The 10 biggest business stories on Tuesday October 27

Lower oil prices hit BP profits;Volkswagen hires strategy boss from General Motors; Apple and Twitter set to release their quarterly reports later on Tuesday

Could the iPhone 6S processor have such a big impact on battery life? (Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

1. UK third quarter GDP growth figures to be released at 9.30am on Tuesday. Economists are predicting a 0.6 per cent rise on the last quarter, a slight slowdown from 0.7 per cent in the previous quarter.

2. All eyes will be on tech giants Apple and Twitter set to release their quarterly reports later on Tuesday. Twitter's third-quarter results will be the first with Jack Dorsey fully in charge as CEO. Meanwhile, Apple investors will be scrutinizing iPhone sales, especially in China, with analysts predicting a 25 per cent increase in units sold worldwide.

3. Oil giant BP has reported a fall in profits due to lower oil and gas prices. Total revenue was $55.9billion against $94.8billion a year ago.

4. Volkswagen has hired a former CEO of General Motors' European division Opel to run group strategy. Thomas Sedran, interim CEO at Opel in 2012-2013 and head of GM's Chevrolet and Cadillac brands in Europe until June this year, will take up his role at VW on November 1.

5. JPMorgan Chase said on Monday it will soon launch its own competitor to Apple Pay that will allow consumers to pay retailers using their smartphones in US stores. Chase has signed a deal with the Merchant Customer Exchange, a group of major retailers including Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, and Best Buy to accept payments through the bank's technology, known as Chase Pay.

6. Online retailer Shop direct, whose sites include Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com have jumped 78 per cent to £71.7 million on sales 3 per cent higher at £1.8 billion. Very.co.uk accounted for about half the total, with sales up 21 per cent.

7. IndiGo, India's biggest airline, has begun proceedings a $465 million (£302 million) initial public offering today. The budget airline is the largest in India by passenger numbers and is attempting to invite investment into one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets.

8. Wal-Mart is actively looking at the possibility of using drones to make deliveries to US customers, a spokesman said, following the lead of Amazon and other retailers.

9. Harry Potter continues to work its magic on Bloomsbury publishing. The publisher turnover rose to £52.7 million in the six months to the end of August - up from £46.6 million last time. Key titles underpinning this growth were the Harry Potter Box Set and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Illustrated Edition by J. K. Rowling.

10. Japan's Canon on Tuesday lowered its full-year earnings forecast, citing slower-than-expected demand for digital cameras in China and Southeast Asian countries.