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Microsoft and Google’s owner Alphabet have quashed investor scepticism around the vast sums spent on developing artificial intelligence, after being boosted by rampant corporate demand for their cloud computing services. The combined market value of the two US tech giants rose by more than $250bn on Friday, a day after each reported double-digit revenue growth

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 the year to March, according to the metric the Federal Reserve uses to set its target for price pressures. Friday’s data on personal consumption expenditures surpassed economists’

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Alphabet’s revenue jumped 15 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 and it announced it would pay its first dividend of 20 cents a share, buoyed by a rise in earnings across its main

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The US economy grew less than expected in the first quarter of 2024, at an annualised rate of 1.6 per cent, hit by higher inflation data that spooked investors. The growth figure from the Bureau

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. BHP has proposed a takeover of Anglo American, in a deal that would bring together two global mining giants and rank as one of the industry’s largest transactions in years. BHP has made a proposal

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Brussels has raided a Chinese security equipment supplier, deploying new anti-foreign subsidy powers in a move that will further inflame tensions between the trading superpowers ahead of a planned visit by President Xi Jinping to

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK financial regulation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Some banks are unable to quantify their exposure to private equity, the Bank of England has found, in the latest warning that the $8tn industry could threaten the wider financial system.  BoE regulator Rebecca

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 should be wary of cutting rates too soon after years of above-target inflation, a senior policymaker has warned, as he reiterated the need for “restrictive” monetary policy.  The pound rose against

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The FTSE 100 closed at an all-time high on Monday as rising expectations for UK interest rate cuts weakened sterling and boosted corporate valuations in London. Britain’s blue-chip index rose 1.6 per cent to close

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Two men in the UK including a former parliamentary aide have been charged with spying for China. The Crown Prosecution Service said on Monday it had authorised charges against Christopher Cash, 29, from Whitechapel in

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK financial regulation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The UK’s top financial regulator is facing a fierce backlash from the government and City executives over its plan to “name and shame” companies under investigation more frequently and at a much earlier stage.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The dysfunction in the majority party in the US House of Representatives was as clear as Saturday’s final vote on $60bn in military aid for Ukraine: of the 218 Republicans in the House, most (112)

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US House of Representatives has begun voting on a $95bn package of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, in what could be a big breakthrough after months of inaction on Capitol Hill. The

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US foreign policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. A $95bn US aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is set for a final vote on Saturday, after Democratic lawmakers backed the plan put forward by the House of Representatives’ Republican Speaker Mike

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Mysterious wreckages photographed in Iraq have given the clearest indication yet of how Israel might have launched its counterstrike against Iran. The pictures, scoured by military analysts and open-source intelligence enthusiasts, suggest that Israel may

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Iran has activated air defence systems across several provinces, according to official news agency IRNA, after reports that an explosion was heard near the city of Isfahan. Tasnim news agency, which is close to Iran’s

The UK government has told the country’s port authorities that it will not “turn on” critical health and safety checks for EU imports when post-Brexit border controls begin this month because of the risk of “significant disruption”. In a presentation seen by the Financial Times, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) outlined

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Two senior women are leaving BP in the first major changes to the company’s management team since the departure last year of chief executive Bernard Looney in a scandal over his past relationships with colleagues.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Rishi Sunak has been warned by the IMF to take much tougher action to rein in the UK’s public debt, putting a question mark over the prime minister’s cuts to national insurance. The IMF on

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. UK inflation slowed less than expected in March, fuelling the debate over how soon the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates. Consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 3.2 per cent, down

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has raised the possibility of further tax cuts before the next general election as he counts on recent reductions to national insurance and the prospect of lower interest rates to improve the

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Equities myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Global stock markets sank and Asian currencies were hit by a rising dollar on Tuesday, as investors’ hopes for rapid US interest rate cuts waned and fears grew over the conflict in the Middle East. Indices

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Oil and Asian equity markets were muted on Monday following Iran’s military strike on Israel as traders shrugged off fears the conflict could escalate into a full-blown war and curb supplies from the region. Brent

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Western leaders increased pressure on Israel on Monday to exercise restraint following Iran’s drone and missile attack, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet prepared to reconvene to discuss how it will respond. French President Emmanuel Macron

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel’s war cabinet met on Sunday afternoon to discuss possible responses to a massive overnight Iranian drone and missile attack, with US President Joe Biden urging restraint as the Middle East edged closer to full-blown

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Joe Biden condemned Iran’s “unprecedented” drone and missile attacks on Israel on Saturday night, as he called for a co-ordinated diplomatic response by the G7 to Tehran’s “brazen” assault. Biden said that the US military

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Iran has launched drones at Israel, an Israeli military spokesman said, following a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed several senior Iranian officials. In a statement late on Saturday, Daniel

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Macquarie, the former owner of Thames Water criticised for loading the utility with debt, is a lender to its stricken parent company. Macquarie’s investors lent about £130mn to the utility’s holding company Kemble Water Finance

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Thames Water shareholders backed away from supporting the group after the UK regulator demanded they slash the company’s debt pile and make other structural changes they calculated would cost as much as £8bn. The backtracking

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK economy grew for the second month in a row in February, driven by expansion in manufacturing, raising hopes the UK may be emerging from a technical recession. Gross domestic product rose 0.1 per