A day after a senior Hamas leader was killed in a suspected Israeli drone strike in Beirut, the influential Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a highly anticipated televised address. For most of the 80-minute speech on Wednesday, Nasrallah trod familiar ground, berating Israel for its ferocious bombardment of Gaza and the US for offering unbridled
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The industrial revolution was one of the most important events in human history. Over a handful of decades, technological breakthroughs kicked economic output off its centuries-long low plateau and sent populations, living standards and life
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. If you are reading this, congratulations, you have won a sort of lottery. About 700mn people around the world survive on less than $2.15 a day, the World Bank’s poverty line. That is less than
Forecasting the economic and financial outlook for the coming year is always difficult. In 2020, the surprise came in the form of a global pandemic; in 2022, it was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For 2024, the known unknowns come in two categories: economics and politics. The likely good news comes in the form of falling
Wang Ya-june didn’t think much of the town where she washed up in the autumn of 1949. When she stepped off a Chinese Nationalist warship laden with refugees and injured and dead soldiers in Keelung on that rainy day, the port on the northern tip of Taiwan was just another Chinese city to her, just
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Labour explored a move to impose sales tax retroactively on private school fees to stop parents avoiding the levy by paying for years of education upfront, according to people briefed on internal discussions. Some wealthier
© Reuters Israel’s defence minister said there should be “no Israeli civilian presence” in Gaza when its war with Hamas is over, as he set out his vision for the next phases of the conflict and its aftermath. In a document released on Thursday night, shortly before Israel’s war cabinet was due to discuss the
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Electric vehicles myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The share of electric cars sold in the UK fell for the first time last year, casting doubt over whether manufacturers will meet binding new green targets and prompting industry calls for tax cuts. Electric
Municipals were weaker Thursday while municipal bond mutual funds reported outflows to start the year. U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities ended mixed. Triple-A yield curves were cut up to four basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose seven to nine basis points. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Thursday was at 56%, the
Bonds used to buy eight senior living properties in Michigan and Ohio are likely to default within six months, S&P Global Ratings said. On Dec. 21, S&P placed bonds issued for Great Lakes Senior Living Communities LLC — already rated deep in the speculative grades at CCC-minus — on CreditWatch with negative implications. The bonds
Blaylock Van, a Black-owned banking firm, continues to expand its muni efforts by hiring the tax-exempt muni sales and trading team from Seaport Global, a privately held capital markets firm. The three executives, Kudzai Jones, Jason Carpenter and PJ Richardson, set to start in January, bring Blaylock Van’s muni team up to 20 employees, said
The Office of Management and Budget would be required to disclose any infrastructure projects that are more than $1 billion over budget or more than five years behind schedule under a bill that has passed a Senate committee. A companion bill in the House has been introduced in two committees. The Senate Committee on Homeland
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The jihadist group Isis has claimed responsibility for two bombings in southern Iran on Wednesday that killed almost 100 people in the deadliest attack in the Islamic republic for decades. The statement, which was posted
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s new rate card model is coming under fire by broker-dealer and municipal advisor groups for what those groups see as a lack of transparency, vague budget commitments and a warped process that sets spending plans before revenue for those targets has been met. The MSRB’s rate card model is new
Cliff Asness. Chris Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images Cliff Asness’ longest running multistrategy fund at AQR Capital Management returned 18.5% last year, net of fees, according to a person familiar with the performance. The AQR Absolute Return strategy, which was created in 1998, benefited the most from profitable picks among value stocks in 2023, according
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US equities myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Eighteen years ago I started pondering concentration risks in the American equity markets. The issue was the banks: back then there was such heady optimism about financial innovation that the finance sector’s capitalisation had grown
Just days after taking office, Houston Mayor John Whitmire withdrew the city’s appeal of a recent court ruling involving an impasse over firefighter pay that is being closely watched by at least one bond rating agency. The appeal of a Harris County District Court judge’s December ruling ordering Houston to negotiate back pay and benefits
The fiscal struggles of three public school districts in northwest Washington state have landed them under enhanced state oversight. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal placed three school districts in “binding conditions” as the 2023-2024 school year began: Marysville School District 25, Mount Baker School District and La Connor School District, all in northwest
Alberto G. Musalem will take over as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on April 2, the bank announced Thursday. Musalem, an economist, and former executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “served as CEO and co-chief investment officer of Evince Asset Management LP (2018-’22), a quantitative investment
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Saudi Arabia and China were among 20 foreign governments that spent at least $7.8mn in total at properties owned by Donald Trump while he was president, according to a report released by congressional
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is author of ‘Homelands: a Personal History of Europe’ While many of us started the new year with fireworks, good cheer and the company of loved ones, Ukrainians faced massive Russian aerial attacks,