US orders for long-lasting manufactured goods bounced back sharply in March from their steepest drop in four months, topping market expectations and adding to a view the American economy may be more resilient than a recent run of patchy economic data have suggested.

Bristol-Myers Squibb raised forecasts for the full year after it beat expectations on earnings and revenue in the first quarter, driven by soaring sales of its stroke prevention and cancer drugs.

Package delivery company UPS, often seen as an economic bellwether, stuck to its full-year guidance even as severe weather in the US earlier this year contributed to its first-quarter results missing market expectations.

UK bus and rail operator Stagecoach has announced that it will launch a share buyback programme worth up to £60m over the next year.

AbbVie beat expectations on earnings and raised forecasts despite suffering a 28 per cent drop in international sales of Humira, its blockbuster drug for inflammatory diseases, due to biosimilar competition outside the US.

The UK government has not proposed a bill designed to implement the prime minister’s fragile Brexit withdrawal treaty.

Turkey’s central bank sharpened investor concerns on Thursday as it dropped a reference to further monetary tightening in its latest rate decision and disclosed a further fall in its hard currency reserves.

Industrial products group 3M said it plans to shed jobs globally as it restructures the business, and reduced this year’s earnings guidance after it reported first-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street expectations.

Southwest Airlines reported better than expected first-quarter results despite being hit by a plethora of problems during the period — not least the crisis that has led to the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s powerful president and communist party leader, has fallen ill, Vietnam’s government said on Thursday, confirming for the first time widespread reports that the 75-year-old leader was in ill health.

Hit films like Us and How to Train Your Dragon boosted Universal Studio sales at the start of the year, while parent company Comcast surpassed forecasts for earnings in the first quarter.

Swedbank is setting up a unit to tackle financial crime as Sweden’s oldest bank struggles to get on top of a money laundering scandal that has wiped off more than a quarter of its market capitalisation. 

Pressure is mounting on Theresa May’s government to instigate an inquiry into the leak from the National Security Council on the decision to allow Huawei to participate in the UK’s 5G network.

Russian internet giant Yandex reported a sharp rise in revenues in the first quarter of 2019 on the back of growth in its core search and advertising business.

Mail.ru, one of Russia’s largest internet companies, posted a much faster decline in profits than expected in the first quarter thanks to heavy quarterly operating costs.

The FTSE 100 chemicals group Croda, which makes ingredients for products such as lipstick and suncream, has suffered a minor investor revolt over boardroom pay.

Climate change protesters who have brought key parts of London to a standstill this month hit the City on Thursday morning in an effort to “swarm” the Square Mile and cause roadblocks targeting the financial sector.

The number of homicides recorded by police in England and Wales has risen to the highest level in over a decade, according to official data.

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have abandoned their merger talks, bowing to shareholder concerns and employee resistance in a move that could open the door for foreign rivals to acquire the smaller of the Frankfurt-based rivals.

X5, Russia’s largest food retailer, beat analysts’ expectations in the first quarter on the back of strong sales and continued store expansion.

Flagging sales of pens in India and lighters in North America knocked revenues at French stationery maker Bic at the beginning of 2019.

Wirecard sought to put an accounting scandal behind it on Thursday as the German payments group announced that auditor EY signed off its 2018 accounts and that the supervisory board had agreed measures to improve processes at the company. 

Nintendo posted sales of its Switch video-gaming console in line with forecasts, and experienced strong growth in game sales, ahead of a potential push into the Chinese game market with Tencent. 

Sweden’s Riksbank said it will hold its main rate steady longer than previously expected and announced an 18-month bond-buying programme to start from July — the latest major central bank to take a more dovish shift on monetary policy.