Business week in pictures

The world's major central banks announced concerted emergency measures to underpin fragile eurozone banks and prevent the global financial system from freezing up. Picture: Tents from the Occupy protest movement appearing to surround the Euro sign in Frankfurt, Germany Photograph: Mauritz Antin/EPA

China's central bank has eased lending requirements, in the clearest signal that policymakers have switched course from curbing inflation to shoring up growth. Picture: An employee pushes a box at a textile factory in Yiwu, China Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

High inflation, cuts and the longest period of wage stagnation on record will see the spending power of the average British family plummet over the next five years, a leading thinktank warned on Wednesday. Picture: Christmas shoppers browse at the Bath Christmas Market Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Britain's manufacturers are finding it increasingly hard to get the bank loans they need to invest, according to a report that casts fresh doubt on government plans for industry to lead the economic recovery. Picture: Prime Minister David Cameron at Newton Heath rail depot during a tour of the north west Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The analysis of George Osborne's autumn statement by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggested it will soon be time to rewrite the record books, because what Britain is living through now is worse than the decade that gave us the three-day week and winter of discontent. Until now, the worst 10-year period for living standards in postwar Britain was the period bookended by the David Bowie albums Aladdin Sane in 1973 and Let's Dance in 1983. Picture: A telephonist working by lamplight during the three-day week in 1973 Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Speculators are cutting their exposure to commodities to levels not seen since the recession of two years ago as fears grow of a global slump. Many base metals, such as copper and nickel, are down between 20% and 30% since the summer. But a report from Macquarie, the Australian bank, shows the sell-off has also spread to "soft" commodities such as cotton and corn Photograph: Sandra Milburn/AP

A $1bn (£640m) bet by a British firm to find commercial quantities of oil in the Arctic has ended in failure and there is now mounting speculation there will be no more drilling by Cairn Energy next year. The controversial exploration off Greenland was physically opposed by Greenpeace but Cairn has been forced to retreat by complex geology and growing criticism in the City. Picture: A huge banner greets representatives from big oil companies as they arrive at a meeting in Copenhagen Photograph: Christian Aslund/Greenpeace/EPA

Shell has signed a breakthrough contract to exploit $17bn (£11bn) of gas thrown off by the oilfields of southern Iraq over the next 25 years. The surplus gas is currently burnt off in a process known as "flaring", which is estimated to cost $5m a day in lost fuel Photograph: Atef Hassan/Reuters

Starbucks intends to hire 5,000 new staff over the next five years as it develops its drive-through business in the UK. Picture: Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg smells coffee aromas with managing director Kris Engskov during a visit to the Starbucks UK HQ Photograph: Getty Images for Starbucks

American Airlines, the world's fourth largest airline, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a move that could prompt another round of consolidation in the airline industry. Picture: American Airlines passengers wait for their luggage at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Production of food institutions including Marmite and Pot Noodle is under threat after three of Britain's largest trade unions voted for strike action at Unilever Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA

Battersea Power Station is going into receivership, with its £5.5bn development scheme in tatters, two days after George Osborne and Boris Johnson posed in hardhats to announce an enterprise zone and tube extension to the listed building. Picture: George Osborne gives a television interview during his visit to the Riverlight construction site in London Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP