How will we keep our footing in the new gold rush? As investors and manufacturers saddle up and ride out for America, the EU is scrapping over how best to respond to President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction and Chips acts. But the UK seems marooned, with ministers shuddering at any mention of “industrial policy”. You
News
JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has lined up Henry Kissinger and a clutch of American and Chinese corporate leaders for a summit in Shanghai as global companies try to navigate the worst Sino-US tensions in years. The event next week, part of Dimon’s first visit to mainland China in four years, underscores corporate America’s attempts
In 2022, US chipmaker Nvidia released the H100, one of the most powerful processors it had ever built — and one of its most expensive, costing about $40,000 each. The launch seemed badly timed, just as businesses sought to cut spending amid rampant inflation. Then in November, ChatGPT was launched. “We went from a pretty
Jeremy Hunt has backed further interest rate rises to bring prices under control as figures showed only Argentina and South Sudan experienced bigger increases in underlying inflation last month. The UK chancellor signalled his support for Bank of England rate increases after a week when core inflation, which excludes energy and food, hit its highest
In its more than 130-year history the Financial Times has upheld the highest standards of journalism. As editor of this newspaper, nothing matters to me more than the trust of readers in the quality journalism we produce. Quality means above all accuracy. It also means fairness and transparency. That’s why today I am sharing my
The writer is director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute The US is set to breach its borrowing limit as early as next week, yet Republicans and Democrats have not secured a deal to increase the debt ceiling and avoid an economic and financial catastrophe. The nation has arrived at the brink
British Airways cancelled more than 140 flights on the busiest leisure travel days of the year as it grappled to resolve a computer problem that also affected some passengers’ ability to check in remotely. A person familiar with the airline’s operations said 23 departures from Heathrow were cancelled on Friday morning, leading to the scrapping
The emptiest aircraft on which I ever flew was an All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to London in June 2020 amid the pandemic. It was a Boeing 777-300 with about 250 passenger seats, of which four were filled: in airline lingo, it had a load factor of less than 2 per cent. We crossed
In the late 1970s, as Spain was shedding dictatorship for democracy, the future Socialist prime minister Felipe González said that his aim in politics was to turn “our country into a society similar to that of our neighbours” in western Europe. To Spanish ears, this goal was more noble and ambitious than it sounds today.
European stocks rose on Friday, catching the tail of an overnight rally on Wall Street, as chipmakers boosted markets and signs emerged from Washington that politicians were approaching a deal on the US debt ceiling. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 was up 0.5 per cent, France’s Cac 40 added 0.6 per cent and London’s FTSE 100
Credit Suisse has been ordered by a Singaporean judge to pay $926mn to former Georgian prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, a final blow to the bank before UBS is expected to complete its takeover as soon as next week. Ivanishvili, who is Georgia’s richest man, had already won a case against the Swiss bank in Bermuda
British retail sales grew more than expected in April, rebounding after bad weather hit spending in March and helped by increased government benefits. The quantity of goods bought in Britain rose 0.5 per cent between March and April, in part reversing the sharp contraction in the previous month, according to data published on Friday by
The writer is a retired RAF Air Marshal who was formerly director-general of Joint Force Development at the UK Ministry of Defence Many have questioned why President Volodymyr Zelenskyy so determinedly pressed for the supply of F-16 fighter planes to his forces in Ukraine. Can one particular aircraft can make such a difference? The answer,
For Ben and Pamela Thomas, the decision over whether to buy an electric car was decided by a stray roof tile. When a storm dislodged the ceramic projectile that wrote off their trusty VW Polo, they began the search for a new model, and were keen to try their first electric vehicle. Yet more than
Before Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum, David Henry’s interest in politics rarely extended beyond following it on TV. But the campaign — despite failing by 45-55 per cent — captivated the London-based television production company executive and he became an activist for the Scottish National party. “I joined the SNP a day after the referendum in
London is the European stock exchange most at risk of suffering big departures to the US, according to a ranking compiled by the Financial Times identifying large companies with the strongest business case to consider a New York listing. The FT assessed 111 European companies, each with a market capitalisation of at least $10bn and
When British supermarket giant Tesco withdrew from the US in 2013 just six years after opening its first Fresh & Easy store, it was criticised for failing to appreciate important differences in how Americans and Brits do their grocery shopping. On the evidence of last week, a similar charge could be levelled at the American
President Joe Biden and Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy have moved closer to a two-year deal to limit government spending and avert a US debt default, raising hopes of an end to the fiscal stand-off in the world’s largest economy. People familiar with the potential agreement said that negotiators were looking to finalise the agreement
Shares in Bunge, the world’s largest oilseed processor, jumped as much as 5 per cent on Thursday after reports of preliminary deal talks with Glencore-backed grain trader Viterra. A potential merger, which was first reported by Bloomberg, would create an agribusiness powerhouse rivalling Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland. St Louis-based Bunge, which generated $1.6bn in
UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has told drugmakers that the government has no “magic wand” to deal with financial pressures and was unlikely to give into industry demands to pay a significantly higher price for medicines. The government will on Friday unveil reforms worth £650mn to boost the life sciences sector as part of a wider
Ministers are considering a sweeping reform to the fund that protects savers in company pension plans that could turn it into a vehicle able to invest tens of billions of pounds in UK businesses. Proposals before ministers could see the government-backed Pension Protection Fund, which has £39bn in pension assets, given an extended remit to