Weekly review
The FTSE 100 ended the week down 166.7 points, or 2.26%, at 7,215.47.
Equity view
JD Sports Fashion has entered into a joint venture agreement with South Korean footwear retailer, Shoemarker Inc (SMK), in relation to its J&S Partners unit, which currently trades as Hot-T.
Coca‑Cola HBC said on Friday that its CEO, Dimitris Lois, will be taking a temporary leave of absence from the company in order to undergo treatment for a medical condition.
GlaxoSmithKline, along with Innoviva, announced on Friday that the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion recommending marketing authorisation for fluticasone furoate/ umeclidinium/vilanterol as a maintenance treatment in adult patients with moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are not adequately treated by a combination of an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting beta2-agonist.
JD Wetherspoon served up a potent shot of 43% earnings growth and a passionate diatribe about Brexit from founder and executive chairman Tim Martin.
AstraZeneca has entered into an agreement with Aspen Global Incorporated - part of the Aspen Group - under which AGI will now acquire the residual rights to the established anaesthetic medicines Diprivan, EMLA, Xylocaine/Xylocard/Xyloproct, Marcaine, Naropin, Carbocaine and Citanest, it announced on Thursday.
FTSE 250 wholesaler Booker, which has agreed to be taken over by Tesco, reported a 1. 3% jump in second-quarter like-for like sales on Thursday thanks to a solid performance from both the catering and retail sides of the business.
Thomas Cook has entered into a strategic alliance with Expedia, whereby the US company will become the preferred provider of hotels for Thomas Cook and provide its booking platform to support all city break and hotel-only sales in Europe.
Safestore reiterated its full-year guidance despite posting what appeared to be weaker-than-expected like-for-like sales in the UK.
Retirement-focussed financial services firm Just Group reported a 39% uplift in adjusted operating profit before tax for the first half on Wednesday, to £67. 2m.
FTSE 250 housebuilder Galliford Try reported a drop in full-year pre-tax profit on Wednesday, but the figure was at the upper end of its guidance.
Infrastructure company Balfour Beatty announced has reached an agreement with Blackpool Council to offload its majority interest in Blackpool Airport, one of Britain's first aviation sites.
Halfords has poached fellow retailer Dixons Carphone's software boss, Graham Stapleton, to take up the chief executive role vacated by the soon-to-depart Jill McDonald.
Ashtead, the construction equipment specialist, reported strong growth in rental revenue and profits in the first quarter of its financial year, adding that clean-up efforts after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were likely to increase levels of demand for its fleet.
The AA held "preliminary talks" with insurer Hastings over a potential merger of the roadside assistance group's insurance business, it confirmed on Tuesday.
The Competition and Markets Authority has approved Wood Group's £2. 2bn acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler.
Redrow shares tumbled after The Steve Morgan Foundation - a charitable trust founded by the housebuilder's chairman - and Morgan's investment vehicle, Bridgemere Securities, sold 25. 9m existing ordinary shares at 590p each, representing around 7% of the issued share capital.
Vodafone’s Germany division is to invest around €2bn of “incremental capital expenditure” by the end of the 2021 calendar year in gigabit ultrafast fibre broadband services, it announced on Monday, which it said are expected to deliver around 13. 7 million new gigabit connections to German consumers and enterprises.
Carillion's finance director has left the troubled outsourcing company with immediate effect, with three other directors departing at the end of the month.
Derwent London has pre-let most of the remaining office space at 80 Charlotte Street in London to The Boston Consulting Group.
AstraZeneca reported recent trial findings for two of its lung cancer drug candidates on Monday, claiming both Imfinzi and Tagrisso had shown positive effects in the PACIFIC and FLAURA trials.
Economic news
Several people have been injured at the Parsons Green station of the London Underground after an explosion on a train in West London.
The pound has surged after Bank of England policymaker Gertjan Vlieghe reinforced the message that interest rates could rise before the end of the year.
Spending on drinking and eating out has turned sluggish, with sales at pubs and bars falling as wetter weather mixed with a fragile consumer mood.
The Bank of England announced the release of the new £10 note featuring the novelist Jane Austen across the UK as the second in its new series of polymer notes.
House buyer sentiment remained cautious in London and the South East, while further away from the capital respondents appeared to generally be more optimistic regarding the near term outlook.
UK earnings growth continues to lag well below inflation despite the unemployment rate falling to a new record low.
Downing Street announced on Tuesday that it would approve pay raises for police and prison officers in excess of the 1% public sector pay rise cap.
The government has offered to maintain strong security connections with the European Union after it has departed from the bloc.
Concerns over Britain’s impending departure from the EU have been unable to prevent London from retaining its number-one spot as the leading global financial centre in the world.
UK household spending moved back into the black for the first time in four months during August, with outlays rising year-on-year driven by the e-commerce sector, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed.
International events
North Korea fired a ballistic missile through Japanese airspace shortly before 2300 BST on Thursday evening, raising already heightened tensions in the region.
According to a statement posted on the website of the Brazilian prosecutor general's office, the South American nation's President, Michael Temer, had been charged with obstruction of justice and racketeering.
US consumer prices rose more quickly than expected last month on a spike in gasoline prices.
According to analysts at Moody's, Qatar has pumped $38bn, 23% of its GDP, back into the country's economy in an effort to keeps its head above water after sanctions placed against it hit its foreign trade, tourism and banking sectors hard.
Employment growth in single currency bloc was steady during the second quarter of 2017 even as it accelerated in most of its major economies.
Eurozone industrial production rose a little in July following a drop the month before as a jump in the production of capital and consumer goods offset a decline in energy, according to data released by Eurostat on Wednesday.
Janet Yellen is "being considered" for reappointment for what some regard as the second most powerful post in the world, chairman of the Federal Reserve, the US Treasury secretary announced on Tuesday.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that the White House was considering backdating its tax reform proposals to 1 January in an effort to boost the nation's economy.
China has announced it is mulling over a ban on the production and sale of petrol and diesel based cars and vans from 2040 in an effort to boost the production of electric vehicles.
Four of the world's top oil producers agreed to keep all options 'on the table' in order to ensure stability in the oil market, including the possibility of prolonging the output cuts that were already in force, beyond their expected end-date of March 2018.