Business week in pictures

For the first time in its 82-year history, Newcastle Brown Ale will no longer be brewed on Tyneside. Owners Scottish & Newcastle said it was closing the Federation brewery in Gateshead and moving production to Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. Photograph: John Giles/PA

Inflation dropped to its lowest rate in five years as falling energy prices continued to cut the cost of living. The consumer price index fell to 1.1% in September, down from 1.6% the previous month. Photograph: Steve Taylor/Getty

People walk through Shinjuku's Kabuki-cho district of Tokyo, Japan. A Treasury select committee hearing into women's role in the City of London was told that there is a growing trend in the City to use prostitution to entertain clients, with London-based firms frequently visiting Japan for 'sex trips'. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

ITV's search for fresh leadership was thrown into renewed turmoil after the leading candidate to become non-executive chairman, Sir Michael Bishop, ruled himself out. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

A man leaves a taxi outside the offices of Goldman Sachs in London. JP Morgan signalled that City firms are preparing to make huge bonus payments after it smashed expectations making a $3.6bn profit. Goldman Sachs later followed suit with $3.19bn profits. Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters

Alistair Darling is ready to hand over up to £5bn of taxpayers' money to the part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group in order to shore up its finances. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP

Signs emerged that the surge in unemployment so far this year might finally be starting to ease, but wage growth slowed to its lowest on record, something analysts warned could hamper the recovery. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

Ralph Cioffi (pictured) and Matthew Tannin, former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers, became the first Wall Street bankers to stand trial in a criminal case arising from the credit crunch. Photograph: Louis Lanzano/AP

The Co-operative Group saw a 50% rise in applications for current accounts as consumers desert the larger high-street banks following the financial crisis. Photograph: The Co-op/Newscast

The Nobel prize for economics was awarded to Elinor Ostrom (pictured) and Oliver Williamson. The two American academics have pioneered research into how individuals co-operate and share common resources, and work together within companies. Photograph: Ryan Dorgan/AP