Weekly Review

The FTSE 100 finished up 157.74 points on the week at 6,546.47.

Equity view

Britain’s four main banks this week passed stress tests by the European Central Bank. The test assessed each bank’s capital adequacy against a 5.5% common-equity tier-1 capital benchmark.

Salamander Energy’s shares jumped the company received a proposal from Ophir Energy and a separate approach by another consortium or investors to potentially buy the British oil and gas explorer.

Lower prices and higher costs led to a 26% drop in adjusted profits at BG Group in the third quarter despite revenues at the natural gas firm growing 4% over last year.

Underlying profits grew 44% at Lloyds in the third quarter as it confirmed cost-cutting plans to cut 9,000 jobs and close a net 150 branches, but a further provision for miss-sold PPI were worse than anticipated.

BP impressed investors after the oil major reported a less-than-expected 18% decline in underlying replacement cost profits in the third quarter and said it was "well on track" to hit its targets this year.

Standard Chartered saw shares tumble to a five-year low after the bank delivered its second profit warning in five months after a 16% drop in profits in the third quarter. It said full-year profits are expected to be below 2013, compared with earlier guidance for an improvement.

Fashion retailer Next lowered its guidance for full-year sales and profits after warm weather in September and October hit sales.

The Serious Fraud Office has confirmed that it has begun a criminal investigation into Tesco's accounting practices, leading the Financial Conduct Authority to call off its own probe.

Shell named a replacement for chairman Jorma Ollila who is to step down after nine years, as the company reported a bigger-than-expected 26% jump in third-quarter earnings despite lower oil prices.

Telecoms titan BT Group reported second-quarter results above market forecasts as strong demand for fibre broadband and sports channels led to a decent jump in profits.

Barclays unveiled a 14% rise in third-quarter adjusted pre-tax profit, well ahead of forecasts, as it held costs to a five-year quarterly low and made a £670m provision against fines for rigging forex and PPI mis-selling.

Royal Bank of Scotland swung to a better-than-forecast £1.3bn in the third quarter of 2014, compared with a loss the year before, and said it was making early progress in its strategy to create a "simpler, clearer and fairer" bank.

Tougher comparatives led to a slowdown in organic growth at advertising and media giant WPP in the third quarter, though the company maintained its guidance for the full year.

Anglo-Spanish airline conglomerate IAG reported a big jump in third-quarter profits on the back of falling fuel costs and lifted its guidance for full-year growth.

Economic news

The gap between electricity supply and demand is expected to be at historical high levels this year, National Grid has revealed.

House prices in England and Wales fell 0.2% month-on-month in September, to reach £177,299, according to the Land Registry.

Mortgage approvals for home purchases slipped to a 16-month low of 61,267 in September from the 64,054 the previous month. That was below the 62,000 forecast by economists.

House prices as measured by mortgage lender Halifax’s home price index advanced by 0.5% month-on-month in October and by 9% year-on-year.

The UK GfK index of consumer confidence dropped to a seasonally adjusted -2 in October from -1 in September, matching analyst expectations.

The Financial Policy Committee announced tougher leverage ratio requirements for the UK's largest banks on Friday, though the rules were seen as softer than many had feared.

International events

The results from a European Central Bank study found that 25 of the Eurozone's 130 largest banks had failed stress tests with a total capital shortfall of €25bn identified.

German business confidence, according to the IFO Institute, fell to a 22-month low of 103.2 in October, from 104.7 the month before, much lower than forecasts.

Incumbent Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff narrowly won an extremely close election. Rousseff got 51.6% of the vote, while opposing candidate Aecio Neves received 48.4%.

Swiss banking giant UBS missed market forecasts with its third-quarter profits after being hit by a CHF1.8bn (£1.2bn) legal provision to do with a case on alleged currency rigging.

The Federal Open Market Committee this week voted to end its quantitative easing programme. While the decision came as no surprise and the Fed maintained its pledge to keep interest rates low for a "considerable time", analysts highlighted a hawkish tone to the accompanying statement.

The Bank of Japan has unexpectedly expanded its monetary easing plan in a bid to revive growth amid downwards pressure on prices and falling consumer spending.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim announced that he will cut a net total of 250 jobs to kick-start restructuring plans