday.

Wealth manager Rathbone Brothers has agreed to purchase the remaining 80.1% that it didn’t already own in the Vision Group, which is a an independent specialist financial advice network focusing on high net worth private clients.

Glencore rallied after it said it has taken proactive steps to position the company to withstand current commodity market conditions.

Brewer Diageo is reportedly in talks about a sale of its wine brands as it responds to City pressure to improve its performance.

Low-cost airline Ryanair has reportedly applied for slots at Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports and has expressed willingness to cooperate with long-haul traditional airlines.

Entertainment One is looking to make cartoon character Peppa Pig an even bigger global star by taking a 70% stake in creator and producer Astley Baker Davies Limited for £140m.

InterContinental Hotels Group has completed the sale of its Hong Kong business, it announced Wednesday.

Energy group SSE said it expected to earn more than a third of its full-year adjusted pre-tax profits in the first half of the 2015/16 year.

Rio Tinto has sold its 40% stake in the Bengalla coal joint venture in Australia for $606m (£400m), the company announced on Wednesday.

Full-year underlying pre-tax profits at supermarket giant J Sainsbury are expected to be moderately ahead of its £548m forecast, the company said on Wednesday.

AB InBev has reportedly lined up Bank of America, Santander and Deutsche Bank among others for $70bn of funding for a possible SABMiller deal, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

UK supermarket retailer Morrisons will raise its hourly rate of pay for staff of all ages to £8.20, above the national living wage due to be introduced by the government in April.

Building materials distributor Wolseley said full-year operating profits were up despite challenging markets outside its US businesses, while announcing it was returning £300m to shareholders via a buyback.

Online clothing retailer Boohoo.com reported a 39% increase in interim profit, with revenue up sharply as the company gained new customers.

London Stock Exchange has appointed Nikhil Rathi as chief executive officer with immediate effect.

Engineering giant GKN confirmed on Monday that Andrew Reynolds Smith has stepped down from the board of directors.

Economic news

The US labour market slowed down markedly in September and gains for the prior month were revised lower, the non-farm payrolls report showed.

Construction output in the UK accelerated to a seven-month high in September, according to the latest Markit/CIPS survey published on Friday.

UK labour productivity in the second quarter rose at the fastest pace in four years, according to the Office for National Statistics on Thursday.

The rate of economic expansion in the UK dipped slightly in the three months to September as manufacturing stalled, according to the latest CBI Growth Indicator figures out Thursday.

The UK manufacturing sector remained subdued in September, data released on Thursday showed.

The UK's current account deficit narrowed more than expected in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics revealed on Wednesday.

The UK economy grew less than expected in the second quarter, GDP data has revealed.

House prices in the UK grew at a slightly faster pace than expected in September, data released on Wednesday showed.

Retail sales grew at a much stronger rate than expected in the year to September, and the robust growth is expected to continue next month, according to the Confederation of British Industry’s latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey.

British mortgage approvals surged in August, increasing at the fastest pace since 2008, figures released on Tuesday showed.

The Bank of England will release results of its annual stress test on Britain's seven biggest banks and building societies on 1 December, the central bank revealed on Monday.

The Bank of England will hold back on raising interest rates until mid-2016, according to new forecasts from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) on Monday.

The divide between the average price of homes in the north and south of England was evident in August, figures from the Land Registry revealed on Monday.

International events

US President Barack Obama has made a passionate plea to have America’s gun control laws changed.

The seven nations which have been fighting to depose Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in Syria have called on Russia to cease its attacks on the country´s opposition.

First-time homebuyers in Chinese cities without purchase restrictions may soon be able to put in smaller down-payments.

Producer prices in the Eurozone fell more than expected in August, data released on Friday showed.

The US economy slowed down sharply in the third quarter, according to one widely-followed real time gauge of economic activity.

Growth in the US manufacturing sector was revised upwardly but remained subdued in September, Markit data released on Thursday showed. Separate figures from ISM released on Thursday revealed US manufacturers grew in September at their slowest pace in over two years.

The number of first time unemployment benefits claimants in the US rose by more than expected last week, the Labor Department said.

China’s manufacturing sector remained in contraction territory in September, data released on Thursday showed.

The head of the International Monetary Fund has said changes in Chinese policy and the looming US interest rate hike are “necessary and healthy”.

The US private sector generated 200,000 jobs in September, boosted by hiring at the largest corporations, according to private consultancy ADP.

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday slashed its main policy rate by a greater than expected 50 basis points to 6.75%.

The Federal Reserve would “probably” raise interest rates later in 2015, said William Dudley, a top US monetary policymaker said on Monday.