Business week in pictures

The Bank of England, pictured, has warned the economy is grinding to a halt and has slashed its growth forecast for the coming year, leaving the door open for it to pump more money into the economy. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Thanks largely to supermarket food price wars, inflation on the CPI measure last month fell to 5%, down from 5.2% in September and below economists' expectations for 5.1%. Food prices fell by 0.9% between September and October, the biggest drop for those two months since 1996, as vegetables and fruit fell fastest. Changes in air fares and petrol prices also helped. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Youth unemployment has broken through the 1 million mark to a record high and the UK's wider unemployment rate has climbed to a 15-year high. Fears that young people are bearing the brunt of Britain's economic slowdown were underscored by official figures showing there were 1.02 million unemployed 16-to-24-year-olds between July and September. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/Guardian

It emerged that George Osborne may be forced to admit this month that the scale of Britain's economic slowdown, demonstrated by youth unemployment spiralling to more than 1 million, means he will be unable to meet his main deficit reduction target before the next election. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Gloom continued to pervade the high street as videogames chain Game warned it would slump to a loss this year as a result of poor sales despite gamers queueing up last week to get their hands on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Photograph: Michael Bowles/Rex Features

Ailing retailer Mothercare has put its entire UK business under review after revealing half-year losses of more than £80m. The group, which has 353 UK stores and 969 overseas, has already announced it is cutting 110 UK stores. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

The row between France and Germany over whether to use the European Central Bank to rescue the eurozone has intensified, further shattering international confidence that a solution can be found to the escalating debt crisis. On a day when President Barack Obama accused the eurozone of suffering from a 'problem of political will', Paris and Berlin clashed over whether the ECB should be called on to do more to bail out countries. Photograph: Michael Probst/AP

The prospect of a eurozone breakup intensified as borrowing costs around the region soared and the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte (pictured left, with David Cameron) said it should be possible to expel some members from the currency union. Photograph: Jerry Lampen/AFP

EasyJet is tearing up the rulebook for budget airlines – and ending the stampede for the emergency exit row – by introducing mandatory seat reservations. The Luton-based carrier has gone one step further than its arch-rival Ryanair, which charges for a place in the front row already, by allocating a specific seat for each passenger in trials beginning next year. Photograph: Alamy

Aon, the UK's largest insurance broker, has taken a third of British Land's Leadenhall Building, dubbed the Cheesegrater, in the City, making it its London headquarters. Photograph: PR

The UK government has agreed to sell Northern Rock plc to Virgin Money, nearly four years after nationalising the bank at the height of the financial crisis. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) has ousted its chief executive John Pluthero and cancelled its dividend after years of private-equity-style rewards for senior management failed to turn the group around. Vodafone executive Gavin Darby has been drafted in to replace Pluthero. Photograph: guardian.co.uk