US president Joe Biden is set to arrive in Belfast on Tuesday night to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement as London urged the region’s biggest unionist party to end its boycott of Northern Ireland’s political institutions. Biden’s visit, which will be followed by a longer trip to the Republic of Ireland,
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The Pentagon said it was “working around the clock” to determine the source and scale of a leak of highly classified intelligence documents that appear to contain operational data on the war in Ukraine and information from countries in Asia and the Middle East. “We’re still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope
Corporate America is facing its sharpest drop in profits since the early stages of the Covid pandemic, according to Wall Street forecasts, as high inflation squeezes margins and fears of an impending recession hold back demand. Companies on the S&P 500 index are expected to report a 6.8 per cent decline in first-quarter earnings compared
Stocks dropped as US equity markets reopened from the long Easter weekend on Monday and investors fretted that the Federal Reserve will keep lifting interest rates. The S&P 500 slid 0.8 per cent in early trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1 per cent. Monday marked the first opportunities traders have had to respond
Stocks dropped as US equity markets reopened from the long Easter weekend on Monday and investors fretted that the Federal Reserve would keep lifting interest rates. The S&P 500 slid 0.8 per cent in early trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1 per cent. Monday marked the first opportunity traders had to respond to
Monday brought a windfall for many investors in Chinese equities. Ten companies debuted on the main exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, raising a combined $3.1bn. Pops in the share prices of as much as 200 per cent reflected undervaluation rather than strong growth expectations. The 10 are the largest group to list after China overhauled
When Mark Craig first moved to the Merseyside town of New Ferry in north-west England 35 years ago it had a decent reputation. But over the past decade, antisocial behaviour has come to blight the community. Gangs of 30 or 40 children hang around the boarded-up shopping precinct or the corner of the park, starting
The Chinese navy has conducted 120 flight sorties from an aircraft carrier over the past three days, Japan said on Monday, highlighting the concerns that Beijing’s war games around Taiwan have raised for the US and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region. Fighter aircraft took off and landed 80 times on the Shandong, China’s second
Should the US defend Taiwan? This is not an abstract debate. Over the weekend, Beijing simulated bombing raids on the island, while its navy encircled Taiwan. In response to the steady escalation of Chinese military pressure on the island, President Joe Biden has promised — four times — that the US would defend Taiwan from
Shares in a number of Chinese companies soared more than 100 per cent on Monday, as the first batch of initial public offerings under a new streamlined listings regime debuted in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The top gainers among the 10 new launches included Shenzhen CECport Technologies, an electronics distributor, whose shares rose as much as
The writer is an FT contributing editor, the chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia, and fellow at IWM Vienna It is “la lutte finale” in many democracies around the world today. The memorable line about the “final struggle” from the old socialist hymn “The Internationale” is a fitting refrain for much contemporary democratic
The writer is chair of Rockefeller International The irony of the Silicon Valley Bank saga is now complete. The crisis started inside the American tech sector’s favourite bank, but the government rescue has benefited Big Tech the most. As calm returns to the market, fuelled by megacap tech stocks, investors are naturally relieved. They need
When Washington introduced expansive controls in October restricting chip and equipment exports to China, it was accused by Beijing of “bullying” its tech sector and “violating the spirit of co-operation”. Such responses, amounting to little more than verbal bluster in response to a slow strangling of semiconductor supplies, reflected Chinese industry’s reliance on foreign chip
The writer is president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and an adviser to Allianz and Gramercy Let’s start with the good news. The flashing red light resulting from a speed-of-light run on the US banking system, or what economists broadly refer to as financial contagion, is behind us. Yet it is too early for policymakers to
Making companies publicly disclose the amount of tax they pay on a country-by-country basis could curb international tax avoidance and cut the risks of damaging disputes with local authorities, according to campaigners who are pressing the issue on US boardrooms. A coalition of investors and activists is seeking shareholder support for increased tax transparency at
From Canary Wharf in London to La Défense in Paris and Frankfurt’s Bankenviertel, the logos of major banks adorn Europe’s grandest office buildings. But there is early evidence that these buildings could become liabilities for banks and investors as they are buffeted by rising costs and post-Covid workplace changes. Offices are the largest component of
Total pay for bosses at some of the UK’s largest companies rose by more than a tenth last year, further adding to the scrutiny expected from shareholders at annual meetings at a time when many employees face cost of living pressures. Median overall pay for FTSE 100 chief executives increased by 12 per cent to
First-time buyers in the UK are selecting smaller properties in the face of rising mortgage costs, in a sign that many prospective purchasers are compromising on the size of their first home rather than staying in the tight rental market. Most first-home buyers chose a one- or two-bedroom property in the first quarter of 2023
Shares in Hong Kong’s four biggest family-owned developers have dropped more than a third in the past four years, with nearly $50bn wiped off their market capitalisation as Covid-19 restrictions and interest rate rises took a toll on the property market. Four families dominate the Hong Kong property market: the Lis of CK Asset, the
China’s financial sector is reeling from a series of new corruption probes and a surge in surprise audits of venture funds, as President Xi Jinping sharpens his focus on an industry he sees as failing to serve the broader economy. With Beijing’s graft-busting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection warning against “hedonism” and “high-end lifestyles”, banks
The world’s leading economies are showing surprising resilience despite facing a perilous moment, according to research for the Financial Times that suggests the global economy may avoid a sharp slowdown this year. China, the US, the eurozone, India and the UK are all growing faster than had been expected late last year, the latest edition