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Calpers, the biggest US public pension plan, is considering bigger bets on private equity despite despite growing fears that higher interest rates will curb the industry’s returns. Chief executive Marcie Frost said that the $442bn-in-assets retirement fund, one of the world’s biggest investors in private equity, will start an extensive review of its holdings in

South Africa’s foreign policy has become a study in inconsistency. One moment it is about to depart the International Criminal Court. The next moment it isn’t. Here it is condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There it is accusing the US of having provoked it. Sometimes South Africa is a democracy with a progressive constitution and

The writer is founder of Sifted, an FT-backed site about European start-ups At the start of this century, a visiting investor from Mars might well have bet big on Germany emerging as one of the winners of the internet revolution. Crammed with world-leading engineers, industry-friendly bankers and hustling entrepreneurs, the country looked strongly placed to

European equities rose on Thursday, joining an overnight rally on Wall Street, as concerns over a potential US government default and the health of regional banks eased. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 was up 0.4 per cent, recovering from two days of losses, while France’s Cac 40 rose 0.6 and Germany’s Dax rose 1 per cent. London’s

G7 leaders will discuss a proposal for a Ukraine peace summit during their three-day meeting in Hiroshima this week, in an effort to promote Kyiv’s proposal for ending Russia’s war against the country rather than rival plans proposed by China. The G7 talks on the proposed event, which has been championed by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr

In 1989, the businessman Michael Knighton bid £20mn for Manchester United. At the time it was the highest price ever offered for an English football club. United’s owner hastily accepted. But the takeover fell through, partly because Knighton raised questions about his own psychology when he insisted on juggling a ball in front of a

BT is to cut up to 40 per cent of its workforce by the end of the decade, as it seeks to slash costs and become a “leaner business”. The group said on Thursday that it would cut between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs, including employees and third-party contractors, by 2030. The group’s current workforce totals

Ukraine’s allies fear military support for its battle against Russia is nearing a peak, with senior European officials increasingly concerned about the flow of aid next year as the US enters a divisive presidential campaign. Washington has been Ukraine’s dominant source of weaponry and US officials say sufficient preapproved funds remain to sustain Kyiv for

UK ministers have been put under pressure over planned crypto regulations by a group of crossbench MPs who are seeking a more radical overhaul of the industry. The Treasury select committee published a report on Wednesday in which members said crypto should be treated like gambling, given it had “no intrinsic value, huge price volatility

Just after lunchtime on a sunny day in late November, Senna Matkovic passed out and turned blue. The 10-month-old had been playing with his twin brother in the grass at Moscone Park in a quiet enclave of San Francisco. Panicking that he was choking on something she couldn’t see, his nanny called 911. A fire

The Bank of England is holding a “Festival of Mistakes” this week, celebrating lessons learnt from financial disasters of the distant past. Some would argue that they, and their counterparts at other central banks, should focus on more recent errors. Advanced economies are experiencing the most acute — and most enduring — outbreak of inflation

It’s not the first time a White House pivot to Asia has fallen victim to events. Barack Obama tried to end the habit of US presidents spending all their foreign policy energy in the Middle East, only to be swamped by the spread of the Islamist militant group Isis and the civil war in Syria.

Emerging market debt has hit a record high of over $100tn, a third higher than pre-pandemic levels, as concerns mount about financial leverage in a world of higher interest rates. Global debt rose by $8.3tn in the first three months of the year to $306.3tn, the highest level since the first quarter of last year and

I still think about the dilemma I faced as a parent over whether to give my kids smartphones, even though a decade has passed since. When they were in junior school, my daughters craved these magical devices. They claimed they would become social outcasts without phones because “everyone else has them”. Even other adults seemed

German carmakers are lobbying the European Commission to delay post-Brexit rules that threaten to deliver a severe blow to Britain’s troubled car industry. From next year, electric vehicles shipped between the UK and the EU will need to have 45 per cent of their parts sourced from within the two regions or face 10 per

“If the cost of EV manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close,” carmaker Stellantis told a parliamentary inquiry on the future supply of batteries for electric vehicles in the UK. The first challenge — and the one that will get the most attention — is that requirements under the Brexit agreement

If you want to understand how conservative Britain really is, take a look at Keir Starmer’s speeches. The Labour leader has recognised both the electoral limits of leftwing politics and a deeper truth about the people he hopes to govern. Starmer is learning what all successful Labour leaders have grasped: you can pursue a reformist

Andrew Bailey has acknowledged for the first time the Bank of England is dealing with a UK wage price spiral as he pledged to raise interest rates as far “as necessary” to get inflation back to the bank’s 2 per cent target. Speaking to the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference in London, the BoE

Here is a counterfactual: if Gina Raimondo were US vice-president, rather than commerce secretary, would Democrats be so accepting of Joe Biden’s decision to run again? My guess is almost certainly not. Since it is Kamala Harris, not the highly regarded Raimondo, who is next in line, almost no Democrat is pressing for Biden to

Global temperatures are likely exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for the first time in human history within the next five years, the World Meteorological Organization has said in its latest annual assessment. In a stark conclusion, scientists said for the first time there was a 66 per cent chance that the annual mean global surface

The values of prime London offices are “close to the bottom” after a brutal year for commercial property investors, according to the head of one of the UK’s largest landlords. British Land boss Simon Carter said the value of good-quality London offices should stabilise after sharp falls in recent months, but warned of more pain