Russian gas company Novatek has been given a green light to continue using a number of ice-class tankers after the US stepped back from sanctions against the vessel’s owner.

Global stocks were slightly higher overall on Tuesday amid optimism over progress in US-China trade talks and a vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.

German car parts maker Continental has said it will post €2.5bn of impairments in its third-quarter results, due to the continued slowdown in the global auto industry.

Procter & Gamble has raised its financial forecasts for the year after demand for beauty and healthcare products helped the consumer goods bellwether generate higher quarterly sales and profits.

Parcel delivery company UPS, considered an economic bellwether, said strong demand for next day deliveries driven by retail and healthcare deliveries helped fuel its profits in the third quarter.

Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, reported a first-half drop in pre-tax profit and UK accommodation like-for-like sales amid “challenging” market conditions in the UK as business and leisure confidence weakened.

Energy suppliers could face independent audits of their financial health and customer service standards under new regulatory proposals to address the slew of smaller electricity and gas companies that have gone bust in recent years.

The US government has given Chevron and four oil service providers permission to keep working in Venezuela for another three months, extending their exemption from oil sanctions that have hit the rest of the industry in the South American country to a full year.

Stamps.com rallied more than 20 per cent late on Monday after UPS said it had partnered with the company to provide discounted shipping rates to customers.

Wall Street rallied on Monday, boosted by trade optimism and tracking gains in global stocks, while the pound fluctuated against the backdrop of the Brexit drama.

Halliburton pledged to keep cutting costs in its North American operations during the current quarter in news that propped up its share price and helped a softening outlook.

Germany’s central bank warned the country’s economy may have shrunk for its second consecutive three-month period, which would mean the eurozone’s biggest economy has entered its first recession in six years.

BHP, the world’s largest miner, said it expected to make a multimillion-pound provision this year due to a switch from coal to renewable sources of energy in Chile.

The pound held its recent gains on Monday as traders waited to find out whether Boris Johnson would be granted another vote on his Brexit deal, after a Commons defeat at the weekend left him scrambling to meet his commitment that the UK would leave the EU by October 31.

Namal Nawana has quit as chief executive of Smith & Nephew after 18 months because the UK medical devices company could not meet his pay demands.

ESR Cayman, an Asia-focused logistics company backed by Warburg Pincus, is looking to raise as much as $1.45bn in a revived Hong Kong initial public offering, in the latest example of a company opting to brave the political unrest that is rocking the Asia finance hub.

Japanese exports fell for a tenth straight month in September, dropping at a sharper pace than forecast as shipments to China and South Korea slipped.

The fate of the UK’s Brexit deal, an interest rate call by the European Central Bank and an election in Canada will headline a busy week of geopolitical developments and economic news.

Global stocks were in the red as data showed China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in almost three decades and Mario Draghi said there were “mild signs” of overvaluation in financial and property markets within the euro zone.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s most important economies gave their backing to international efforts to find a new way of taxing the profits of multinational companies.

JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon has said he would “do anything” to avoid buying “irrational” negative interest rate bonds, as concerns mount about the world’s $17tn pile of negative rate debt.

The holiday season may not be so jolly for some retailers and fashion brands, which could fall victim to a new wave of store closures if holiday sales disappoint.

Schlumberger took a $12.7bn impairment, mostly related to its 2010 takeover of drilling equipment maker Smith International, driving the world’s biggest oilfields services group to a reported net loss in a third quarter characterised by increased market uncertainty.

Shares in Danone fell as much as 8 per cent on Friday morning, their biggest single-day decline in a decade, after the French food group lowered its full-year sales outlook.