Fund managers have cut their allocations to commercial real estate to their lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis, in the latest sign that investors are becoming concerned about the impact of rising interest rates and falling demand on the sector. Bank of America’s monthly fund manager survey showed that a net 19 per
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BlackRock will require employees to go to the office for at least four days a week, the latest company to curtail liberal work-from-home policies enacted in the Covid-19 pandemic. The New York-based asset manager with about 20,000 employees in more than 30 countries said that from September 11, staff would be able to work from
Vodafone’s new boss has announced the biggest set of job cuts in the telecom group’s history, pledging to draw a bold line under its past and to simplify a business that has come under criticism for its centralised decision-making and byzantine structure. “Make no mistake, you will see the numbers turning from here,” Margherita Della
How is one to assess the possibility of a voluntary default by the world’s most important country? Is something as mad as this really likely to happen? What might be the consequences if it did? These questions are impossible to answer. This is not because it is a “black swan” — that is, unimaginable. A
Oxford university ended its relationship with the Sacklers on Monday after a Financial Times investigation into its continued ties with the wealthy family led academics and students to call for sweeping reforms. The decision to cut social ties and remove the Sackler name from buildings, spaces and staff positions comes at the end of a
Soon after Jerry Springer died last month, another sandy-haired 70-something with a Germanic name continued his work. Where Springer’s platform was daytime television, Donald Trump’s was no less than CNN. Where Springer had to coax tasteless behaviour from his guests, Trump supplied it himself. (He variously called women “nasty” and “crazy” on May 10, to
OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman will tell US lawmakers on Tuesday that regulation of artificial intelligence must allow companies to be flexible and adapt to new technological developments, as the industry faces growing scrutiny by regulators around the world. Altman, whose company created AI chatbot ChatGPT, will say that “the regulation of AI is essential”
UK wage growth showed little sign of easing in the three months to March, according to official figures that will reinforce policymakers’ concerns over the pressures fuelling inflation. The Office for National Statistics said average private sector earnings, excluding bonuses, were 7 per cent higher than a year earlier, unchanged from an upwardly revised reading
European stocks fell at the open on Tuesday as investors’ concerns resurfaced that interest rates in the eurozone would stay higher for longer to curb inflation. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 fell 0.3 per cent, breaking its two-day winning streak, while France’s Cac 40 and Germany’s Dax were down 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent
Vodafone plans to cut 11,000 jobs as new chief executive Margherita Della Valle seeks to revive profit growth at the telecoms group. Della Valle, who was made permanent chief executive last month, set out a strategy for the group on Tuesday, outlining the ways in which “Vodafone must change”. The cuts are part of plan
Three High Court judges invested in controversial tax avoidance schemes that were challenged by HM Revenue & Customs, including one judge who has ruled on tax avoidance cases, raising questions about the UK’s lax approach to disclosure of judicial interests. The investments by Justices Joanna Smith, Simon Bryan and Martin Griffiths were first made about
The race is on to bring the technology behind ChatGPT to the smartphone in your pocket. And to judge from the surprising speed at which the technology is advancing, the latest moves in AI could transform mobile communications and computing far faster than seemed likely just months ago. As tech companies rush to embed generative
When more than 1,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Amsterdam in early February, they directed their ire at something that does not even exist: the digital euro. The protesters voiced a kaleidoscopic array of objections to the European Central Bank’s plan to issue an electronic version of the continent’s single currency. Some feared the
Call it the Abe Simpson principle. The cartoon patriarch, upon being told by his son Homer that he wasn’t “with it”, responded: “I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I’m with isn’t it, and what’s it seems weird and scary to me.” Then he warned his son:
The writer, an FT contributing editor, is chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts Last month, I discussed the negative feedback loop between stalling economic growth and expanding safety nets. How do countries break free from this “doom loop”? One important element is to rethink the fiscal rules shaping government investment decisions. The idea of
5/16/2023, 12:23:12 AM Kyiv rocked by explosions as Russian air strikes intensify Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv was rocked by more than a dozen explosions around 3am on Tuesday, about a half-hour after air raid sirens went off nationwide warning that Russia’s invading forces were resuming air strikes on the country. Financial
One in seven UK adults will be paying income tax at 40 per cent by 2027-28 because of a six-year freeze on the threshold at which the higher rate kicks in, according to an influential think-tank. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said on Tuesday that by its end, the freeze on tax thresholds and allowances
The UK’s policing minister has pushed for facial recognition to be rolled out across police forces nationally in a move that would ignore critics who claim the technology is inaccurate and some of its applications illegal. According to a report to be submitted to parliament on Tuesday, the Home Office briefed the biometrics and surveillance
Downing Street on Monday refused to say when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would meet a Tory pledge to cut net migration, as high inflows of foreign workers, health staff and students drive numbers towards a record high. Suella Braverman, home secretary, insisted at a conference in London that the government must honour its 2019 manifesto
It is all reminiscent of Brexit wranglings of the past. But this time it concerns an industry of the future. Batteries for electric vehicles must, under the Brexit agreement, source 60 per cent of their value from within the UK or Europe to qualify for tariff-free trade from 2024, a threshold that jumps again in
The writer is author of ‘Turkey Under Erdoğan’ There is one question on many people’s minds in Turkey today: how did pollsters get it wrong? Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was trailing in most surveys ahead of Sunday’s presidential elections. Analysts expected the tanking economy, along with the state’s lacklustre response to the deadly earthquakes in February,