Paolo Gentiloni, Italy’s prime minister, will host Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, in Rome on Thursday afternoon, on the eve of Theresa May’s big speech in Florence on the UK’s departure from the 28-member bloc.

Michael O’Leary insisted Ryanair’s abrupt cancellation of more than 2,000 flights will not undermine its profit guidance this year as he said the airline was getting ahead of the problem.

Britain’s public finance deficit was the narrowest in August than it has been in that month over the past decade, providing the government more breathing room when it delivers its November budget plans.

TSB has appointed Richard Meddings, a former finance chief at Standard Chartered, as a non-executive director, paving the way for him to become the next chairman of the bank.

The European Central Bank has announced plans to launch a new reference point for overnight interest rates, opening up a new alternative to the private-sector benchmarks that have been hit by scandal and are in the process of reform.

Standard & Poor’s has cut its rating on China by one notch weeks before the country is expected to launch a rare dollar bond, with the ratings agency citing rising economic and financial risks after a long period of heavy credit growth.

Sweden’s currency rose modestly on Thursday against the common currency after the Riksbank said in its most recent monetary policy minutes that it “welcomed” progress on inflation.

The good news is that half of companies in the eurozone have no intention to adjust plans for investment in the UK as a result of Brexit, according to a new survey by Swiss bank UBS, and 13 per cent expect UK investment to rise.

The less rosy news is that the more nervous companies are growing more concerned.

UK construction group Kier rose almost 7 per cent on Thursday, contrasting a 0.3 per cent decline for the mid-cap FTSE 250 index, after it posted optimistic full-year earnings.

More pain to come.

The price of iron ore has declined about 10 per cent over the past five sessions to trade at near $69 a tonne, the lowest it has been in two months, and analysts expect further pressure over the next quarter.

Ryanair could sell tickets for its AGM later today – if it weren’t for the fact that it would probably have to cancel a whole load of them at very short notice owing to a mess-up with its boardroom holiday rota.

Russia’s central bank said on Thursday it will nationalise B&N Bank in the second rescue of a top lender in three weeks.

Dorothy Thompson, one of the few women at the top of the UK energy sector, is leaving her role as CEO of Drax after 12 years.

Kier Group said its profits and sales rose in its latest fiscal year, with the UK construction group remaining confident that its main businesses are “relatively unaffected” by Brexit uncertainty.

The chief executive of Compass Group, the world’s largest catering group, is stepping down.

Sleepy market conditions are holding back the big banks. But have-a-go retail traders still seem to be finding flickers of volatility to punt on, judging from the latest update from online trading house IG Group, which has produced record revenues.

Theresa May appeared to place Donald Trump in the same category as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in terms of the threat they pose to global values in a speech to the UN on Wednesday.

Japan’s central bank opted to hold interest rates steady on Thursday as a new board member dissented in favour of further monetary easing.

A Chinese feminist activist who was banned from leaving mainland China for a decade has been given back her travel documents and allowed to travel.

China International Capital Corp popped as much as 19 per cent in Hong Kong on Thursday after Tencent announced a $370m investment and “strategic co-operation” with the brokerage.

Google has deepened its smartphone manufacturing operations with an agreement to pay $1.1bn to transfer about 2,000 staff from Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC. The companies have also inked a separate non-exclusive license agreement for HTC’s intellectual property, the terms of which have not been disclosed.

Asia Pacific stock markets diverged in Thursday trading after the Fed on Wednesday announced that it would begin paring back its balance sheet in October and left the door open for another rise in short-term borrowing costs in 2017.

Shares in Australian gold miners were down on Thursday as the price of the precious metal neared a one-month low after the US central bank said it would start to reverse its crisis-era stimulus programme from next month.

Police have arrested a 17-year-old man in south London in connection to a botched bomb attack on the London Underground on Friday, bringing the total arrests to six.