Business week in pictures

Alistair Darling hailed the multibillion-pound shakeup of the state-owned banks as good value for taxpayers. The chancellor defended the controversial changes to the structure of Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, which could see the taxpayer stump up as much as £39bn Photograph: Christopher Thomond

A jeweller works on a necklace in his workshop in Mumbai. Gold prices surged to a new high of $1095.05 an ounce following the news that India had purchased $6.7bn (£4.05bn) of gold from the International Monetary Fund Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images

Thousands of Opel workers protest in Ruesselsheim, Germany. 10,000 jobs are still at risk at Vauxhall and Opel despite General Motors' decision not to sell the European business Photograph: Michael Probst/AP

The war of words between anti-poverty campaigners and Primark moved up a gear after the cheap-chic store group announced a big increase in sales and profits despite the recession. Picture shows War on Want supporters protesting outside Primark in June 2008 Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Europe

The world's largest microchip maker, Intel, was sued by New York's attorney general for allegedly using bullying, bribery and coercion to protect its dominant market position in a lawsuit that followed a record fine for anti-competitive behaviour Photograph: Nicky Loh/Reuters

Boots the Chemist bucked the high-street gloom to report strong first-half sales as consumers bought low-cost 'treats' such as lipsticks and face creams as well as bacterial gels, amid worries over swine flu Photograph: Edward Simons/Alamy

Royal Bank of Scotland stunned unions by announcing another 3,700 job cuts as it revealed details of a major restructuring which will see the taxpayer's stake increase to 84%. HSBC also announced 1,700 more jobs are to go, bringing its total losses this year to 3,400 Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

Marks & Spencer declared war on Waitrose, putting top brands on its shelves and cutting prices in the battle to provide middle England consumers with their entire weekly shop as well as the luxuries and party foods it is famous for Photograph: Sarah Lee

New car sales in Britain jumped by almost a third last month, their biggest gain this year, as the government's scrappage scheme continued to boost the market Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

The Bank of England expanded its programme of quantitative easing by £25bn over the next three months, to £200bn, in an attempt to boost Britain's recession-hit economy. Interest rates were once again left unchanged Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

It was announced that Britain's most expensive rail franchise will be nationalised earlier than expected when the Department for Transport takes over the £1.4bn east coast main line from National Express next week Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange moments before the Federal Reserve announced it would leave interest rates unchanged for an 'extended period' as the US economy continues to clamber out of recession Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Ford returned to profit in north America for the first time in more than four years – a milestone for the carmaker, which has lost billions of dollars in one of the toughest periods in its history Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Northern Rock had its busiest quarter as a mortgage lender since the credit crunch hit two years ago, lending £1bn in the three months to the end of September Photograph: David Levene

Panasonic began its long-awaited bid to take over rival Sanyo in a deal that is set to form one of the world's biggest electronics makers Photograph: Reuters