UK retail sales fall in September

UK retail sales fell again September, the second month in succession they have declined, official data has shown.

Sales last month were 0.2% lower than August, led by falls in clothing and car fuel sales, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS also revised down August's decline, saying sales that month slipped by 0.7% compared with its original calculation of 0.5%.

The data comes as a number of retailers have warned of weak trading conditions.

Three such warnings have come this week from Debenhams, Argos-owner Home Retail Group, and sportswear chain Sports Direct.

The ONS said that compared with the same month last year sales in September were 0.5% higher. However, this was below analysts' expectations of a 1% rise.

BAE faces 'modest' hit from UK defence cuts

BAE Systems has said that the impact on its business of the UK government's defence cuts will only be "modest".

While the defence group has been hit by some cuts - such as the retirement of the Harrier jet - a number of its manufacturing contracts will continue.

These include the two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, of which BAE is a lead member of the consortium that is building them.

Outside of the UK, BAE said it was enjoying strong business in the US.

Credit Suisse profits hurt by weak market

Credit Suisse's profits fell 74% in the third quarter, thanks to choppy stock markets hitting its investment bank.

The Swiss bank earned 609m Swiss francs ($630m, £400m) during the three months, down from 2.4bn francs a year ago.

Investment banking revenues fell by 30%, mainly because of low client activity in the group's equity advisory and underwriting businesses.

Stock markets took a battering over the summer because of fears over eurozone debt and a US double-dip recession.

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As a result, fewer companies paid the bank to arrange share offerings, advise on mergers and acquisitions, or provide other such services during the quarter.

Toyota to recall over a million cars in US and Japan

Toyota has announced a recall of more than 1.5 million cars worldwide over brake and fuel pump defects.

The carmaker said the decision affected certain Avalon, Highlander and Lexus cars, including 740,000 cars in the US, 600,000 in Japan and 17,000 in the UK.

It wants to ensure that fluid does not leak from the brake master cylinder, causing the warning light to turn on.

The fault could cause the brake pedal to feel spongy, and braking performance to "gradually decline".

China's rapid economic growth slows in third quarter

China says its economy has maintained robust growth in the third quarter of 2010, but at a slightly lower rate.

Official figures show a drop from just over 10% growth to 9.6%.

This leaves China still far ahead of any major economy, but experts fear the slowdown will reduce the contribution China can make to a global recovery.

The Chinese government has recently taken measures to cool a credit boom in order to achieve more sustainable growth levels.

Spending Review: Osborne defends 'fairness' of cuts

Chancellor George Osborne has defended the "fairness" of his UK spending cuts after Labour claims they were reckless and would hit the poorest hardest.

He told the BBC that including Budget measures, the top 10% of earners would be hit hardest but everyone was making a contribution to cutting the deficit.

He said "the path to economic ruin" lay ahead if the deficit was not tackled.

Labour called the £81bn cuts - the biggest since the 1970s - a "reckless gamble" with the economy.