1. US stocks fell after the Fed’s cautious outlook. The S&P 500 fell 1.3 per cent after the US Federal Reserve struck a note of caution while holding its benchmark interest rates between 0.25 per cent and 0.5 per cent.
2. Google and Apple have fought back in the row over the big tech groups’ tax regimes, saying they are being unfairly targeted as the public backlash over the controversy escalates. Google defended its £130 million settlement with British tax authorities for the first time in a letter to the Financial Times, arguing that it was complying with British law.
3. Facebook said that profits more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2015. Net profit for the three months to December rose to $1.56 billion (£1.09 billion), up from $701 million. The stock went up over 12 per cent as the social media giant beat estimates on the top and bottom line, as well as on the company's solid user growth.
4. Samsung Electronics has been hit by falling sales for its smartphones and semiconductors. The South Korean company net profit plunged 40 per cent from a year earlier to 3.2 trillion won (£1.9 billion).
5. Deutsche Bank posted a net loss of €6.8 billion for 2015, in line with the figure announced last week in a profit warning, as litigation charges and restructuring costs took their toll.
6. SSE, one of Britain's big six power companies, will cut its domestic gas prices by an average of 5.3 per cent from March 29, the company said on Thursday.
7. Andrew Harrison, Dixons Carphone deputy chief executive is joining the board of Ocado. The online supermarket said Harrison will join the company as an independent non-executive director at the start of March.
8. EBay tanked after posting disappointing earnings. Shares of the online retailer fell more than 12 per cent to $23.51 in extended trading on Wednesday. The online retailer, which faces intense competition from e-commerce giant Amazon.com, has also been hit by brick-and-mortar rivals like Wal-Mart Stores that are aggressively boosting their online presence.
9. WPP, the world's biggest advertising company, spent a whopping $4 billion with Google last year — and $1 billion with Facebook, WPP’s CEO Sir Martin Sorrell told Business Insider.
10. Shareholders of Royal Dutch Shell approved the company's $49 billion takeover of BG Group on Wednesday, clearing one of the final hurdles for a deal that will create the world's biggest liquefied-natural-gas trader.
