Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Retail & Consumer industry myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Stuart Devine thought his chain of fish and chip restaurants in Aberdeen had survived the worst when the UK government lifted Covid-19 lockdowns for good in spring 2021 and customers returned to enjoy
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In most countries, the cancellation of a press conference would barely warrant a murmur. But the sudden announcement this week that China’s premier would no longer hold a customary media briefing at the annual gathering of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament has captivated political watchers of the week-long session, which ends on Monday. The press conference
As stock markets in the US surge, many increasingly cautious local private investors are turning to options and derivatives to protect against changing sentiment. There has been an explosion in funds in the US that use options in one form or another to act as a hedge, be that through so-called covered call writing, or
A mysterious Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Aden faces intensifying scrutiny among maritime experts concerned that the ship is helping Houthi rebels target commercial sea traffic. The Behshad, which outwardly looks like a standard dry bulk carrier, moved to the Gulf of Aden in January after years in the Red Sea, just as attacks
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hands resting lightly on the lectern, Sir Paul Marshall laid in to the three enemies of the free market, what he called the “mutant siblings” of capitalism: the “cronies” colluding at Davos, monopolies and “woke”
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer, an FT contributing editor, is chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts and former chief economist at the Bank of England Serious times call for serious measures. This week, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt
Wu Qing, the new head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, had been in the job for less than a month when he took to the stage for a high-profile press conference in Beijing on Wednesday. By the end of his first answer, the “broker butcher” — as he came to be known during a
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Pentagon has said it would take up to 60 days and “over 1,000 forces” to build a floating pier and causeway off the coast of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid into the besieged territory.
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Sam Altman will return to the board of OpenAI after a review into the events that lead to his dramatic ousting from the ChatGPT maker found no evidence that he should have been sacked. Altman
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Central banks myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Top central bankers in Europe and the US have moved closer to declaring victory over the biggest inflation surge for a generation, with new data giving policymakers confidence they can cut rates by the summer.
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Experience tells me that if you like having arguments with fund managers, or just generally annoying people, one really good way to do that is to initiate a conversation about passive investing. Asset managers tend
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A top civil servant on the board of UK Research and Innovation helped science secretary Michelle Donelan draft false allegations of extremism against two advisers to the funding body, sparking claims of a conflict of
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Britain’s Conservative and Labour parties ended the week scrambling to quell confusion over their tax policies in the wake of Wednesday’s Budget. Tory ministers were accused of creating a muddle over chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s ambition
After a difficult year marked by two bitter strikes, the 96th Academy Awards will give Hollywood a chance to project an image of itself exactly the way it wants to be seen. This year’s nominees include critically acclaimed blockbusters (Oppenheimer and Barbie), edgy fare (Poor Things), auteur turns (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Zone
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Donald Trump has posted a $91.6mn bond to forestall collection of a $83.3mn civil judgment for defaming writer E Jean Carroll, as the former US president races to cover the costly legal judgments that have
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Sterling is the only major developed world currency to strengthen against the dollar this year, driven by a stronger than expected UK economy and growing hopes of imminent US interest rate cuts. The pound climbed
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. It was with a tone of pained regret that Sam Altman and other OpenAI leaders responded this week to a lawsuit from Elon Musk. “We’re sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The EU will speed up its attempts to set up a maritime corridor for humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza, after US President Joe Biden warned Israel against using aid as “a bargaining chip”. A
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. BP has named Aviva’s chief executive Amanda Blanc as its next senior independent director in the first major shake-up of the energy company’s board since it oversaw the departure last year of boss Bernard Looney
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Former UK prime minister Theresa May has become the latest Conservative MP to announce they will step down in the coming general election. May, who served as premier for three years between 2016 and 2019,
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK asset manager Jupiter is considering dumping £1bn of holdings in its own funds as one of its star managers prepares to leave the company. David Lewis, a manager of Jupiter’s Merlin range, which invests