conomic data released on Friday showed Germany’s economy was stagnant in the fourth quarter of 2019 – adding to fears Europe’s top economy could be inching towards recession. There were the day’s top stories: New data showed the German economy grew 0pc in fourth quarter of 2019, while a second estimate of Eurozone GDP found the weakest growth since first quarter of 2013 European shares touched new record highs before falling back RBS announced it will rename itself NatWest NMC Health revealed it doesn’t know where more than 400,000 of its shares are AstraZeneca shares dropped as it warned on the potential impact of coronavirus That’s a wrap – European markets closed narrowly down overall, with the FTSE 100 the worst performer among the continent’s blue-chip bourses. I’ve wrapped up the day’s stories at the top of the blog, so if you need a quick catch-up, refresh the page and they should appear. Big exclusive from my colleague Hannah Boland: British digital bank Revolut has more than tripled its valuation after a long-awaited bumper funding round finally closed. Hannah reports: The deal is understood to have recently completed, with filings suggesting a total of $500m (£385m) was raised, giving Revolut a valuation of $6bn (£4.6bn). The company was also thought to be raising $1bn in new debt. Revolut is expected to formally announce the round next week. It said it did not comment on speculation. The group last raised cash almost two years ago at a much lower valuation of $1.7bn. Since then Revolut has attracted a host of new investors. Read more: Revolut valued at $6bn after latest fundraising My colleague Simon Foy and I have written a full report on the latest tumult over at NMC health. We write: NMC Health’s vice-chairman and joint controlling shareholder has resigned from its board as the embattled hospital operator admitted it could not account for more than 400,000 shares with certainty... ...The resignation is the latest sign of turbulence at the UAE"s largest private healthcare provider, which has been reeling since a hedge fund Muddy Waters Research made a short-selling attack in December. Tesco has been slapped on the wrist by the competition watchdog after it emerged that Britain"s biggest grocer has thwarted its rivals’ efforts to set up nearby shops. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has been taking an increasingly hardline approach to competition, found 23 breaches – of a total of 5,353 land agreements with landlords. My colleague Laura Onita reports: The regulator said that shoppers in some areas could have lost out as a higher number of supermarkets next to each other typically intensifies competition and leads to better deals and lower prices. Andrea Gomes da Silva, an executive director at the CMA, added: “It’s unacceptable that Tesco had these unlawful restrictions in place for up to a decade.” Responding to that UoM survey, Capital Economics’ Paul Ashworth says the rise suggests “the boost from rising stock markets and lower gasoline prices more than offset any coronavirus fears”. He added: There is no evidence that the coronavirus has hit confidence, presumably because there have been only a few isolated cases in the US. President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial clearly didn’t damage sentiment either – with any dip in the confidence of Democrats offset by an improvement among Republicans. The economic mood among Americans has reached its highest level since March 2018, according to the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment index, which rose to a score 100.9 (versus a baseline score of 100, from January 1978). The increase was driven mainly by low unemployment and steady wage growth. It held up despite worries over the coronavirus, with UoM’s report saying reports of increased household income and wealth were more frequent than at any time since 1960. 3:00pm Markets flat... ish US markets have opened pretty flat, with investors given little push to shift from today’s economic data. It’s a typically quiet end to the week, with pretty low levels of corporate reporting. In Europe, things are a little more exciting, with slight falls for the FTSE 100 and France’s CAC. Nothing to write home about, though – and the London blue chip index’s drop can be pinned almost entirely on AstraZeneca. Economic data from across the pond: US retail sales grew 0.3pc in January, meeting expectations as a fairly weak patch continued. “Don’t worry about the soft number,” said Pantheon Macroeconomics’ Ian Shepherdson. He said clothing sales numbers had been upset by the introduction of tariffs, but should recover in due course. The unexpected weakness in underlying retail sales in January suggests that consumer spending is still struggling for momentum but, with jobs growth solid and consumer confidence resilient, we doubt this weakness will persist.