The 10 biggest business stories on Wednesday October 7

Microsoft unveils Surface Book laptop; Tesco sees new fall in profit; VW chief says recall of affected cars could start by January AFP

Microsoft's new Surface Book (Microsoft)

1.The IMF cut its global growth forecast for 2015 and 2016. The global economy will expand just 3.1 per cent this year and 3.6 per cent next year, the IMF predicted, revising down its previous forecasts by 0.2 per cent.

2. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are winning back hedge fund clients from EU rivals. The two US banks together now have about 37 per cent of the market for trading with hedge funds, up about 6 per cent from the end of last year, according to research firm Preqin.

3. Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said that the company would launch a recall for cars affected by its diesel emissions crisis in January and complete the fix by the end of next year.

4. The criminal trial began for six former brokers accused of helping a former trader at UBS and Citigroup. The brokers on trial worked at the British financial firms ICAP, RP Martin and Tullett Prebon Group and have been accused of rigging an interest benchmark rate known as Libor, which helps determine the borrowing costs for trillions of dollars in loans.

5. London’s economic growth is outstripping the rest of the UK with a 3.3 per cent growth year on year compared with national average of 2.5 per cent, according to RBS’ regional growth figures out today.

6. Shares in Yum Brands - the company behind Pizza Hut and KFC - dropped 18 per cent in after-hours trading after it cut its profit outlook on continued weakness in China.

7. Microsoft unveiled its first laptop — the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Book — which it says is twice as fast as a Macbook Pro.

8. Tesco supermarket has announced a further big fall in profits as it struggles to turn its business around. UK like-for-like sales were down 1.1 per cent in the second quarter and operating profits were halved to £354 million, but international sales were up 1 per cent.

9. AB InBev has made a third takeover offer at 42.15 pounds per share in cash to rival SABMiller today. If the offer was accepted it would create the largest beer company in the world. The company had made two prior offers for SABMiller with the second one at 40 pounds per share, valuing it at nearly 65 billion pounds.

10. Samsung quarterly profit jumped around 80 per cent. The earnings forecast sent shares in the South Korean company soaring more than 5 per cent in mid-morning trade.