European stocks fell on Wednesday, as traders awaited the US Federal Reserve chair’s congressional testimony, while higher than expected UK inflation reinforced views that the Bank of England would extend its tightening campaign for longer. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 dropped 0.2 per cent, following two successive days of falls, while France’s Cac 40 dropped 0.2
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Your browser does not support playing this file but you can still download the MP3 file to play locally. For decades, Crispin Odey sat atop the UK’s hedge fund scene. Lauded by many in financial circles as a charismatic maverick and known for taking high-risk bets on the market, he seemed untouchable. Until two weeks
The writer is a science commentator Egg plus sperm equals embryo. It is hard to think of a more basic rule in biology. Still, rethink it we must. Last week, at a stem cell conference in Massachusetts, researchers revealed they had created “synthetic” human embryos using neither eggs nor sperm. These structures, more correctly called
TikTok is expanding its online retail offerings, with its Chinese parent company selling products through the viral video app as the group seeks to challenge rivals such as Shein and Amazon. In recent weeks, UK users have begun to see a new shopping feature within the TikTok app called “Trendy Beat”, a section offering items
Britain’s beleaguered mortgage borrowers are likely to escape the scale of home repossessions suffered in previous economic crises because of higher levels of housing equity and regulatory pressure on lenders, say market experts. With 1.4mn households set to roll off their fixed rate mortgages over the course of 2023 — most taken out two or
When Matthew Chamberlain woke up at 5.30am on March 8 2022 and glanced at metals prices on his phone, he immediately knew something was wrong. As the chief executive of the London Metal Exchange scrolled through his mobile — still bleary after dealing with emails until nearly 11pm the night before — he became “alarmed”
The NHS in England will struggle to hit its targets to improve strained emergency services by next year, an independent spending watchdog has concluded, against a backdrop of declining patient approval. The state of the NHS will be a key issue at the general election expected next year and prime minister Rishi Sunak is anxious
Marks and Spencer, WHSmith and Argos are among the high-profile retailers heading a list of more than 200 companies named and shamed by the UK government for failing to pay staff the minimum wage. The Department of Business and Trade released details on Wednesday of 202 companies that left 63,000 low-paid workers out of pocket
The NHS in England will struggle to hit its targets to improve strained emergency services by next year, an independent spending watchdog has concluded. In a report published on Wednesday, the National Audit Office said that, although staff numbers and funding had increased, the health service had “not been able to secure the full benefits”
Corporate America is feeling the pinch from the slowdown in Wall Street’s $1.4tn market for junk-rated loans, with a growing list of companies forced either to pay more or abandon borrowing plans. Borrowers have been hit by shifts in the market for collateralised loan obligations, or CLOs, the investment vehicles that own roughly two-thirds of
US secretary of state Antony Blinken raised concerns with China about its alleged electronic spying facilities in Cuba during a two-day mission to Beijing aimed at stabilising turbulent relations between the powers. In an interview with CBS television before departing Beijing, Blinken said he had discussed the subject of Chinese spying operations in Cuba in
Prime minister Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to break his silence over the parliamentary report into Boris Johnson’s conduct, as a backlash from Tory MPs deepens and Labour hurls accusations of weakness. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, is set to challenge Sunak to declare a view on the House of Commons privileges committee
Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to criminal tax violations and reached a deal with prosecutors over a separate firearm offence, just days after his father Joe Biden held the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign. According to a court document filed on Tuesday in Delaware federal court, Hunter Biden was charged with
Last week, I discussed the dire financial situation of the poorest countries. This week’s “summit for a new global financing pact” in Paris offers an opportunity to deal with this challenge. It also offers a chance of making the investments needed for a transition to a low-emissions economy. This is the central point of a
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is to call in banks to address what one Tory MP called a “mortgage bomb that is about to go off”, but he ruled out giving fiscal support to households struggling with the rising cost of mortgages. Hunt said on Tuesday he wanted to help the Bank of England “strangle” inflation and
UK mortgage rates have soared as the Bank of England raised borrowing costs over the past 18 months. But the latest jump, which carried the interest rate on the average two-year loan above 6 per cent this week, has been driven by frenzied speculation in financial markets about what the central bank will do next
Season ticket renewal time. Thirty-five years on, I can’t explain why I chose Arsenal. It wasn’t the nearest club (Crystal Palace) or the most successful (Liverpool). Once the decision was made, though, it became self-reinforcing. Attachments deepen with time and habit until their origin is beside the point. I can tell, though not without fail,
European equities followed Asian stocks lower on Tuesday as investors questioned whether China’s smaller than expected cut to its benchmark lending rate would be sufficient to boost the country’s sluggish economy. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 lost 0.1 per cent, extending its losses from the previous session, while Germany’s Dax was down 0.3 per cent. London’s
UK grocery price inflation eased for a third consecutive month in June, with new data suggesting it might have peaked, according to research company Kantar. The annual pace of supermarket price increases eased to 16.5 per cent for the four weeks to June 11, down from 17.2 per cent the previous month. The figure was
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ held detailed talks to take Wall Street investment bank Lazard private, in a move that underlined the oil-rich emirate’s ambitions to acquire a western financial services company. The talks were held this year between Lazard, led by outgoing chief executive Ken Jacobs, and ADQ, led by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed
When two UN atomic watchdog inspectors set off for Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant in January, they gave their Iranian counterparts virtually no notice of the impending visit. It was what the International Atomic Energy Agency terms a routine unscheduled inspection, designed to give staff at one of the Islamic republic’s most secretive facilities as little