News

The message of Thursday’s three UK by-elections was muddied somewhat by the Conservatives’ success in clinging on to the seat Boris Johnson vacated in outer London. But it was clear enough: this was a disastrous night for the Tories. Striking swings to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in northern and south-west England respectively confirm that

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives have narrowly held on to the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat in an unexpected UK parliamentary by-election result but were poised to lose two other seats in a night of political drama. Sunak’s ruling party retained the London seat vacated by former premier Boris Johnson by fewer than 500 votes, but the

The UK’s largest asset manager has been buying bonds and selling equities in preparation for a “significant” economic downturn, warning that the Bank of England will be forced to tip the economy into a recession despite signs of cooling inflation.  Sonja Laud, chief investment officer at Legal & General Investment Management, which manages £1.3tn of

Goldman Sachs has slumped to its lowest quarterly profit in three years, as a costly retreat from consumer banking deepened the pain of the industry-wide slowdown in deals and trading. Net income plunged by almost two-thirds to $1.1bn in the second quarter, down from $2.8bn a year earlier, Goldman said on Wednesday. The Wall Street

Donald Trump said he was the target of a criminal probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, raising the possibility he could face fresh federal charges in the coming days. In a development he described as “horrifying”, Trump said he had received a letter from the US Department of Justice

Dementia experts have hailed the latest landmark in the treatment of Alzheimer’s after Eli Lilly released trial results that showed its new drug significantly slowed memory loss and cognitive decline. The US pharmaceuticals group on Monday reported full findings of its phase 3 clinical study of donanemab at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam,

Global companies are accelerating their push to decouple China data in response to the country’s increasingly stringent data and anti-espionage laws, as relations between Washington and Beijing deteriorate. The drive for full localisation of data in China and separation of information technology systems from the rest of the world is happening as Beijing strengthens its

The Pentagon’s annual funding bill is set to become the focus of a political showdown after Republicans inserted “anti-woke” social provisions into the legislation. The bill — known as the National Defense Authorization Act — is normally shielded from the most bitter partisan bickering and often passes with support from both political parties. But on

JPMorgan Chase said earnings from its lending business would continue to increase this year on the back of higher interest rates as the largest US bank reported a jump in profits in the second quarter. The group said on Friday that net income had jumped 67 per cent year on year to $14.47bn, ahead of

Rishi Sunak on Thursday accepted in full the recommendations of independent pay review bodies to give key public sector workers wage rises of about 6.5 per cent, telling trade unions to call off strikes now. The prime minister agreed the awards for 2023-24 after talks with chancellor Jeremy Hunt, when he was reassured they could

US inflation dropped to 3 per cent in June, lower than expected, in the latest sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate rises are having an effect on price pressures. The annual increase in the consumer price index slowed from 4 per cent in May to 3 per cent, the slowest rate of inflation since

Nato leaders are set to declare they are prepared for Ukraine to ultimately join the military alliance, in a carefully hedged statement that drew immediate condemnation from Kyiv for its lack of a firm timeframe. A draft of a summit communique under discussion on Tuesday pledges to “extend an invitation” to Ukraine to join the

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has tied Ankara’s approval of Sweden’s Nato bid to his country’s efforts to enter the EU, in a fresh blow to Stockholm’s attempt to join the military alliance. “I call out to those who have kept Turkey waiting at the EU door for more than 50 years, pave the way

US controls on investment into China would only target sensitive national security sectors, Janet Yellen has told her counterparts in Beijing during a four-day visit aimed at putting a “floor” under their turbulent relationship. Speaking at a news conference on the final day of her visit, which included meetings with Premier Li Qiang and her

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has ruled out big pre-election tax cuts this autumn, warning he must “double down” on inflation and would not “pump billions of pounds of additional demand” into the UK economy. “We will not countenance tax cuts if they make the battle against inflation harder,” Hunt told the Financial Times, admitting that meeting

BP is in talks over a landmark insurance deal for its £30bn final salary pension fund as rising interest gives companies the chance to shift billions of pounds of liabilities off their books. Trustees for BP’s UK defined benefit scheme, which has more than 60,000 members, are in talks with multiple insurers over a so-called

Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin has been spending time in Russia, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said, despite a peace deal with Moscow under which he had agreed to relocate to Belarus. Prigozhin’s Wagner Group fighters had also not been transferred as the deal specified, Lukashenko claimed, while suggesting the mercenary leader was unlikely to face repercussions

The Financial Conduct Authority has publicly confirmed its investigation into Crispin Odey and Odey Asset Management for the first time and defended its “intensive” oversight of the hedge fund group. In a letter to the Treasury select committee published on Wednesday, FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi said that while there was a limit to how

The average cost of five-year fixed-rate UK mortgages has hit 6 per cent for the first time since November, as banks are called to respond to concern that savings rates are lagging behind rises in borrowing costs. The residential mortgage rate reached 6.01 per cent on Tuesday, according to data provider Moneyfacts, as the Bank

Currency speculators have boosted bullish wagers on the pound to the highest level for nine years despite recent signs that sterling’s strong rally this year is flagging. The growing consensus among speculative investors, such as hedge funds, comes after sterling has already rallied strongly this year, driven by the Bank of England’s effort to lift

The world’s largest active bond fund manager says markets are too optimistic about central banks’ ability to dodge a recession as they battle inflation in the US and Europe. Daniel Ivascyn, chief investment officer at Pimco, which manages $1.8tn of assets, said he was preparing for a “harder landing” than other investors while top central

One of the largest investors in Thames Water has given its support for the utility as other industry figures sought to stave off any possible nationalisation of the sector. The £90bn Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which has a near 20 per cent stake in Thames Water, said on Friday: “We have given our backing to

Investment bankers’ advisory fees have plunged to the lowest level in almost a decade as the industry suffers from a wave of job cuts because of a prolonged slowdown in deal activity. Fees for completed mergers and acquisitions globally plummeted 35 per cent in the first half of the year to $12.8bn compared with 2022,

Top Russian army general Sergei Surovikin has been detained as the Kremlin cracks down on Wagner sympathisers following the militia’s failed mutiny last week. Surovikin, a senior Russian general known to have a good relationship with Wagner’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, has not been heard from for several days and has been detained, according to three

Ukraine has hit back at doubters over the progress of its summer counteroffensive, insisting recent modest gains against Russian occupiers were merely a “preview” of a much bigger push to come. Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, told the Financial Times that the liberation of a group of villages under Russian occupation in recent weeks was

Russia dropped charges against participants in the Wagner paramilitary force’s armed insurrection and said the group had agreed to hand over its weaponry. The announcements on Tuesday came in the wake of the deal between the Kremlin and Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and appeared to mark progress towards resolving the stand-off. The FSB, Russia’s main

Russia has shown images of defence minister Sergei Shoigu visiting troops, the first time he has been pictured in public since warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin’s weekend insurrection against senior military leadership. The brief video, posted on Monday by the defence ministry, showed Shoigu inspecting a Russian command point and listening to a report from subordinates about

Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin has said his Wagner mercenaries had abandoned their insurrection against the country’s armed forces just hours before a potential assault on Moscow, signalling a possible end to the first coup attempt in Russia for three decades. In a deal brokered by Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin said his convoy of troops,

Vladimir Putin has admitted the situation in Rostov-on-Don is “complicated” after Yevgeny Prigozhin’s forces seized command points in the southern city and called on the Wagner mercenary group’s rank-and-file to lay down their arms. “Those who organised and prepared the military uprising, who took arms against their comrades, have betrayed Russia. And will pay for it.

Global central banks are entering a new phase in their battle with inflation as economists warn that recessions will be the price of achieving shared 2 per cent goals. Headline rates of inflation across most of the world’s economies have fallen back sharply since the autumn but core rates — which exclude volatile categories such