Silicon Valley tech group Apple said on Wednesday it planned to open a new billion-dollar campus in Austin, Texas and would make substantial investments in numerous other cities across the US, despite growing concerns about iPhone sales.

Co-ordinated action among global producers to enact supply cuts has helped to put a “floor” under crude prices around $60 a barrel, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.

GAM has warned it is facing a net loss this year, sending shares tumbling, as the crisis-hit Swiss fund manager unveiled a far-reaching restructuring programme in its battle to stem heavy outflows following a torrid 2018.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s victory in a leadership contest kept sterling above its recent lows on Thursday, but analysts warned the outlook for the currency remained fragile amid the Brexit tumult.

The Swiss National Bank has reiterated it views the country’s currency as highly valued and maintained its loose policy stance, rounding out a fourth year of ultra-low interest rates as it battles lacklustre price growth.

Ocado trading update

As the Conservative Party concluded last night, there is something to be said for repetitive robotic delivery in the face of vehement critics — so leader Theresa May survived a vote of no confidence. Grocery logistics group Ocado has known this for some time. Its cutting-edge robots are capable of fulfilling tens of thousands of grocery orders every day, largely without human intervention — a capability that stock market speculators betted against for years.

Italian government bonds extended a rally that began early in the week as the country’s populist-led coalition government gave in to EU demands that it lower its deficit target for next year.

Shares in Russian gas producer Gazprom fell on Thursday morning after the European Parliament voted to condemn its under-construction Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany.

John McDonnell has insisted that Labour is not “playing party politics” amid increasingly bitter rows in the Tory government over Brexit.

Serco said on Thursday it expected its performance for 2018 and the year ahead to meet its recentlyraised expectations, bucking the trend of declining profits among many major government contractors.

Holiday group Tui weathered what it described as a “challenging” market in 2018 with a wider range of trips and experiences, and said it anticipated earnings growth going forward despite a fall in profits.

Digital estate agency Purplebricks more than doubled its losses to £27.3m in the six months to October from a year earlier as it pushed to expand in a tough property market.

House of Fraser lost £31.5m in just the first 11 weeks under Sports Direct’s ownership, pushing the sportswear group’s underlying profits down in the first half. 

Trading conditions on the UK high street are “unprecedented” and “significantly worse” than at the height of the financial crisis according to the value fashion chain Bonmarché, in the latest indication that the festive shopping period is not matching up to retailers’ hopes.

Nine people were killed and 47 others injured when a high-speed train collided with a locomotive on the tracks in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Thursday.

Theresa May has survived an attempted coup by Eurosceptic Conservative MPs, but she travels to Brussels on Thursday to try to save her Brexit deal with her authority shaken and her party bitterly divided. 

Asia-Pacific equities were broadly higher after a positive session on Wall Street saw the S&P 500 end the day up 0.5 per cent, although it had gained as much as 2 per cent following positive comments from US President Donald Trump on the prospects of a US-China trade deal.

Canada’s foreign minister on Wednesday said her government was worried about a second citizen who had been asked questions by Chinese authorities after it was revealed a former Canadian diplomat had been detained in Beijing.

Theresa May has survived an attempted coup by Eurosceptic Conservative MPs, but she travels to Brussels on Thursday to try to save her Brexit deal with her authority shaken and her party bitterly divided.

US stocks advanced on Wednesday as signs of progress in trade talks between Washington and China lifted sentiment on Wall Street, but stocks ended well below their session highs.

The UN secretary-general flew back to the climate talks in Poland to deliver an emergency address on Wednesday, urging countries to reach agreement on a widening set of issues that threaten to stall the process.

Sterling edged off its highs of the day after a majority of Conservative party MPs opted for Theresa May to stay in power following a vote of confidence in her leadership late on Wednesday evening.

Theresa May has won a vote of confidence in her leadership, defeating an attempted coup by Eurosceptic Tory rebels who had sought to dislodge her and take control of Brexit.

Brazil’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday for the eighth month in a row as tame inflation readings give policymakers breathing room to take a wait-and-see stance.