HSBC cut its profitability targets due to the cost of tougher banking regulations, joining rivals such as Barclays, and disappointed investors with below forecast 2010 earnings Read the full story

Japan’s economy shrank slightly in the final quarter of 2010 but analysts expect a recovery this year as stronger exports to China and other parts of fast-growing Asia offset persistently weak domestic demand. Read the full story

The Chinese have spotted another buying opportunity: Europe. After snapping up large tracts of Africa to extract oil and minerals, Chinese businesses are taking advantage of cash-strapped eurozone nations to gain a foothold. Read the full story

The euro plunged and US stock markets dived last night after Spain was stripped of its top-level credit rating by a leading rating agency over concerns about its economic growth. Read the full story

Nervous trading in Tokyo sent the euro into an early nosedive on Monday morning, as fears of further debt crisis contagion and stalling growth crept across dealing rooms. Read the full story

Nigeria’s state-run oil firm NNPC and China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) have signed a $23bn (£16bn; 18bn euros) deal. Read the full story

China’s inflation accelerated in April after house and food prices jumped and bank lending increased. The news will fuel concerns that the world’s third-largest economy is overheating and that Beijing may need to raise interest rates. Read the full story

Europe’s debt crisis mushroomed Wednesday as Spain saw its credit rating lowered, just as Germany sought to reassure nervous investors that Greece would not be allowed to go under, saying Berlin’s share of a key aid package could be approved in the next few days. Read the full story

The Goldman Sachs trader at the centre of fraud allegations denied wrongdoing today as he faced a hostile committee of U.S. senators. Read the full story

The City watchdog has announced it is launching a formal investigation into Goldman Sachs in relation to recent fraud allegations in the US. Read the full story

State-run Chinaoil has sold two gasoline cargoes for April delivery to Iran, industry sources said on Wednesday, stepping into a void left by fuel suppliers halting shipments under threat of U.S. sanctions. Read the full story

British Airways and Spanish airline Iberia have signed a deal to merge and create one of the world’s biggest airline groups. The merger, which was provisionally agreed in November last year, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Read the full story

A TOP executive in scandal-hit Anglo Irish Bank last night accused its former senior managers of thinking they “could walk on water”, as the disgraced lender announced the biggest corporate loss – €12.7bn – in Irish history. Read the full story

CHINESE car maker Zhejiang Geely agreed yesterday to buy Volvo for $1.8bn (€1.34bn), the biggest ever purchase of a car maker by a Chinese company. Read the full story

Google should obey Chinese government rules even if it decides to retreat from the country over hacking and censorship complaints, a Chinese government spokesman said on Tuesday. Read the full story

China’s demand for oil jumped by an “astonishing” 28% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. Read the full story

The companies said on Thursday that BP has also agreed to sell Devon a 50 percent stake in its Kirby oil sands interests in Alberta, Canada, for $500 million and that the two companies would form a venture to develop Kirby. Read the full story

The Mexican telecoms magnate Carlos Slim Helú has been named the world’s richest man, with a net worth of $53.5 billion (£36 billion), the first time since 1994 that the No 1 spot has been held by a non-US citizen. Read the full story