Image source, Reuters

Here's a reminder of how Apple performed in the quarter to 27 June.

Image source, Reuters

The second and third largest chains of pharmacy stores in the US are in advanced talks to combine, according to the Wall Street Journal, external.

Walgreens Boots Alliance could announce a deal to buy Rite Aid later on Wednesday the report says.

Rite Aid currently has a market value of $6bn.

The FTSE 100 closed 0.8% lower, dragged down by steep losses for mining shares.

Anglo American fell 5.7%, BHP Billiton was down 3.5% and Glencore fell 3.4%.

Investors are also slightly wary ahead of a meeting on interest rate policy makers at the US Federal Reserve, which ends on Wednesday.

Robert Parkes, equity strategist, HSBC Global Research said:

Luis Sanz, chief executive officer of Celsa Steel UK reels off some stunning statistics about the state of the UK steel market.

Celsa has one of the most efficient electrical furnaces in Europe but still can't compete with some of the imports.

He gives the example of steel reinforcing bars.

In just 7 months of this year 26,000 tonnes of that product were exported from China, that's a 500% increase on all of 2013.

Almost all of those bars went to the UK, where China now claims 40% of the market share.

As for electricity, his company pays 2.8 times as much for electricity as his Germany competitors.

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones tweets:

BBC industry correspondent John Moylan tweets:

Image source, Getty Images

Gareth Stace, the director of UK Steel which lobbies on behalf of the steel industry, says the government has been slow in seeking help for the steel industry.

In particular he says that funds could have been released under an existing package to help with high energy costs in the UK.

The government applied to Brussels to get that move approved at the beginning of the year, but is only now going to Brussels to hurry things along.

Time is pressing, Mr Stace says. If the steel sector has to wait months for support then "there's potentially further casualties".

The government has confirmed that the steel industry will receive extra time to comply with new European Union rules on emissions.

Specific plants will be granted an additional four and a half years to meet more stringent targets.

The government has submitted a list of UK steel plants to the European Commission for approval.

BBC Scotland business and economics editor Douglas Fraser tweets:

Here are some thoughts on Apple's upcoming results from chief market strategist Colin Cieszynski from CMC Markets.

He also adds:

BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones tweets:

Mr Osborne seemed to soften his tone over Monday night's vote by the House of Lords, which delayed his proposed cuts to tax credits.

BBC economics editor Robert Peston asked Mr Osborne if his belief in an elected upper house had been strengthened by the situation.

You can watch his reply below.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne underlined today that the government will help out those who are going to lose from the government's planned cuts to tax credits.

"Yes of course we'll help in the transition," he told Robert Peston.

"But let's not lose sight of the destination which is that low-welfare, high-wage economy."

He said there would be more detail about the measures in the Autumn Statement next month.

The chancellor did not deny that he could achieve a budget surplus by the end of this parliament, even without the planned cuts to tax credits.

This won't affect many of you but Bentley Motors is recalling all its Continental GT/GTC/Flying Spur and new Flying Spur models built between February 2011 and June 2014.

The company wants to fix a bolted connection for a battery cable joint that could potentially come loose.

In total 27,640 cars are affected by the recall. To put that in context, last year the firm produced 11,020 cars.

Bentley says the fix will take about two hours.

The owner of the Bentley pictured above might want to allow a little extra time for maintenance. Are they supposed to fly?

The Word Service's Biz Daily has been looking at India's love of all things  sweet. Bengalis have a particularly sweet tooth apprently, but what about the health consequences?

US consumer confidence fell in October, according to the latest data from the Conference Board.

It's consumer confidence index fell to 97.6 in October, down from 102.6 in September.

Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board said:  

Image source, Getty Images

Growth in US house prices edged higher in August.

The S&P/Case Shiller composite, external index of 20 metropolitan areas rose 5.1% in August, that's up from 4.9% in July.

San Francisco, Denver and Portland reported the highest annual gains of 10.7%,10.7% and 9.4% respectively.

(You might remember a little fuss back in September when Robert interviewed Mr Osborne without a tie. Here's what the Daily Mail, external had to say at the time.)

Shares on Wall Street have opened lower as investors assess mixed earnings reports and data showing durable goods orders slipped in September. The Dow Jones industrial average has fallen 68.92 points, or 0.39%, at 17,554.13, the S&P 500 is down 7.39 points, or 0.36%, at 2,063.79 and the Nasdaq is 9.88 points, or 0.2%, lower at 5,024.83.