News

UK pension schemes are dumping stocks and bonds to raise cash and seeking bailouts from their corporate backers as the crisis in the industry continues to rage a week after the government’s “mini” Budget. Most of the UK’s 5,200 defined benefit schemes use derivatives to hedge against moves in interest rates and inflation, which require

The head of Next has said the UK retailer warned the Bank of England that an investing strategy that plunged the country’s pension funds into crisis this week was a “time bomb”. “We are not exposed to liability-driven strategies despite multiple sales pitches and we have previously written to the Bank of England outlining our

The Bank of England took emergency action on Wednesday to stem a crisis in government debt markets, suspending its programme to sell gilts and instead pledging to buy long-dated bonds. The central bank warned of a “material risk to UK financial stability” from the turmoil in the UK government bond market that has followed chancellor

UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has told leading bankers, insurers and asset managers he is “confident” that his economic strategy will work, as he tried to reassure the City of London after days of turmoil in financial markets. The meeting between Kwarteng and the heads of companies, including Aviva, Legal & General, Royal London, BlackRock, Fidelity

The pound tumbled to a record low on Monday while government bonds extended heavy losses, stirring expectations of a Bank of England statement or an emergency rise in UK interest rates after chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s package of tax cuts last week. The currency lost as much as 4.7 per cent to trade as low as

Liz Truss is to launch a big review of Britain’s visa system to tackle acute labour shortages in key industries in a move that was welcomed by business leaders. The prime minister is set to defy some of her anti-immigration cabinet colleagues by making changes to the “shortage occupation list”, allowing certain industries to bring

UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng declared a “new era” of growth with the announcement of his fiscal package on Friday. The set of tax cuts, worth £45bn, were the biggest since 1972. However, the plan will also push up public borrowing at a time when interest rates are rising and the economic outlook is deteriorating. After

Kwasi Kwarteng, UK chancellor, has taken a huge political gamble with a mini-Budget intended to jolt the British economy back to life, announcing £45bn of tax cuts, including axing the 45p additional tax rate for the highest earners. The package will delight many in the City of London and the wealthy. It removes the 45p

The Bank of England raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 2.25 per cent on Thursday, setting out the prospect of a further big increase in November to bring inflation under control. The move takes the BoE’s benchmark rate to its highest level since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008. However,

Vladimir Putin said Russia’s armed forces would call up its reserves immediately to support its invasion of Ukraine and indicated Moscow would probably annex large swaths of the country’s territory. In an address to his nation that significantly raised the stakes in the war, the Russian president announced “partial mobilisation” ahead of heavily stage-managed votes

Liz Truss has admitted that a UK-US trade deal, long seen as one of the biggest prizes of Brexit, is not on the horizon, as she arrived in New York on her first overseas trip as prime minister. Brexit supporters insisted that the 2016 Leave vote would open the way for a free trade agreement

Queen Elizabeth II has begun the journey to her final resting place at Windsor after a momentous state funeral at Westminster Abbey, attended by world leaders and British citizens mourning the country’s longest-serving monarch. Vast crowds thronged the route of the Queen’s coffin as it made its way from the abbey through the heart of

The US central bank will lift its benchmark policy rate above 4 per cent and hold it there beyond 2023 in its bid to stamp out high inflation, according to the majority of leading academic economists polled by the Financial Times. The latest survey, conducted in partnership with the Initiative on Global Markets at the

Wall Street stocks recorded the biggest weekly drop in months after a profit warning from economic bellwether FedEx jolted investors who are already on edge over a looming interest rate rise by the US Federal Reserve at its upcoming meeting. The blue-chip S&P 500 index fell 0.7 per cent on Friday, bringing weekly losses to

The German government has taken control of three refineries owned by Russian oil company Rosneft, in a major escalation of the energy war between Moscow and the west triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move is part of efforts by the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to protect the German economy from the effects

Kwasi Kwarteng, chancellor, is seeking to scrap Britain’s cap on bankers’ bonuses, introduced after the 2008 financial crash, in a controversial move to boost the City of London’s global competitiveness. Kwarteng argues the move would make London a more attractive destination for top global talent and would be a clear signal of his new “Big

The UK’s rate of inflation eased back into single digits in August on the back of lower petrol prices, providing some relief to households as they go into winter. The headline consumer price index was 9.9 per cent higher than a year earlier during the month, down from a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent

Ukraine still faces “a tough fight” after Russia gave up most of the territory it had taken near Kharkiv, the US said, after a lightning counteroffensive that has forced many retreating troops to leave the country. A senior military official said on Monday that Russian forces “had largely ceded their gains” around Ukraine’s second-largest city

Ukraine needs to secure the vast territory it has recaptured from possible Russian counter-attack, the country’s defence minister has warned, as he said Kyiv’s lightning offensive had gone far “better than expected”. The attack has routed the Kremlin’s forces, led to the recapture of 3,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory and prompted an unusual admission

Ukraine forces consolidated their hold of territory in the north-east of the country on Sunday after Russia abandoned several military strongholds following a lightning Ukrainian advance that has routed Moscow’s forces and left them in disarray. Russian sympathisers were fleeing Russian-occupied territories in the Luhansk region, south of Kharkiv, said Serhiy Hayday, the Ukrainian head of

Charles III has addressed his nation for the first time, vowing to emulate his late mother Queen Elizabeth’s “life-long service”, ahead of his formal proclamation as king on Saturday. The new monarch’s words came after a day of parliamentary tributes, gun salutes and raw emotion, as thousands of people gathered at the gates of Buckingham