Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s biggest domestic lender, has launched a €4.86bn ($5.26bn) takeover bid for its rival UBI Banca in an audacious attempt to kick-start consolidation in Italy's fragmented banking sector.

The new chief executive of BHP said he wanted to expand in the commodities that would be needed in the shift to a low-carbon economy and was prepared to sell its thermal coal assets at the right price.

Sustainability consultant ERM has expanded its presence with the acquisition of Critical Resource, a London-based group focused on the natural resources industry.

Global markets rose after Beijing signalled it was likely to ramp up stimulus measures as authorities seek to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus outbreak.

French high-speed rail maker Alstom has agreed to buy Canadian Bombardier’s train unit in a deal worth close to €7.5bn, as it looks to bulk up in the face of rising Chinese competition and growing demand in Europe.

NMC Health’s founder BR Shetty has quit the board of the hospital operator as scrutiny of the FTSE 100 company’s ownership structure and finances intensifies.

Anglo American Platinum’s chief executive Chris Griffith is to step down after more than seven years at the helm.

Jupiter Fund Management’s chief executive Andrew Formica has launched a defence of stock picking even after the fund management group agreed to buy a rival that has lost a third of its value in the past two years.

Despite a holiday-shortened week in the US, investors have a busy calendar ahead with remarks from Federal Reserve policymakers, the release of Fed minutes, elections in Iran and negotiations over the European Union’s budget.

US stocks closed at record highs and registered their second weekly gain in a row, as investors put uncertainty over the coronavirus outbreak on the back burner.

US industrial output declined for the fourth time in the past five months, depressed by warm weather and a halt in Boeing’s production of the 737 Max.

US consumers kicked off 2020 in a steady fashion, with headline retail sales rising slightly, although underlying measures of discretionary spending stalled and growth in previous months was revised lower.

Volkswagen has attempted to circumvent Germany’s largest collective lawsuit by offering more than 400,000 customers direct compensation for vehicles that were installed with diesel emissions cheat devices ahead of a critical court date in May.

Khalifa al-Muhairi, one of NMC’s controlling shareholders, has resigned from the board of the healthcare group after a turbulent few months in which the company’s finances and ownership structure have been questioned.

EDF has laid out a higher earnings target for this year after core annual profits rose on the back of better power prices in the UK and France and a strong performance in renewables.

Royal Bank of Scotland will drop its 300-year-old company name and rebrand as NatWest as its chief executive prepares a sweeping overhaul for a new era of less profitable but more sustainable banking.

Renault’s profits were nearly wiped out last year as it faced falling margins in its core business and a collapse in income from its alliance partner Nissan.

Crédit Agricole’s profits surged in the fourth quarter after securing a favourable outcome to a tax dispute over a calamitous investment in Greece.

Nvidia surged back to growth in its latest quarter, after four quarters of contraction caused by a sharp drop-off in demand in the crypto-mining and data centre markets.

US stocks snapped a three-day winning streak but erased much of their early losses that came after China reported a jump in cases of coronavirus.

Concerned, but cautious. That sums up the Bank of Mexico’s latest widely-expected 25 basis point rate cut, which brought its benchmark lending rate to 7 per cent, a nearly three-year low.

Investors were unimpressed with AIG’s outlook for 2020 and a new savings target for its cost-saving programme, and sending shares in the US insurer down by 3.6 per cent in mid-day trading after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings.

Sajid Javid’s resignation as UK chancellor jolted financial markets on Thursday, as investors bet that his replacement Rishi Sunak would be more likely to unveil a big spending boost in next month’s Budget.

Brazil’s central bank stepped in to shore up its flagging currency after it fell to yet another record low against the dollar and solidified its ranking as the worst-performing emerging market currency this year.

Tesla announced plans to raise up to $2.3bn by issuing fresh shares even as it disclosed the US Securities and Exchange Commission was scrutinising its “financing arrangements”.