
Jaguar Land Rover booked a loss for the last three months of 2018 as sales collapsed in China. The company booked a £3.1bn reduction in the value of its plants and other investments leading to a £3.4bn quarterly loss, its biggest to date.

The Bank of England expects growth this year to be the slowest since 2009 when the economy was in recession. It is forecasting growth of 1.2% this year, down from its previous November forecast of 1.7%. The Bank said it had seen further evidence that businesses were being cautious in the run-up to Brexit, including evidence from its own survey of firms. As expected the Bank kept interest rates on hold at 0.75%.

United Nations trade official has warned a US plan to raise tariffs on Chinese goods next month would have massive implications for the global economy. The US plans to increase tariffs on Chinese goods if the two sides fail to make progress on a trade deal by 1 March.

Brazil’s central bank left interest rates at a record low on Wednesday as expected, and signaled it is in no rush to change them even though inflationary pressures have cooled. The bank’s nine-member monetary policy committee, Copom, voted unanimously to keep the benchmark Selic rate at 6.5% for the seventh straight meeting.

Manufacturing performance in Argentina during 2018 was one of the worst since the 2001/02 collapse and melting of the country's economy according to the latest release from the stats office, Indec. Manufacturing dropped 14.7% in December compared to the same month in 2017, ending 2018 with an overall decrease of 5%.

Auto production in Argentina continued to fall at the beginning of the year, having dropped 32.2% compared to twelve months before. This means total January auto production was 14.803 units, which is 7.055 less than in January 2018, 21.858. The figures were made public by Argentina's Automobile Manufacturers Association, Adefa.

The British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Dublin on Friday evening for Brexit talks, Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. Mr Varadkar was speaking after his meeting with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels this afternoon.

By 2030, oil demand could hit a peak and then enter decline, according to a new report. For the next decade or so, oil demand should continue to grow, although at a slower and slower rate. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the annual increase in global oil consumption slows dramatically in the years ahead. By 2024, demand growth halves, falling to just 0.6 million barrels per day (mb/d), down from 1.2 mb/d this year.

Brussels has stepped up its opposition to attempts to reopen Theresa May’s Brexit deal as senior Tories began talks on alternatives to the Irish backstop. The European Union’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the backstop was the “only operational solution” to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The UK risks crashing out of 40 trade agreements spanning five continents in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a business organization has warned. The Confederation of British Industry, CBI, said there were hugely damaging implications for the UK if it had to leave trade deals it has through its membership of the European Union.