British Land half-year resultsBritish Land may pay more attention to today’s draft Brexit agreement than the Little Englanders in Theresa May’s cabinet. As owner of the City of London’s Broadgate office development and the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield, the property group arguably has more invested than any of them in the future of financial services — and of consumers’ finances.

UK engineering conglomerate Smiths Group said on Wednesday it planned to separate out its medical devices division to allow it to focus on its core industrial technology businesses.

UK big-six energy supplier SSE said it would rethink its exposure to commodity markets after its profits tumbled by over 40 per cent on Wednesday on high gas prices and a drop in renewables production.

The rented housing group Grainger is to buy out the Dutch pension fund APG from a joint venture in a £396m expansion of its property portfolio.

Samsung BioLogics, the biopharmaceutical unit of Samsung Group, violated accounting rules in 2015 by inflating the value of an affiliate group, South Korea’s financial watchdog said on Wednesday.

Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Alison Rose as deputy head of the ringfenced bank that accounts for the vast majority of its business, signalling her position as the leading internal candidate to succeed group chief executive Ross McEwan.

The landmark deal between German utilities Eon and RWE remains on track for completion next year, RWE said on Tuesday, as both groups reported quarterly results that were broadly in line with market expectations and reaffirmed their full year targets.

German payments company Wirecard has upped its profit guidance for the third time this year on the back of an “extremely successful” third quarter.

British Land swung to a net loss of £42m in the first half as difficulties on the UK high street cut into the value of its properties.

Profits at office space developer Workspace are suffering from a slowdown in the property market.

Well, that didn’t last long.

Struggling UK-based regional airline Flybe has announced it is putting itself up for sale as it delivered another disappointing set of results.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, contracted for the first time in more than three years, shrinking by 0.2 per cent between the second and third quarter on the back of a fall in exports.

Iran hanged two foreign currency and gold coin dealers on Wednesday on charges of pushing up prices in the open market as the Islamic republic is struggling to keep the country’s economy under control in face of US sanctions.

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 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.