The Bank of England is set to raise interest rates to their highest level since 2008 on Thursday in the wake of official data last month that showed inflation remained stubbornly high. The expected increase in the cost of borrowing would represent the 12th successive boost by the central bank since it started raising rates
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Rishi Sunak has announced plans to cut the time it takes to see a GP in England as the prime minister hurried to deliver on his promise to cut NHS waiting lists before voters go to the polls in a general election expected by late next year. The measures will allow people suffering from a
UK consumer spending grew at about half the pace of inflation in April as fast-rising prices continued to suppress demand, even as the leisure sector noted some “renewed momentum”, according to new sector data. The value of retail sales increased 5.2 per cent in the year to April, according to figures compiled by KPMG and
Mexico’s supreme court on Monday declared unconstitutional part of an electoral reform law pushed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador which advocates said threatened to undermine the country’s democracy. The justices voted 9-2, meeting the minimum threshold of eight votes under Mexican law, to strike down the bill, which completely restructured and shrank the electoral
Britain’s privatised water and sewage companies paid £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up from £540mn the previous year, despite rising household bills and a wave of public criticism over sewage outflows. The figures, based on a Financial Times analysis of the 10 largest water and sewage companies’ accounts, are higher than headline dividends in the year to
US regional banks rallied further in pre-market trading on Monday as concerns over their health eased, with the momentum also underpinning gains for stocks in Europe and Asia. Futures tracking the US S&P 500 were trading 0.2 per cent higher while those following the Nasdaq were flat as investors grew more optimistic over the battered
Apple announced a five-part bond offering, continuing what is shaping up as a busy month for investment grade corporate debt issuance. The company’s filing on Monday to the Securities and Exchange Commission was preliminary, so did not contain details about the size of the offering or pricing. Those details are expected later today. The notes
Rishi Sunak is facing criticism from the rightwing of his ruling Conservative party over his “shameful” China policy and his failure to build more homes, as he tries to limit the fallout of last week’s dire Tory local election results in England. The UK prime minister will convene his cabinet on Tuesday and seek to
The writer is an FT contributing editor The most important word in politics, Margaret Thatcher’s advertising guru once told me, is “moderate”. There is a lesson here for today’s Conservatives as Rishi Sunak’s government reflects on its latest electoral setback. Parties that want to win elections must lay claim to other attributes, but the mantle
When I first moved to Spain last summer, I felt strangely disorientated. I could hardly blame culture shock — I’d been visiting the country for years before I moved to Madrid. I speak Spanish. I have Spanish family. But I’d never lived here, and something was out of place. Then a chance comment from a
Russian forces launched a barrage of air strikes on Kyiv ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, in what the city’s mayor said was the largest drone attack on the capital since Moscow’s full-scale invasion last year. Ukrainian forces said they had shot down 30 “kamikaze” drones in the Kyiv area in the early hours of
The diplomats who craft western foreign policies are preoccupied by Russia and China. But the international question that most worries their political masters is immigration. As one close aide to President Joe Biden puts if: “If we lose the next election, it’ll be over the southern border not Ukraine.” The political pressure generated by migration
The head of PwC in Australia has resigned as chief executive three days after admitting that he had received emails regarding confidential government information on changes to tax avoidance laws to win new business. Tom Seymour, chief executive of PwC Australia since March 2020, has stood down with immediate effect following a discussion with the
The G7-led price cap on Russian oil exports has forced the Kremlin to raise the tax burden on producers, dealing a fresh blow to an energy sector already struggling with western sanctions, according to officials from the western coalition. An analysis of the tax change by a member of the G7-led coalition, which was shared
A two-year rally in US oil and gas stocks is coming to a halt as falling crude prices and fears of a slowdown in the world’s biggest economy threaten producers’ ability to maintain bumper shareholder payouts. The S&P 500’s energy sector — consisting of oil and gas groups — was the market’s best performer in
ExxonMobil’s top executives went into the company’s yearly shareholder’s meeting in May 2021 confident it was set to win a proxy fight with activist investors over its approach to climate change. Then the votes started rolling in and it soon became clear that Exxon had a full-blown revolt on its hands. Engine No 1’s campaign
It started, as so many disputes between neighbours do, with a shared driveway. To reach Peter Nygard’s six-acre property in the Bahamas, with its smoking volcanoes, Mayan temple and pools where a glass barrier once reputedly separated swimmers from sharks, guests needed to take a road owned by the man next door, the billionaire hedge
His ears are smaller. And there is no crown. But on Wall Street, at least, Jamie Dimon is America’s answer to King Charles III — adulated by some, resented by others, but incontrovertibly powerful. Days before the British monarch’s coronation, Dimon cemented his royal status in finance with another landmark deal for JPMorgan Chase, the
Last week, I quoted a recent speech by US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in which he asked, “How does trade fit into our international economic policy, and what problems is it seeking to solve?” As I’ll argue here, we should start by seeking to solve the problem of concentration and competition. Leaving aside the question
The UK’s failure to attract investments from electric vehicle start-ups or large battery makers was “concerning”, the chief executive of luxury-car maker Bentley has warned. The government needs to deal with energy costs to spur investment and compete with other countries whose incentives are “an order of magnitude more attractive than the UK”, Adrian Hallmark
Former Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker has called for a radical overhaul of how banks are funded so they could withstand a 100 per cent deposit run without following Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse, Signature Bank and First Republic into finance’s graveyard. The recent spate of bank collapses alarmed regulators by showing how