Today In The Markets

A huge rally driven by the US Federal Reserve’s recent about-face on interest rates has left some big-name fund managers nervous that markets now look highly vulnerable to disappointing economic news. Stocks and bonds have ripped higher over the past two months, and received a major boost when the Fed dropped its biggest hint yet

Every day, Peter Stamp goes into his home office in northern Germany and clears all distractions for an hour. He opens his laptop and scans through a list of over 140 questions that ask about the future. These questions span global conflicts, currency movements and economic policy. Stamp looks at each one, thinking through whether

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Companies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. (noun) grouping of large tech stocks that has dominated US and global markets For a short time at the start of 2023, stock markets behaved as recession-obsessed investors expected: badly. But a drab start quickly gave

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is a financial journalist and author of ‘More: The 10,000-Year Rise of the World Economy’ In most Hollywood horror movies, the monster is incredibly hard to kill. Not until the final moments of

A century ago the makers of a revolutionary new drug called insulin promised not to make “nasty profits”. Their commitment created what is now the largest charitable foundation in the world, fuelled by the latest major development in medical science: anti-obesity drugs. The Novo Nordisk Foundation is the controlling shareholder of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk,

Global banks eliminated more than 60,000 jobs in 2023, marking one of the heaviest years for cuts since the financial crisis and reversing much of their hiring as they emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic. Investment banks suffered a second consecutive year of plummeting fees as dealmaking and public listings dried up, leaving Wall Street trying

The number of UK first-time buyers getting on the housing ladder is on track to hit a 10-year low as higher mortgage rates make purchasers more reliant on the so-called Bank of Mum and Dad. The number of mortgages obtained by first-time buyers is down nearly one quarter so far this year compared with 2022,

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Gaza on Monday, meeting with soldiers in the besieged enclave and pledging to push on with the war against Hamas, as pressure on his government increased to recover hostages

The operator of the world’s second-largest container ship fleet will resume sending tankers through the Red Sea after a US-led coalition began providing naval security against attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Denmark’s AP Møller-Maersk said on Sunday that it would stop rerouting vessels around southern Africa, a long and costly route, and would proceed through

An American soldier, the kind you really don’t want to mess with, trains his gun on a pair of quivering, cringing targets. “Hey, there’s some kind of misunderstanding here,” one of them pleads desperately. “We’re American.” “OK,” comes the reply, very slowly; the soldier’s eyes are still murderously narrowed. “But what kind of American are

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. We played host to Ukrainian refugees because of a man called Ilya Neustadt. A Jewish Ukrainian, he was studying economics in Belgium when Germany invaded in 1940.  Britain took Ilya in. This may have

The influence of China’s once-powerful central bank has diminished as Beijing steps up a drive to centralise Communist party control over financial regulation. Some of the powers formerly held by the People’s Bank of China have been taken over by a party oversight body and a revamped financial regulator as Beijing resets its growth model.

At a Starbucks in the futuristic headquarters of Naver, South Korea’s biggest internet company, a line of robots is on standby to fetch coffee for the company’s employees. About 100 robots on wheels — called Rookies — wander around the offices, carrying out simple tasks such as delivering meals and parcels and testing the boundaries

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Sir Jim Ratcliffe has agreed to buy a roughly $1.3bn stake in Manchester United, ending more than a year of uncertainty over the English football club’s ownership and highlighting continued investor appetite for sports assets.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. James Cleverly, the UK home secretary, has apologised for making a joke at a recent Downing Street reception about spiking his wife’s drink with a “date rape” drug. His comments came just after the government

Standing between two Christmas trees topped with red “Make America Great Again” caps this week, Donald Trump told a crowd of several hundred supporters in Waterloo, Iowa, that his poll numbers were “scary because we are leading by so much”. “We are leading by 30 to 40 points, I guess, but we have got to

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to fight on in the war against Hamas, despite a mounting death toll and growing international calls to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in the Palestinian enclave and halt

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A chemical tanker operating in the Indian Ocean has been attacked by a drone launched from Iran, according to the US military, expanding the threat faced by international merchant shipping. The Pentagon said in a

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. On December 24, the Holy Trinity Church in Shanghai will hold its first Christmas Eve service in some time. The second restoration of the 1869 building, one of the oldest of its kind in China

With just three weeks to go until Taiwan’s presidential election, emotions are running high in one of the world’s biggest geopolitical flashpoints. The ruling Democratic Progressive party’s candidate Lai Ching-te has said the opposition’s plans for closer ties with China put the country’s sovereignty and democracy at risk. Hou Yu-ih, running for the opposition Kuomintang,