Welcome to your round-up of the top business news from the week. The US and the EU have agreed to work together to avoid an all-out trade war. Household debt in the UK is the worst it’s ever been and Facebook has suffered a huge hit on its market value. Amazon has posted record profits and BP is to buy BHP’s US shale assets. Read on to catch up on the top stories.
The US and the EU have agreed to work to lower tariffs and avoid a trade war. US President Donald Trump and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker issued a joint statement in which they agreed to “work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods”.
The Office for National Statistics has said that household debt in the UK the worst it’s been since records began. On average, households spent £900 more than they received in income in 2017.
BP is to acquire BHP’s US shale assets in a $10.5bn deal. The company hopes that this will allow it to gain high-quality oil assets and balance its business in the US, which is largely focused on gas.
Amazon posted a record $2.5bn profit in the last quarter. This success has largely been attributed to strong performance in the advertising and cloud divisions of the business.
Over $119bn has been wiped off Facebook’s market value after it was revealed that user growth has slowed since the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Mark Zuckerberg, who owns around 17% of the company took a $17bn hit and moved down the ranks of the world’s richest people from 3rd to 6th.
