Today In The Markets

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Seventy-one years ago, Francis Crick burst into the Eagle pub in Cambridge to announce to startled lunchtime drinkers that he and his fellow researcher James Watson had discovered “the secret of life”. Their deciphering of

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. JPMorgan’s latest offering is not a private credit fund, banking app or AI-powered stock picker. It is advertising. America’s largest bank, with more than $2.4tn in deposits, is getting into the ad-selling business. A new

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A while ago, I gave a talk to investors in which I mentioned that Donald Trump was a threat to democracy. It seemed to me a banal statement of the obvious. Trump doesn’t believe in

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Two Chinese state-owned banks hold a crucial role in the future of Thames Water, as part of a group of lenders involved in a stand-off over debt at the parent company of Britain’s largest water

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Gucci owner Kering has bought a retail block on Milan’s top shopping street from Blackstone for €1.3bn in Europe’s biggest property deals for two years, as intense demand from luxury groups helps high-end retail real

Iran’s supreme leader vowed “tough revenge” in 2020 against those responsible for assassinating Qassem Soleimani, the Islamic republic’s most revered military commander. Within days, Tehran launched a huge ballistic missile strike against a US base in Iraq in retaliation. But Iran also reportedly communicated its intentions in advance, helping to ensure that no American soldiers

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Global inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Inflation is falling faster than forecast in Europe while exceeding expectations in the US, prompting investors to predict the European Central Bank could cut interest rates earlier than the Federal Reserve. Eurozone inflation dropped to

I have a recollection of some 18th-century Frenchman once writing: “Collectors are like a man who eats oysters — he chooses the best at first but ends up eating them all.” Collectors will recognise this tendency. I confess I count myself in this camp, though I am having counselling to resist the urges. For me

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Private equity myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. US institutional investors are selling more of their private equity holdings at a discount as they cut exposure to the illiquid asset class. Led by pension funds and endowments, big investors sold 99 per cent

Successive Conservative administrations have quietly and reluctantly renationalised large parts of Britain’s railways in a process that was accelerated by the impact of the pandemic, reversing a 30-year legacy of privatisation. But the industry is on the cusp of significant reform, with both politicians and industry bosses agreeing a wholesale rethink of the railway’s structure

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Abrdn’s shareholders have been urged to vote against the asset manager’s pay report by influential adviser Glass Lewis due to the incoming chief financial officer’s “significant” salary. Glass Lewis noted that Jason Windsor’s base salary

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Few trade conflicts can be calibrated quite so precisely, commodity by commodity, as the China-Australia spat whose denouement continued to play out last week. Four years after Beijing started to impose trade bans in retaliation

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The commercial power of K-pop and the torque created by its domestic and global fan base are a thing of exquisite late-stage capitalist beauty. South Korea has bred an adaptable, remorseless apex predator to feed

In March, officials from 194 countries came together to agree on a global plan to deal with a threat known as “Disease X”. The ominous code name refers to the as yet unknown illness expected to one day ravage the world in a repeat of Covid-19 — or perhaps inflict even worse damage. This fear

Janet Yellen said she would “not rule out” raising trade barriers to protect US green tech businesses from Chinese competition.  The US Treasury Secretary is headed to Guangzhou and Beijing to meet top Chinese economic officials later this week, and plans to use the trip to call out officials over the glut of cheap Chinese

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Goldman Sachs is set to reveal that its gender pay gap in its UK operations widened in 2023, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring how the Wall Street bank has struggled to promote

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Google is working on the biggest shake-up of its search business by charging for new “premium” features powered by generative artificial intelligence, the first time it would put any of its core product behind a

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, has called for early elections, piling pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his increasingly unpopular right-wing coalition. Gantz, a former general and the leader of the