President Joe Biden was hoping for a lift from the Federal Reserve this year. On Wednesday, the Fed dealt those hopes a blow. Jay Powell, the central bank’s chair, confirmed what many have suspected for some time: interest rate cuts in the world’s biggest economy are not imminent. The economy remains too hot to start
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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Italy’s deputy premier Matteo Salvini is facing an open revolt against his leadership of the far-right League party after he picked a homophobic, pro-Russia firebrand as top candidate for the upcoming European elections. Discontent within
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Private equity myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The Financial Conduct Authority’s chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, has said he is “not convinced” that private equity groups pose a systemic risk, taking a stance at odds with escalating warnings from the Bank of England.
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Property sector myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. New lending to UK commercial real estate fell to a historic low in 2023 as lenders and investors struggled with falling property values, higher debt costs and pressure to deal with troubled loans. Total loan
UK households have cut back on beer, bread, meat, recreation and domestic appliances since late 2021, according to a Financial Times analysis of official data that points to the impact of the cost of living crisis on consumption. Real consumer spending has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels in Britain, underperforming the US and eurozone,
Rishi Sunak’s political fate will hang on the judgment of millions of voters in an array of local elections and mayoral contests taking place across England and Wales on Thursday. Senior Tories fear that if Sunak’s party loses more than half of the 900 or so council seats it is defending along with crucial mayoralties,
Colombia is cutting ties with Israel in protest against its war in Gaza, said, Gustavo Petro, the South American nation’s president on Wednesday. “Tomorrow, diplomatic relations with the state of Israel will be broken . . . for having a genocidal president,” Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader, said at an International Workers’ Day march in the capital Bogotá. “If
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Oil & Gas industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. US regulators are poised to approve ExxonMobil’s $60bn acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources on condition that the smaller oil company’s former chief executive does not join the supermajor’s board. The Federal Trade Commission
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US interest rates myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The Federal Reserve has signalled that US borrowing costs are likely to remain higher for longer, as a it wrestles with persistent inflation across the world’s biggest economy. The Federal Open Market Committee said
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US has imposed sanctions on more than 300 Russian and international entities, including some in China and Turkey, for providing support to Russia’s military as it wages war in Ukraine. The fresh measures reflect
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Home Office enforcement teams began detaining asylum seekers destined for removal to Rwanda in a “large scale” operation across the UK on Wednesday as the union for senior civil servants started legal proceedings over the
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Polish prosecutors are investigating whether Orlen, the state-controlled oil and gas company, had links to the Lebanese militant group Hizbollah via its Swiss trading subsidiary. Prosecutor Małgorzata Adamajtys said on Tuesday the investigation would look
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the rightwing US congresswoman, has said she will try to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson next week, escalating a civil war within the Republican party that has flared up again after Congress
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The first quarter’s run of higher than anticipated US inflation numbers have markets in a tizzy. Investors have been constantly tweaking their expectations for interest rates. The problem with all the frantic repricing is that
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Spanish bank BBVA has offered a 30 per cent price premium to TSB-owner Banco Sabadell in a takeover bid that values its local rival at more than €12bn. Disclosing the details on Wednesday of an
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. US secretary of state Antony Blinken has told Israel and Hamas that “the time is now” for a deal that would free the remaining hostages held in Gaza and halt more than six months of
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis are threatening merchant ships hundreds of miles out in the Indian Ocean after striking a container vessel well beyond the Red Sea last week, maritime officials and experts have warned. The drone
Elon Musk’s abrupt decision to lay off employees who ran Tesla’s electric vehicle charging business blindsided automakers gearing up to equip new EVs for customers to use the Tesla Supercharger network, industry officials and analysts said on Tuesday. For now, General Motors, Ford and other automakers which struck deals last year to give customers access to the
Changpeng Zhao, the former chief executive of Binance, was sentenced on Tuesday to four months in prison after pleading guilty to violating US money-laundering laws at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The sentence was imposed by US District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle, who rejected prosecutors’ request that the 47-year-old Zhao serve a three-year term, twice the maximum
Amazonreported quarterly results above Wall Street’s expectations on Tuesday, as interest in artificial intelligence helped drive cloud-computing growth. Shares of the Seattle-based e-commerce and tech company climbed almost 3% in extended trade, even after its current-quarter revenue forecast came in below expectations. The stock closed down 3.3% in the regular session. Chief Financial Officer Brian
A group of ex-Google employees has filed a federal labor complaint alleging they were illegally fired by the tech giant for their involvement in office protests over the companys business ties to the Israeli government. Filed with the National Labor Relations Board late Monday, the complaint alleges that Google unlawfully retaliated against workers who staged