Business week in pictures

In response to mass unemployment and the prospect of having to emigrate, an unemployed Irish graduate has spent €2,000 (£1,745) on a massive billboard advertisement asking employers not to let him leave the republic. Féilim Mac An Iomaire, who erected an advertising hoarding on the busy Merrion Road in south Dublin in an attempt to find a job, has said he has been overwhelmed by the response Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

Northern Ireland's recession-hit economy will lag behind most of the UK this year, according to a business survey that is expected to prompt further calls from Belfast politicians for cuts in corporation tax rates to compete with the south. Above: Belfast city centre Photograph: Joe Fox/Getty Images

Tenants expect further rent increases in coming months as demand for rented accommodation throughout Britain continues to go up Photograph: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

Peppa Pig is set to crack the US merchandising market, with the owner of the £200m franchise announcing a tie-up with Fisher-Price, the maker of toys for brands including Sesame Street, to launch a product range in time for the all-important Christmas retail market Photograph: Dean Murray/Rex Features

Japan's hopes of bouncing back from the economic turmoil caused by the earthquake and tsunami in March have been knocked by the threat of a credit rating downgrade from Moody's, and a rise in unemployment Photograph: Yuriko Nakao/Reuters

A bitter rift has opened up between the world's most powerful bank and one of its most fearsome dictators after Goldman Sachs invested $1.3bn (£790m) of Colonel Gaddafi's money – and lost virtually all of it Photograph: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters

US house prices have fallen back to levels last seen in 2002 and consumer confidence has also fallen sharply according to new figures, leading to fresh fears about the country's economic recovery Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Shares fell heavily on Wall Street on Wednesday after a gloomy report from US factories and signs of a slowdown in employment growth prompted fears that the recovery in the world's biggest economy is fading Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The crisis at troubled care home provider Southern Cross has deepened after the company slashed its rent payments in an effort to keep its 750 residential homes running Photograph: Vstock LLC/Getty Images/Tetra images RF

Britain's manufacturing sector showed its weakest growth for almost two years last month, raising fears that the economy is flatlining Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

But Bristol and Glasgow have emerged as the 'super cities' that will lead the rebalancing of British manufacturing towards hi-tech production and renewable energy respectively, HSBC predicts. Above: Glasgow's Museum of Transport Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian

Just one in 10 of Britain's battered consumers believe the economy is in good shape, one of the lowest readings of any developed country, according to new research by polling group Ipsos Mori. Economic confidence, at just 10%, is weaker than in all of the 23 other countries Mori surveys, apart from France, Spain, Hungary and earthquake-hit Japan Photograph: Paul Hackett/Reuters

Coca-Cola, the world's biggest soft drinks manufacturer, is in talks with the Chinese authorities to list its shares on the Shanghai stock exchange. China experts say the move heralds a wave of Chinese listings as the world's biggest companies look to build their businesses in the world's most populous nation Photograph: China Photos/Getty Images

Walmart, the world's biggest retailer, has gained its first foothold in Africa despite fierce opposition from trade unions. South Africa's competition tribunal approved the corporation's $2.4bn (£1.5bn) bid for Massmart, which has 288 stores in South Africa and a dozen other African countries Photograph: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg via Getty Images