The 10 things you need to know about business today

Here's what you need to know for today

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1. Shares around the world have seen further falls, sparked by renewed fears over the health of the global economy. In the US, the Dow Jones closed down more than 2%, while markets in Paris and Frankfurt also fell more than 2%. The FTSE 100 index was down another 45 points this morning at 6,323.4, a fall of 0.7%.

2. Oil prices are down for the eight week running, pulled lower by weaker global stock markets and a sharp contraction in China's manufacturing activity. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for October delivery, a new contract, lost 54 cents to $40.78 a barrel in afternoon trade, while Brent crude for October tumbled 62 cents to $46.00 a barrel.

3. Worries of a deepening China economic slowdown intensified today after a private survey showed the factory sector shrank at its fastest rate in more than six years in August, hammering global stocks and commodity prices.

4. David Cameron has outlined plans to increase the number of apprenticeship programmes that big businesses offer. The Prime Minister has launched a consultation on the Government's planned apprenticeship levy which forces larger employers to fund apprenticeships from 2017.

5. Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced he is resigning and has called an early election. Greek election should not stop bailout according to top EU official. The election date is yet to be set but earlier reports suggested the 20th September.

6. HP's CFO Cathie Lesjak announced the company will cut up to an additional 5% more people from its workforce than the 55,000 people it had planned to eliminate. This is a long-running layoff that began in 2012 with an initial target of 25,000 jobs, but grew until the target became 55,000 people.

7. Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline is selling its right to a multiple sclerosis drug to Swiss rival Novartis for up to $1.03bn plus 12% royalties

8 Market research group GFK German consumer confidence figures declined going into September for the first time in six months and fell short of expectations amid concern about economic developments abroad.

9. Spire Healthcare's revenue rose 7.8% to £449.8m in the first half with growth across all three divisions.

10. Revenues have risen by a tenth to €346.8m (£248.9m) at manufacturing giant HellermannTyton fuelled by rapid growth in the Americas and Asia. HellermannTyton has reported that revenues rose by 10.3% at constant currency rates in the six months ending 28 June 2015. The company said that each geographic segment showed strong revenue growth compared to the first half of the previous year.