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The majority of FTSE 250 bosses believe that UK-listed companies are vulnerable to foreign takeovers this year amid growing expectations that M&A activity will pick up as economic conditions improve. British broker Numis found that “compressed” valuations meant that corporates were increasingly focused on their own vulnerability in the eventuality of a bid, according to

Major US employers from fast-food chains to arms manufacturers are reporting a dramatic improvement in hiring conditions despite official data showing unemployment at its lowest level for decades. Senior executives across a host of S&P 500 companies gave optimistic updates on the labour market in recent quarterly earnings reports. Their commentary could reassure investors concerned

The writer is chair of Rockefeller International The recent surge in tech stocks has true believers buzzing that the downturn of late last year is over and the boom of the past decade is back. But the opposite case is more likely. This surge had all the hallmarks of an echo bubble — a brief

The world of ETF academia is a rarefied one. But the spats it hosts are no less heated than those in the better known field of macroeconomics. This month, a paper by a quartet of academics from three business schools — Columbia, Chicago Booth and Pennsylvania — set off a row about the niche issue

It was three days after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine that the EU realised that it too must go to war. At an emergency meeting, Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, made the case to anxious foreign ministers from the bloc’s 27 member states that it was the moment to do something previously considered impossible:

Andrew Griffith, City of London minister, has raised concerns that flagship reforms to stop consumers being ripped off by financial services companies could damage the sector and trigger a wave of spurious law suits, putting him on a collision course with the UK’s chief financial regulator. Griffith has criticised the consumer duty, a key measure

The UK economic outlook for this year has improved, with analysts forecasting a smaller contraction in output than they had previously because of falling energy prices and better than anticipated business and consumer sentiment. In December and January, economists expected gross domestic product to drop 1 per cent this year, according to data from Consensus

If you are reading this in the northern hemisphere — and subscribe to meteorological definition of the seasons — the good news is that we are rapidly heading into spring. And like the promise of warmer and longer days (not to mention daffodils for St David’s Day on Wednesday), there is some reason for cheer

Rishi Sunak is poised to unveil a Brexit deal with the EU on Monday that will overhaul Northern Ireland’s trading arrangements and end a bitter dispute between the two sides. Although the UK prime minister plans to seal an agreement with Brussels, he still faces a political battle to win over Eurosceptic Conservative MPs and

The chief executive of Deutsche Telekom has called obtaining a stake in BT the “biggest mistake” he ever made, saying: “I want my money back.” Tim Höttges told the Financial Times that he regretted a 2015 deal that saw the German group take a £5.6bn stake in its British counterpart, which has since lost almost

The house building industry has warned that the number of new properties completed each year in England could slump to its lowest level since the second world war due to a “perfect storm” of government policies and higher mortgage rates. The Home Builders Federation estimates that changes by ministers to England’s planning framework and the

Indonesia is seeking assurances from the UK that it will secure a share of any future financial settlement stemming from a British corruption investigation into aircraft maker Bombardier after Jakarta was left out of a deal reached with Airbus three years ago. Cahyo Muzhar, director-general of legal administrative affairs at Indonesia’s ministry of law and

A senior Republican legislator said that China was considering sending 100 drones and other lethal weapons to Russia, as US officials warn that Beijing may escalate its support for Moscow in the Ukraine conflict. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House foreign affairs committee, said the US was increasingly concerned about Beijing’s willingness to