News

China is scrapping a string of infrastructure projects in indebted regions as it struggles to reconcile a need to save money with this year’s target for economic growth. Beijing has ordered a dozen highly indebted areas, many of them less-developed and far from the coast, to curb infrastructure spending as it tries to unwind a

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. US inflation increased unexpectedly to 3.2 per cent last month, in data set to be scrutinised by the US Federal Reserve as it decides when to reduce interest rates. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Brussels is pushing to give Ukraine €2bn-€3bn this year from profits derived from Russia’s frozen assets, accelerating the funding plan as US financial support to Kyiv wanes. The European Commission is preparing a plan,

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Telegram has 900mn users and is nearing profitability, according to the owner of the secretive messaging app, as the company moves closer to a potential blockbuster stock market listing. Pavel Durov told the Financial Times

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Americans are increasingly happy about the economy but reluctant to give credit to Joe Biden, according to a new poll that underscores the US president’s challenges as he squares off against Donald Trump in this

Over a 40-year career, Scott Melbye watched the US uranium industry fall from its position as the world’s leading producer of the radioactive ore that powers nuclear reactors to an also-ran with negligible production. Now, the president of the Uranium Producers of America is leading an industry charge to revive mothballed mines and invest in

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Officials from some of China’s most indebted provinces and cities have met leading state bankers in Beijing in recent days as they step up efforts to renegotiate debt payments on billions of dollars in liabilities

The US has widened its productivity lead over Europe, sparking fears in the EU that it faces a “competitiveness crisis” as policymakers call for greater public and private investment. New data released on Friday showed eurozone productivity fell 1.2 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, while in the US it rose

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Central banks myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Top central bankers in Europe and the US have moved closer to declaring victory over the biggest inflation surge for a generation, with new data giving policymakers confidence they can cut rates by the summer.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Jeremy Hunt has wound down a scheme that delivered an extra £200mn a year for social housing in England, in a controversial move that will further squeeze the finances of cash-strapped local councils. The chancellor’s

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Federal Reserve is “not far” from having the confidence to start cutting interest rates, its chair Jay Powell has said, bolstering hopes that the central bank will lower borrowing costs in the coming months.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Nationwide Building Society has reached a preliminary agreement to buy Virgin Money in a £2.9bn deal that would bolster its ability to challenge the UK’s big four banks. Nationwide is offering a total of 220p

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt claimed that Britain’s economy has “turned the corner”, as his pre-election Budget put a £10bn personal tax cut at the heart of the Conservatives’ bid to overturn Labour’s polling lead and

Live Opinion3/6/2024, 9:51:25 AM Stephen Bush At the Autumn Statement last year, Jeremy Hunt used most of his “headroom” to introduce a series of genuine “pro-growth” measures: making “full expensing” permanent (a big tax break for companies), increasing the government’s spending on computing power to develop artificial intelligence and further fleshing out its £2.5bn national

Welcome to the Financial Times’s live coverage of Super Tuesday, perhaps one of the busiest days of the US presidential election calendar. Fifteen US states head to the polls, potentially shedding more light on who the Republican and Democratic parties will pick as their nominee for president. Stay with us through the day for updates

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Singapore’s Temasek Holdings is holding talks about investing in OpenAI, a deal that would mark the first time a state-backed group has funded the ChatGPT maker. Senior executives at Temasek, one of the world’s biggest

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Jeremy Hunt will on Wednesday give motorists a £5bn pre-election tax break in the Budget, as hopes rise among Tory MPs that the chancellor has mustered enough money to fund a surprise 2p income tax

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Brussels has fined Apple €1.8bn for stifling competition from rival music streaming services, the first time the iPhone maker has been punished for breaching EU law. Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition chief, said that for

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will use the Budget on Wednesday to cut personal taxes, as he scrapes together the money needed to fund a package intended to lift Conservative MPs’ spirits ahead of the general election.

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK tax myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has warned ahead of Wednesday’s Budget that there is “a long path” ahead to cut Britain’s tax burden, as he admitted that recent official fiscal forecasts had made his task harder. Hunt,

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel has “basically signed on” to a six-week ceasefire that would be used to facilitate a second round of swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, a senior US administration official said. Several hurdles remain