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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Sovereign bonds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Investors poured record amounts into global bond funds this year as they bet on a shift towards easier monetary policy by major central banks. Bond funds attracted more than $600bn in inflows so far this

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. As I pack my bags after nine years in Berlin, I’m leaving a city that seems to be trapped in a narrative of its own decline. Veterans say it has jumped the shark. Flats

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A car ploughed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday evening, killing at least two and injuring dozens more in what local officials said they

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming US president will demand Nato member states increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world The US Congress is racing to pass a short-term spending bill by the end of Friday after Donald Trump, Elon Musk and JD Vance convinced Republicans to ditch bipartisan legislation to avert a

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold at 4.75 per cent as it seeks to contend with both stubborn inflation and lacklustre growth. In a split decision, most members of the Monetary

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US interest rates myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point but signalled a slower pace of easing next year, sending the dollar higher and US stocks lower.  The Federal

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Worries over the stagnating UK economy and accelerating inflation are unnerving investors, pushing borrowing costs to their biggest premium over German debt yields since 1990. The spread between the two countries’ bonds has risen above

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Nissan and Honda are in exploratory talks about a merger of the two carmakers that would create a $52bn Japanese behemoth, according to people briefed on the matter.  The two companies are studying a way

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A top Russian general has died after a bomb went off at the entrance to his home in Moscow early on Tuesday, investigators said, killing him and his assistant. Russia’s Investigative Committee, a major crimes

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Rachel Reeves’ increase in business taxes is taking a toll on the UK economy as companies cut back hiring, adding to warnings that the chancellor’s October Budget has sapped corporate confidence heading into the new

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK employment myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. UK companies are cutting employee numbers at the fastest rate since the pandemic, according to a closely watched survey that highlights the impact of Rachel Reeves’ tax-hiking Budget. Private sector employment in December fell more

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Confidence in the UK economy among manufacturers fell after Rachel Reeves’ tax-raising Budget at the sharpest rate since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, in another setback for the chancellor. Manufacturers’ confidence fell to 5.8

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The London Stock Exchange is on course for its worst year for departures since the financial crisis, as fears mount that more FTSE 100 businesses will quit the UK in favour of New York. A

Every New Year’s Day, Emma Bisley starts asking herself the same question: who is going to win Christmas this year? Since 2023, the cherubic 34-year-old has been head of campaigns for Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain. She thinks about winning Christmas the same way the Grinch thinks about stealing it, which is to say nearly

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has been impeached by the National Assembly following his failed attempt to impose martial law last week. Opposition parties, which command a majority in the legislature, only needed the

Chancellor Rachel Reeves came to office in July pledging to make stronger growth the number one mission of the new Labour government. Official figures on Friday underlined how far she is from achieving this ambition.  After gaining momentum since 2023, output slipped back in September and October. The figures confirm that businesses and households shied

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK economy unexpectedly shrank 0.1 per cent in October, the second contraction in a row, in a blow to the Labour government’s economic agenda. The monthly change in GDP published on Friday by the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. HSBC is reviewing its retail banking operations outside the UK and Hong Kong, a move that could see it substantially scale back operations in countries including Mexico, as it seeks further cost cuts. The bank

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The European Central Bank has cut interest rates by a quarter point to 3 per cent, as it watered down its hawkish language and warned that growth would be weaker than it had previously forecast.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Business leaders have warned chancellor Rachel Reeves at a private meeting that the economic environment is “extremely challenging”, with companies facing major uncertainty due to her tax-raising Budget and the government’s planned package of employment

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. US inflation rose to 2.7 per cent in November, as the Federal Reserve considers how quickly to press ahead with lowering interest rates. The figure was in line with the expectations of economists polled by

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK public sector workers face a fresh pay squeeze next year, after the Treasury said it would not raise taxes to fund more generous awards. The education and health departments said in evidence to independent

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Investors’ “relentless” appetite for juicy returns has triggered the biggest boom on Wall Street in complex financial products since the lead-up to the global financial crisis in 2007. The global volume of structured finance transactions

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The rebel force that toppled Bashar al-Assad sought to consolidate its control of Syria on Monday, amid fears the change of regime in Damascus could fuel regional instability. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a one-time al-Qaeda affiliate,

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel has taken more Syrian territory and struck chemical weapons sites in reaction to the toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime by a group led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The moves come as regional

Show video info Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country after a stunning offensive by rebels who seized the capital city of Damascus and toppled the dynasty that had ruled for 50 years. Amid scenes of jubilation on Sunday, the rebels proclaimed that “the city of Damascus is free from the tyrant Bashar al-Assad”

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Syrian rebels say they are closing in on the strategic city of Homs as they push ahead with a lightning advance southwards towards President Bashar al-Assad’s remaining strongholds. “Our forces have liberated the last village

Rachel Reeves will on Monday lay the ground in Brussels for an “ambitious” new economic partnership with the EU, when she promises to fully honour post-Brexit deals struck by the last Conservative government. Reeves will become the first British chancellor to attend a meeting of European finance ministers since Brexit, reflecting her belief that improving

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