Theresa May faces the most dangerous moment of her premiership on Wednesday as she challenges her divided cabinet to back a draft Brexit treaty and attempts to face down Conservative Eurosceptics.

Edward Hopper’s iconic Chop Suey netted $85m from an anonymous buyer on Tuesday night, capping off Christie’s Barney A Ebsworth collection sale.

Steve Cohen, the legendary hedge fund investor, says he has raised about $5bn from investors since opening his family office to outside money earlier this year.

US authorities are investigating complaints that Snap misled investors about Instagram’s threat to Snapchat’s growth, in the run-up to last year’s initial public offering. 

Oil prices were more stable on Wednesday in Asia but the previous session’s sharp fall on demand concerns weighed on energy stocks in the region while the pound climbed ahead of a cabinet meeting to agree the draft Brexit treaty.

Retail sales growth in China unexpectedly dipped to the slowest pace since May last month while real estate sales decelerated further, even as official data showed industrial output and fixed asset investment picking up.

Oil prices steadied on Wednesday following a 7 per cent plunge on Tuesday on concerns over a slowdown in the global economy combined with higher US supply.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Tuesday said after years of leasing, it is snapping up one of New York City’s busiest transportation hubs and major landmark, Grand Central Terminal.

Oil prices tumbled more than 6 per cent on Tuesday to eight-month lows as global producers and traders weighed the prospect of supplies overwhelming demand amid worries about a slowdown in economic growth.

UK-based life insurer Prudential said its profits from new business rose by 17 per cent in the first nine months of the year, driven by record performances in some of its Asian operations.

Blue Apron on Tuesday unveiled plans to reduce its workforce as it seeks to become profitable in 2019, even as the meal kit delivery service’s third-quarter revenues fell more than feared because of a decrease in customers.

Wall Street ended mixed on Tuesday as a prolonged sell-off in oil prices overshadowed a rebound in technology shares.

Starbucks will lay off about 350 corporate employees as part of a broader restructuring plan, according to a memo chief executive Kevin Johnson sent to employees on Tuesday.

A leading whistleblowing lawyer has accused the Bank of England of “mis-statements and flaws” over its report that weighed against paying money to people coming forward with information on wrongdoing.

Juul’s chief executive Kevin Burns has said underage use of ecigarettes has become a “serious” problem as the company pulled sweet flavours of its nicotine liquids from more than 90,000 retailers to comply with an imminent regulatory crackdown.

♫ Sweetgreen(s) are made of this: ♫ a valuation ♫ of more than $1bn.

Oil lurched lower on Tuesday with US crude extending its longest losing streak on record and eyeing its worst day in over two and a half years.

Susanna Dinnage, a senior executive at US TV network Discovery, has been selected to be the next chief executive of the English Premier League, one of the world’s most watched and valuable sporting competitions.

Angela Merkel has backed Emmanuel Macron’s call for the creation of a European army, using a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to make a passionate appeal for closer defence co-operation between EU member states.

Tyson Foods, one of the biggest food producers in the world, said it will raise prices across its business segments in an effort to claw back higher costs associated with tariffs, freight and labour.

Goldman Sachs on Tuesday added to the chorus of Wall Street analysts with downbeat views of Apple iPhone sales after some of the company’s suppliers lowered their revenue expectations.

AllianceBernstein has launched a new version of its virtual bond trading assistant “Abbie” that will now be able to suggest junk bond trades to the investment group’s fund managers, highlighting how asset managers and banks are trying to modernise the fixed income universe.

The British pound ripped higher, adding to its earlier gains on Tuesday, amid growing optimism a Brexit deal is close to being agreed.

Russia will boycott next year’s World Economic Forum in Davos if the conference does not remove restrictions barring three US-sanctioned businessmen from attending, prime minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.