Trying to work out whether it is more likely that Donald Trump will be behind bars or behind the Oval Office desk in two years’ time is a tricky calculation. It’s slightly easier to predict who will be the Republican presidential nominee: although it’s too early to crown him, Trump is leaving his rivals in
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The slump in initial public offerings in London has become ever more striking. The decision by WE Soda, the world’s largest soda ash producer, to abandon plans to list in the UK comes after CRH, the world’s largest building materials group, decided to switch its listing from London to Wall Street. Fintech group CAB Payments
The UK has missed out on a global stock market rally so far in 2023 as the Bank of England’s scramble to raise interest rates and falling oil prices hold back the FTSE 100. London’s main benchmark has lagged well behind other big developed market indices, gaining less than 1 per cent from the level
Bank of America is bearing the cost of decisions made three years ago to pump the majority of $670bn in pandemic-era deposit inflows into debt markets at a time when bonds traded at historically high prices and low yields. The moves left BofA, the second-largest US bank by assets, with more than $100bn in paper
It can’t be him, Kim Joo Kyung thought, as she took a seat on a crowded Seoul subway carriage. She stole glances through the swaying jungle of legs and bags and jackets at what looked like the same high cheekbones, cropped black hair, sharp shoulders, even the suit. The train screeched and jolted into a
The chief executives behind Microsoft’s planned $75bn acquisition of Activision made a last-ditch attempt to save the deal in a courtroom on Wednesday in the face of US government objections that could result in its annulment as early as next week. The acquisition of the gaming company would almost certainly collapse if the judge sided
Twitter’s new chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, is preparing a series of measures to bring back advertisers who had abandoned the platform under Elon Musk’s ownership, including introducing a video ads service, wooing more celebrities and raising headcount. The former NBCUniversal advertising head, who started as chief executive on June 5, is seeking to launch full-screen,
Haze from Canadian wildfires enveloped the US Midwest on Wednesday, placing three major metropolitan areas among those with the worst air quality globally. Chicago and Minneapolis had the third-, and fourth-worst air quality worldwide, respectively, on Wednesday. Detroit had the second-worst, topped only by Dubai, according to IQAir. Chicago has had “unhealthy” air, as measured
Joe Biden said trillions of dollars of government investments deployed under his watch would restore the “American dream” after decades of failed “trickle-down” politics, in a speech defending his economic record. Speaking at the Old Post Office in Chicago on Wednesday, the US president said the sweeping legislation he had championed to pump federal money
Vladimir Putin has moved to shake up Russia’s security services in the wake of the Wagner group’s failed insurrection, rewarding loyalists with promotions and freezing out figures sympathetic to the paramilitary organisation’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Sergei Surovikin, a senior Russian general known to have a good relationship with Prigozhin, has not been seen since recording
Almost 35 years after Margaret Thatcher sold off Britain’s water industry, the prime minister denouncing her opponents as “weak” left-wingers, the sector is facing its biggest crisis and is posing serious problems for her present-day Conservative counterpart. On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak’s government was preparing contingency plans for a possible temporary nationalisation of Thames Water, one
Switzerland has vetoed a plan to export nearly 100 mothballed Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, citing neutrality laws for a decision made just as Kyiv’s counteroffensive enters a decisive phase. Bern’s veto is likely to spark anger among Switzerland’s European allies, who for months have been pressing the government to relax its restrictive interpretation of
What on earth is happening in Russia? It isn’t merely ordinary observers who were confused by last week’s “coup that wasn’t”, undertaken by the Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. I’ve spent the week talking to western diplomats and foreign policy officials, and almost no one has been able to explain with confidence exactly what occurred, much
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey on Wednesday signalled interest rates in the UK are likely to stay higher for longer than financial markets are expecting because inflation has proved to be such a persistent problem. Speaking at a European Central Bank conference in Sintra, Portugal, Bailey suggested markets were wrong to think rates would
If water is life then life has been pretty good for those that keep Britain’s taps flowing. None has done better out of Thatcherite liberalisation than private owners of water utilities, including UK pension funds. Thames Water has sprung a cash leak. The snap departure of chief executive Sarah Bentley sparked talk of renationalisation on
It is possible that the UK will look back on the next campaign as the hopeless election, a contest between two parties for the support of voters who do not believe either will materially improve their lives or the country. The lack of hope is palpable. People feel battered by inflation, falling living standards, strikes,
The writer is European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union During the Covid pandemic, I returned to Belgium from Ireland only to discover that I had left my wallet behind. After the usual panic, I realised that I wouldn’t have any trouble buying groceries or making other payments. I didn’t have
The British government is on standby for the potential collapse of Thames Water and ministers are examining options including the temporary nationalisation of the debt-laden business. Defra, the environment ministry, is holding emergency talks with industry regulator Ofwat to examine contingency plans in case the country’s largest company is unable to raise private finance in
European stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday ahead of a public gathering of central bankers, as investors took heart from a tech-led rally overnight on Wall Street. The pan-European Stoxx 600 added 0.5 per cent, extending gains from the previous day, while France’s Cac 40 gained 0.6 per cent in the first hour of
Ukraine has hit back at doubters over the progress of its summer counteroffensive, insisting recent modest gains against Russian occupiers were merely a “preview” of a much bigger push to come. Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, told the Financial Times that the liberation of a group of villages under Russian occupation in recent weeks was
Antonio Sánchez Morodo flashes his identity card at the border guards as he leaves Spain to get to work, riding his bike down Winston Churchill Avenue on the only land crossing into Gibraltar, a sliver of British-Mediterranean soil that is as wealthy as it is cramped. Space is so short in the UK overseas territory,