Thursday newspaper round-up: Brexit, BP chief, Elon Musk, Tesco

Brexit uncertainty has crushed confidence in the property market, according to the official surveyors’ body, with buyers evaporating, prices falling and sales taking a record amount of time to complete. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said the time taken to complete a property sale has widened to 19 weeks, the longest duration since it began collecting data. – Guardian

Theresa May is fighting to keep the delicate Brexit negotiations on track after the DUP threatened to vote down the budget and bring down her premiership if a divorce deal meant that Northern Ireland was treated separately from the rest of the UK. The prime minister responded by summoning senior cabinet members to Downing Street on Thursday, where she was expected to update them on progress amid signs that the sabre-rattling DUP and the Tory right were acting in concert against her. – Guardian

BP chief executive Bob Dudley has branded fears that the oil industry’s $1 trillion investments in oil and gas could be left stranded by a shift to low-carbon energy as misguided. The oil boss said campaigners calling for financial institutions to divest from oil and gas companies to avoid so-called ‘stranded assets’ are underestimating the flexibility of oil companies. – Telegraph

Elon Musk has shot down reports that James Murdoch was the frontrunner to take his role as Tesla chairman when he steps down next month. Mr Musk was forced from his post as part of a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over alleged securities fraud, where he claimed he had "funding secured" for a takeover of the electric car maker. – Telegraph

The boss of Tesco said he felt “genuine shock” when three weeks after joining the group he was presented with a document alleging that the supermarket had materially misstated its profit forecast by nearly £250 million. Dave Lewis, chief executive of Britain’s biggest grocer, told Southwark crown court that although aware that Tesco’s business was under enormous pressure soon after joining in September 2014, he had no hint from senior management that any figures reported to the City may have been misstated. – The Times

More than 20 cases of alleged bullying and harassment have been investigated by the Bank of England since Mark Carney became governor five years ago with a promise to professionalise the central bank. In response to a freedom of information request, the Bank said that the 21 incidents it had investigated since July 2013 included cases both inside and out of the workplace, social events and business trips. – The Times