Global business
The European Union's competition commissioner found that "sweetheart" tax deals involving the Netherlands and Starbucks, and Luxembourg and Fiat, constituted state aid and were unlawful under E.U. rules. The commissioner said both countries had enabled the companies artificially to lower their tax bills — Starbucks by transferring profits abroad and Fiat by paying tax on lower estimates of profits — and ordered each government to recover up to $34m in lost tax.
China's GDP grew 6.9 percent in the third quarter. With consumption accounting for the bulk of the growth, the government claims that its attempt to rebalance the economy to become less reliant on investment is working. But the figures, which were better than expected and in line with the official target for the year of around 7 percent, again raised questions about the reliability of China's economic data. The third quarter saw stock market turmoil in China, the devaluation of the yuan and a run of bad industrial statistics.
Timothy Massad, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said his agency would investigate the effects of high-frequency trading, particularly with regard to Treasury futures. The aim of the assessment would be to take steps "to minimize the potential for disruptions and other operational problems," caused in part by "malfunctioning algorithms."
Credit Suisse unveiled a big strategic shift in its business, which includes raising around $6.3 billion in new capital, the bulk of which will come through selling shares to existing investors. The Swiss bank is also restructuring its investment-banking division and will float its retail bank in Switzerland as it positions itself to buy other banks.
Deutsche Bank took another stab at overhauling its business, announcing a cull of executives and the splitting of its investment-banking and wealth-management businesses. Meanwhile, it emerged that a "fat finger" error by a junior employee at Deutsche had led to $6 billion being mistakenly placed in a hedge-fund account for a day.
It was another bad week for Valeant, a pharmaceuticals company that is in the political and regulatory cross hairs over huge price increases on two heart drugs. Its share price plunged after a report from an activist short-seller critical of the company's business model accused it of creating "an entire network of phantom captive pharmacies" to boost sales. Valeant "categorically" denied the report, saying it was designed to drive down its share price.
Western Digital, which makes hard-disk drives for computers, said it would acquire SanDisk, known for its flash-memory products, in a $19 billion deal. SanDisk's chips are increasingly integrated in hard drives, and it is expanding in cloud computing. The takeover is the latest in a burst of consolidation in the semiconductor industry. In another deal this week Lam Research agreed to buy KLA-Tencor for $10.6 billion.
Steve Ballmer, who was Microsoft's chief executive for 14 years, revealed that he has a 4 percent stake in Twitter, making him the company's third-biggest individual investor. Ballmer is Microsoft's largest individual shareholder.
United Airlines appointed Brett Hart as interim chief executive after Oscar Munoz suffered a heart attack just a month into the job.
Political economy
The peace talks between Colombia's government and the FARC guerrilla group made further progress with an agreement to search for some 50,000 people who disappeared during the country's civil war, which began in 1964. The two sides plan to sign a final accord by March.
Egypt went to the polls to elect a new unicameral parliament. In the first phase of voting, turnout was reported to have been pitifully low, a blow to the claims of Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the president, to be restoring democracy. The Muslim Brotherhood, which easily won the previous election, has been banned.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's right-wing National Front party, appeared in court on hate-speech charges for comparing Muslim street prayers to the Nazi occupation. At the trial she portrayed herself as a victim of establishment persecution and inveighed against the Muslim asylum applicants who have flooded into Europe this year. The state prosecutor recommended that she be acquitted.
The anti-immigrant Swiss People's Party finished first in Switzerland's federal elections, taking 29 percent of the vote, well ahead of the second-placed Socialist Party. Europe's migrant crisis was the decisive factor, though Switzerland itself has seen almost no increase in migrants.
The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, waded into the debate on Britain's membership of the E.U. Britons will vote in a referendum in 2016 or 2017 about whether to stay or leave — the "Brexit" option. Carney said that being in the E.U. "very likely increased the U.K.'s dynamism," though he pointed out that the bank's perspective was "not a comprehensive assessment of the pros and cons" of a Brexit.
