Norway’s trillion-dollar national oil fund modestly undershot its benchmark for the first time in two years in the second quarter, with equities dragged down by global tensions over trade and bond investments muted, despite a flicker of volatility stemming from Italy.

The UK has posted its biggest July government surplus since 2000, according to figures published on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics.

The body representing National Health Service hospitals and ambulances has written to NHS England to warn that a hard Brexit or no-deal scenario could adversely affect “the entire supply chain of pharmaceuticals” in the UK and hit “disease control.”

The dollar lost ground on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump’s latest broadside against the Federal Reserve. 

Wood, the FTSE 250 energy services group, reported a strong performance in the first six months of the year as the global recovery in oil and gas markets boosted revenues by 13 per cent.

Toy train maker Hornby put and end to delays on Tuesday by announcing the appointment of a new chairman who will take up the role “with immediate effect”.

Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, has defeated a Liberal party leadership challenge by Peter Dutton, a conservative lawmaker and home affairs minister in his government.

Persimmon, the UK’s second largest housebuilder, has posted a 13 per cent rise in profits for the first half of 2018 as the government’s Help-to-Buy scheme and low interest rates continue to support to demand for its houses.

Jeremy Hunt has called for EU sanctions on Russia over the Salisbury chemical attack, a move likely to be met with resistance from Brussels. 

Chinese stocks rose across the board on Tuesday despite Donald Trump downplaying expectations for upcoming US-China trade talks. 

Australia’s central bank reiterated that it had no plans to adjust monetary policy in the near term in its August monetary policy meeting minutes released on Tuesday and pointed to potential risks from global trade tensions and the impact of a drought that has hit rural Australia.

The dollar continued to fall while the euro and yen firmed on Tuesday after Donald Trump’s criticised the Federal Reserve overnight and as expectations mellowed ahead of trade talks between US and China later this week.

Rohingya refugees returning to Myanmar have been tortured and imprisoned by authorities, according to a report from US-based Human Rights Watch, based on interviews with the alleged victims.

The dollar lost more ground and stocks were lower in early Asia-Pacific trading on Tuesday after Donald Trump’s latest broadside at the US central bank overnight. 

BHP Billiton reported underlying profits increased by a third in the year through June as the world’s biggest miner benefited from higher commodity prices and increasing volumes.

Credit Suisse has become the first bank to issue debt tied to the new US interest rate chosen to replace the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), selling a $100m six-month certificate of deposit on Monday.

Venezuela resorted to desperate measures to arrest an economic collapse on Monday, lopping five zeros off the bolívar, devaluing it by 95 per cent and tying it to an obscure state-run cryptocurrency.

A unit of Interactive Brokers Group has been hit with a $5.5m fine by a Wall Street regulator for alleged violations of rules involving naked short selling. 

Shares of rental car company Hertz Global Holdings dropped 3.1 per cent on Monday evening, after the company announced that it was replacing its chief financial officer.

Wall Street trudged higher for a third straight session on Monday, on the eve of equalling the record for the longest US postwar bull market.

US President Donald Trump has told Reuters that he was “not thrilled” with Federal Reserve chairman Jay Powell’s decision to raise interest rates, in the latest criticism lobbed by the president against the central bank.

Merrill Lynch, the broker-dealer and investment advisory subsidiary of Bank of America, has agreed to pay $8.9 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission claims that it failed to disclose a conflict of interest when making decisions on products managed by an outside advisory firm.

The US government has approved the latest sale of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move allowed under recent statutes that will inject additional supplies into the world market as Washington tightens screws on Iran.

The US economy is performing well and is no longer in need of the stimulus that propped it up in the wake of the financial crisis, according to one of the members of the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee.