The 10 biggest business stories on Tuesday December 22

UK house prices to rise by 6% in 2016; BHP says 17 died in Samarco disaster; Toshiba shares fell to their lower point since 2009

Fast rises are now spreading to the rest of the UK (Getty Images)

1. The under-fire hedge fund manager and entrepreneur Martin Shkreli has been fired from his role as CEO of a Californian pharmaceuticals company.

2. House prices in the UK will rise by 6 per cent next year despite the government’s efforts to address Britain’s housing crisis and solve a supply shortage, the Royal Institute of Chartered of Surveyors (RCIS)has said.

3. UK consumer confidence rose in December, rounding off a strong year for shoppers, according to the monthly consumer confidence index published by market researchers GfK.

4. JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $150 million (£100.7 million) to settle investor claims that it hid from them as much as $6.2 billion in losses caused by a trader dubbed the London Whale, Bloomberg reports.

5. Toshiba shares have fallen to their lowest point since early 2009, taking another 12 per cent fall overnight.

6. BHP Billiton has provided an update to investors about the failure of a dam at its Samarco joint-venture in Brazil. It confirms that 17 people died, 12 of whom were working on the dam, while the others were members of the local community.

7. Bill Gates topped a 2015 list of the biggest insider sellers that is dominated by tech company founders.

8. Apple on Monday criticized a UK proposal that would give law-enforcement and national-security officials more power to monitor communications. We believe there is a need for much greater clarity as to how the powers in the bill will be applied,” Apple’s submission reads. “Not least because, once again, the [powers] could endanger the privacy and security of users in the UK and elsewhere.“

9. Regulation, anaemic economic growth and technology changes will force banks across Europe to find more savings in 2016, with jobs likely to be the biggest casualty, according to investors and analysts.

10. Britain has created 45,000 technology companies in the last five years, equivalent to one every hour, according to a KPMG report.