US financial conditions are loose overall but have tightened significantly over the past two years. This is often a bad omen for the economy.

German analysts were feeling slightly more upbeat than expected about the economy in December, but a key indicator remained in negative territory amid rising geopolitical uncertainty and weaker economic growth in the country and the wider region.

Grocery sales grew just 0.4 percentage points above inflation in the 12 weeks to December 2, compounding the misery for retailers ahead of the key Christmas trading period.

Commodity trader Noble Group plans to push ahead with emergency $3.5bn debt restructuring by keeping the company private, in a blow to investors who could be with shares in an unlisted vehicle.

French government bonds were under pressure on Tuesday with a key gauge of investor wariness climbing to its highest level since the 2017 presidential elections as yellow-vested protesters prepared for “Act V” of their anti-government protests.

Royal London, the UK’s biggest mutual life insurer, is to change both its chief executive and its chairman.

Wages of UK workers rose at the quickest pace in a decade in the three months to October suggesting Britain’s jobs market remains tight despite Brexit headwinds.

The pound rebounded back above $1.26 on Tuesday, in a tentative recovery from the previous day’s 1.3 per cent fall against the dollar.

France has warned that Britain will not be able to extract further concessions in Brexit talks, stressing the bloc must be ready for a no-deal scenario.

Carlos Ghosn has filed a complaint against a court decision to keep the ousted chairman of Nissan detained without the possibility of bail until December 20, according to the Tokyo District Court.

Ashtead half-year results

Ashtead’s main US tool hire business may be called Sunbelt, but its performance last year was helped by the worst type of weather: hurricanes that necessitated widespread building and infrastructure repairs. So it is all the more remarkable that, in the first half of this year, Peel Hunt analysts were expecting Sunbelt US — which contributes 91 per cent of earnings before tax and amortisation — to increase revenue by another 5 per cent in constant currency terms.

European stocks clawed back some of their losses on Tuesday after selling off sharply on Monday with investors unsettled after British prime minister Theresa May delayed a vote in parliament to approve the EU withdrawal treaty indefinitely.

WPP is cutting 3,500 jobs worldwide, as the world’s biggest advertising business struggles against competition from digital disrupters including Google and Facebook.

The Labour party have been granted an emergency debate to challenge the UK prime minister’s “unprecedented decision” to abort a crunch House of Commons vote on her Brexit plan at the eleventh hour.

Turkey’s current account produced a surplus for the third month underlining both the effect of the lira’s collapse on imports and the rebalancing that is under way in the country’s economy.

The CDC is investing $180m in Liquid Telecom, Africa’s largest independent fibre optic and cloud computing provider, in one of the biggest equity investments in the 70-year history of the UK government’s overseas development arm.

Troubled flooring retailer Carpetright said on Tuesday it had deepened its losses in the first half of the year as costs relating to store closures and its restructuring programme and weak trading hit earnings.

A humiliated Theresa May will embark on a tour of European capitals on Tuesday to plead for a better Brexit deal, after the British prime minister was forced at the eleventh hour to abort a crunch House of Commons vote on her plan. 

Thailand’s Election Commission on Tuesday set February 24, 2019 as the date of the next general election, firming up a timeline for the country’s return to electoral politics after four years under military rule.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party is poised for a rare electoral defeat, as the opposition Congress party appears on track to win key state polls in India’s Hindi heartland, previously a bastion of BJP support.

India’s rupee fell as much as 1.6 per cent on Tuesday in the wake of central bank governor Urjit Patel’s resignation on Monday.

Foreign exchange markets were cooling down in Asia on Tuesday after Monday's session saw the UK pound drop as much as 1.7 per cent as Prime Minister Theresa May was forced to abort a parliamentary vote on her Brexit plan at the eleventh hour.

Japanese stocks fell to their lowest level in a year and a half on Tuesday and Japanese government bond yields remained near a one-year low as Asia-Pacific equities benchmarks put in a mixed performance in the absence of a firmer lead from Wall Street.

Shares in the biopharmaceutical unit of Samsung Group surged as much as 25.6 per cent on Tuesday after South Korea’s stock exchange said the company could continue trading.