A second person in the US has been confirmed to have coronavirus, the Sars-like respiratory disease that has claimed 26 lives in China and has led to public transport being shut down in a dozen cities.

The downturn in global trade dragged on at the end of last year, marking the longest period of contraction since the end of the financial crisis.

Italian regulators have warned Facebook it may face a fine after allegedly failing to comply with a demand made more than a year ago for the social media group to provide its users more details on how their personal information is used.

The Bank of England’s interest rate decision next week remains on a knife edge despite a rebound in a closely watched survey of business activity.

Christopher Woolard has been named interim chief executive of the UK’s chief financial watchdog until a permanent successor is found to Andrew Bailey, who is leaving to become the next Bank of England governor.

Rémy Cointreau has revealed a much larger than expected fall in sales and declined to reassure investors that it would meet its annual profit forecast — sending shares tumbling the most in more than a decade.

Business activity in the eurozone remained unexpectedly weak in January, as a decline in the services sector offset a nascent recovery among manufacturers, according to a closely watched survey.

Deutsche Bank has picked German political heavyweight Sigmar Gabriel to join its supervisory board, with the former foreign minister taking the place of another nominee who faced a likely veto by regulators.

Takeaway.com and Just Eat have delayed plans to list their combined company on the London Stock Exchange by one week after UK competition authorities launched a last-minute investigation into their £6bn merger.

JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon was paid $31.5m for 2019, up 1.6 per cent on his pay a year earlier, putting him on course to be Wall Street’s best paid bank boss for the fifth year in a row.

The S&P 500 rebounded to close modestly higher after the World Health Organization said it was “too early” to declare the spread of coronavirus a global emergency, allaying fears over a virus that has sparked growing global alarm.

The European Central Bank will examine whether it should alter its €200bn corporate bond holdings to take account of climate change, Christine Lagarde promised on Thursday as she launched its first strategic review in 16 years.

US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin criticised Greta Thunberg on Thursday, challenging the economic impact of the climate activist’s call for investors to divest completely from fossil fuels.

Wm Morrison plans to cut 3,000 managerial positions in its stores across the UK as part of a staffing revamp that will see it boost numbers of lower-level roles amid increasing pressure on established supermarkets.

Samancor Chrome, the South African chrome producer, could axe over 3,000 jobs at its mines and smelters in response to weak prices for the metal and power supply problems.

Mothercare failed to raise as much as it had hoped through the clearance of stock when it closed its stores across the UK this month, leaving it to make up a £10m shortfall to lenders.

Hotel Chocolat blamed difficulties supplying its customers for a slowdown in growth at the end of last year as it pursues expansion into the US and Japan.

Online fashion retailer Asos bounced back from a difficult year, growing sales by a fifth in its most recent trading period, better than the market expected and a further sign of recovery after two profit warnings.

Wall Street ended about steady while European stocks finished in the red on Wednesday as markets remained focused on the economic impact of a virus that originated in China and has begun to spread to other parts of the globe.

Bruno Le Maire struck a defiant tone on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, saying France would continue with its plans for a digital tax if there was no agreement at the OECD on an international taxation.

UK manufacturers have become much more optimistic about their business outlook since October, according to a survey published on Wednesday that points to a possible rebound in economic growth since the December general election.

Daimler warned that 2019 profits would be hit by up to €1.5bn in litigation costs related to the diesel emissions scandal, the latest blow to the struggling carmaker’s efforts to fund its electric shift.

Burberry has boosted its revenue outlook for the year as rapid sales growth in mainland China helped to neutralise the blow it has taken from protests in Hong Kong and its efforts to shift the brand upmarket gather pace.

IBM inched back to a position of growth by the thinnest of margins in the final quarter of last year, as a new mainframe product cycle helped it shake off the effects of a secular decline in its giant IT outsourcing operations.