Oil prices hit a record of more than $120 a barrel, driven by supply disruptions in Nigeria and optimism that the US might escape recession. Demand from the Olympics has also helped to raise oil prices by 25% this year.
TUESDAY
Aberdeen Asset Management takes a bullish position on the property market with the £110m acquisition of Goodman Property Investors. The combined entity makes it Britain's second-biggest property fund manager behind Aviva's Morley.
UBS, the troubled Swiss bank that has written off £18.5bn amid the credit crisis, cuts 5,500 jobs and announces it will sell $22bn of sub-prime mortgage assets.
British Airways announces that the chaotic opening of Heathrow's Terminal 5 has led to its worst April since the start of the Iraq war. The airline said that passenger numbers had fallen by 7.9%, or 221,000 people, to 2.5 million.
WEDNESDAYBarclaycard faces a backlash after announcing plans to close its Goldfish subsidiary's call centre in Cumbernauld, leading to the loss of 900 jobs.
Barclaycard plans to integrate Goldfish into its own operation and said it no longer needed the Cumbernauld centre. It has entered a three-month consultation with employees and union leaders before deciding whether to go ahead with the closure.
THURSDAYUS electrical giant BestBuy moves to take a 50% stake in Carphone Warehouse's retail business for £1.1bn, with analysts saying this could lead to a buyout. Charles Dunstone, Carphone's founder and chief executive, denied any immediate plans to sell out.
FRIDAYThe Ministry of Justice announces that home repossession orders are nearing the level last seen in the recession of the early 1990s after rising by 16% in the first quarter of this year.
Diageo announces it will spend millions on a new brewery near Dublin. The London-based beer and spirits maker said it will renovate its central Dublin brewery at St James's Gate, but will close two smaller breweries by 2013 and cut its Irish brewery workforce by more than half.
GOOD WEEKCharles DunstoneThe Carphone Warehouse founder sold a half share in its retailing business to US firm Best Buy for £1.1bn. The deal is intended to create a powerful new force in UK and European electronics and electrical retailing.
BAD WEEKMichael GradeITV's executive chairman saw the broadcaster hit with a record £5.68m fine by Ofcom, which said ITV had cheated viewers over phone-in competitions on some of its most popular shows, such as Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.
