Iran has described the Trump administration’s decision to impose sanctions on its supreme leader and top diplomat as an act that “blocks diplomacy forever”.

Petrofac, the oilfield services company which remains under investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, said it has experienced “challenges” winning new work in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, two markets that were recently cited in the corruption inquiry.

Fashion retailer New Look has fallen to a full-year loss of over £500m after writing off £402m of goodwill and brand value, and added that current trading is "challenging" because of Brexit uncertainty and miserable weather.

Stock markets fell on Tuesday, the dollar re-tested its recent lows and gold extended its six-year high as investors remained shy of riskier assets and sought safety ahead of an expected meeting between the presidents of China and the US. 

The UK water regulator has slapped another fine on Southern Water, one of England’s biggest water companies, for “serious failures” at its sewage treatment sites and “deliberately misreporting” its performance, and has demanded the water company pay a rebate to customers.

Carpetright said it returned to sales growth in its new financial year and that its turnround plan is on track following an emergency restructuring to close shops and reduce rents last year.

The US dollar continued to lose ground on Tuesday amid rising expectations of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, boosting other major currencies ahead of speeches by US rate-setters this week. 

The rally in gold continued in Asian trading on Tuesday with prices hitting a fresh, more than six-year high on the back of a weakening US dollar and heightened geopolitical tensions. 

China will issue Rmb2bn ($290.6m) of bonds in Macau in July, marking the first offshore issuance by the country's central government in the former Portuguese colony.

China’s vice-premier had a phone call with Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury secretary and Robert Lighthizer, US trade representative, on Monday, as trade talks resume ahead of an expected meeting of the two countries’ leaders later this week.

US stocks finished in the red on Monday after news of the Trump administration’s new sanctions on Iran wore down a positive start to the session that came courtesy of technology stocks.

Shares in some of the US’s biggest beauty and cosmetics groups lost their shine on Monday after Amazon unveiled a fresh push into the space.

Beyond Meat was poised to extend its longest losing streak since going public last month, taking some of the sizzle out of the high-flying vegan burger stock.

WarnerMedia has hired Ann Sarnoff as chief executive of Warner Bros, filling one of the biggest jobs in Hollywood after the storied studio’s previous chief was ousted in the wake of misconduct allegations.

Milan-Cortina has been selected as the host of the 2026 Winter Olympics, beating its only rival Stockholm for the prize of holding one of the world’s biggest sporting events.

Gold jumped to a six-year high and Treasuries rallied as Donald Trump said on Monday the US would impose new sanctions on Iran, spurring demand among investors for haven assets.

Lamine Diack, the former head of the International Association of Athletics Federation, will stand trial in France over allegations of corruption linked to a Russian doping scandal.

Global regulators stepped up their condemnation of intentional defaults by companies aimed at triggering payouts on credit default swaps on Monday, announcing a joint effort among US and UK officials to address concerns raised by a string of contentious deals.

Acacia Mining has hit back against Barrick Gold, accusing its biggest shareholder of trying to take advantage of problems it has helped inflame to buy the company at a knockdown price.

New trade barriers imposed by G20 economies threaten to crimp the global economy, the World Trade Organization said in a report published on Monday.

The overhaul of Poland’s supreme court that forced a third of its judges into early retirement broke EU law, the bloc’s top court said in a landmark ruling on Monday.

President Donald Trump continued his long-running attack on the Federal Reserve on Monday, complaining the US central bank “doesn’t know what it is doing”.

Falling morale among Germany’s business leaders has added to the gloom surrounding the eurozone’s biggest economy, as a leading index showed that the mood among managers has weakened to its lowest level in nearly five years.

Europe’s largest insurer Allianz has lost one of its most important distribution channels for life insurance in Spain as it sold a 60 per cent stake in joint venture Allianz Popular to the country’s biggest lender Banco Santander, cashing in €937m.