Fitch Ratings has cut the US debt rating from triple A to double A plus, citing worsening fiscal conditions and governance, two months after political brinkmanship brought the world’s largest economy to the edge of a sovereign default. The rating agency on Tuesday said its downgrade reflected “expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years”
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The main UK opposition Labour party will face a test of its electoral appeal in its former stronghold of Scotland this autumn after a by-election was triggered in a seat previously held by the now dominant Scottish National party. The contest in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency was sparked after a petition to recall
Top Republican donors have plunged into the presidential race to give an early financial edge to candidates challenging Donald Trump for the party’s nomination, as the former president’s legal problems force him to burn through his own cash pile. According to federal campaign finance disclosures released on Monday covering the first half of the year,
Fiona Johnston was counting on her two short-term rental properties in Edinburgh to fund her retirement. But now the 63-year-old is worried that a crackdown on temporary lets will destroy her plans. A new law requiring landlords to apply for a short-term letting licence before accepting bookings was passed last October, with the deadline to
Three large UK lenders announced they would cut the costs of home loans this week as mortgage rates continued to fall on the back of an improved outlook for inflation. The moves by NatWest, Halifax and Virgin Money followed cuts by Nationwide, Barclays, TSB and HSBC last week, offering further relief to homeowners who are
Plans by Wizz Air to give its chief executive an extra two years to unlock a £100mn bonus have triggered a backlash as the airline battles a depressed share price and the fallout of a regulatory reprimand for its handling of client claims. Proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Pirc have recommended investors vote against
An English poet once wished for the bombing of Slough. Fans of Brentford FC hear the chant of, “You’re just a bus stop in Hounslow” from opposing crowds. And then there is Staines, the cradle of Ali G. The towns and suburbs in the vicinity of Heathrow airport receive cruel treatment. Then, last month, one
The writer is a political strategist and former adviser to Tony Blair and Julia Gillard The UK Labour party has had a commanding lead over the Conservatives for the past 20 months. Yet there is consensus between its leadership, its membership and political commentators that the party and its leader, Keir Starmer, have not yet
European stocks followed China lower on Tuesday as fresh economic data pointed to weak factory activity across Asia and the eurozone, raising investor concerns about a global slowdown in demand for goods. The region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.7 per cent, extending early morning losses, while Germany’s Dax lost 0.9 per cent and London’s
The UK government has bowed to pressure from businesses and dropped rules to force companies to use a new post-Brexit replacement for the EU’s “CE” product quality mark. The “indefinite” postponement was widely welcomed by industry and came after more than two years of intense lobbying to abandon the new rules. The government has long
UK house prices have dropped by the largest amount in 14 years, according to fresh data from Nationwide. Prices for July fell 0.2 per cent on the previous month and 3.8 per cent on the same month last year, the largest fall since 2009, the Nationwide house price index showed. The average cost of a home in the UK is now
A skyscraper in Moscow’s main business district, home to several government ministries, was damaged by a drone strike on Tuesday for the second time in three days, signalling Ukraine’s intent to step up attacks on strategic targets inside Russia. The drone hit the 42-storey IQ-Quarter tower, which houses the offices of Russian trade, digital and
HSBC has announced its second $2bn share buyback of the year after rising interest rates helped the bank post bumper quarterly profits of $8.8bn. The UK-based lender on Tuesday said it would pay a dividend of 10 cents a share on top of the 10 cents it paid for the first quarter, as it reported
Facebook owner Meta is preparing to launch a range of artificial intelligence-powered chatbots that exhibit different personalities as soon as next month, in an attempt to boost engagement with its social media platforms. The tech giant led by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has been designing prototypes for chatbots that can have humanlike discussions with its
The Biden administration is seeking to increase stretched supplies of crucial munitions for Ukraine to support the counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces. The weapons effort is focused on delivering more 155mm calibre shells used in the howitzers Ukraine is deploying along the front line, officials said, and includes supplies from international allies in the short
Xi Jinping’s tour of an LG Display factory in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, his first to a Korean-owned company, was widely interpreted as an attempt to signal that China remains a friendly partner for Korean technology companies. But the visit, in April, also carried a hint of menace and highlighted South Korea’s tricky
The phrase “know your enemy” is generally synonymous with the importance of keeping tabs on the competition, whether by simply sampling your rival’s product or by more nefarious means such as espionage. But another, less frequently used meaning is just as important: correctly identifying who your rivals actually are. That’s the act of corporate genius
The writer is president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and an adviser to Allianz and Gramercy The first half of 2023 witnessed striking economic and financial dispersion, both within countries and across them. With some of this dispersion reversed in July, there is a growing tendency to forecast convergence in the period ahead, and the favourable
UK shop prices dipped month on month in July for the first time in two years, according to industry data published on Tuesday, adding to evidence that high inflation might finally be starting to ease. The British Retail Consortium said shop prices in July were 0.1 per cent lower than in June, as the annual
China’s metals and mining investments overseas are on track to hit a record this year, new data shows, as the country races to secure resources to defend its position as the world’s biggest producer of electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels and wind turbines. In the first half of this year, Chinese investments and new contracts in
A top Republican donor to Donald Trump’s past presidential campaigns is helping to bankroll Robert F Kennedy Jr’s long-shot White House bid, as conservative cash keeps flowing to Joe Biden’s main challenger for the Democratic nomination. According to federal filings released on Monday, Timothy Mellon gave $5mn to American Values, the main political action committee,