FT News Briefing

A sceptic’s guide to crypto: boom and bust

21 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A new season of Tech Tonic asks whether crypto and its supporting technology - the blockchain - have a future following a market crash. In the first e...

FT Weekend: Ukraine’s digital war. Plus: how computers changed chess

20 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

FT Weekend has its own podcast feed! For more content, including our special Food & Drink mini-series, search 'FT Weekend' where you listen to pod...

FT Business Book of the Year longlist

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Middle East states are expected to bring in $1.3tn in additional oil revenues, big US retailers posted quarterly earnings this week and results were m...

Missteps at Missfresh

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Federal Reserve officials discussed the need to keep interest rates at levels that restrict the economy “for some time” in a bid to contain inflat...

WeWork 2.0?

17 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon has accused the FTC of harassing top executives as part of an antitrust investigation, hedge fund Elliott Management has dumped almost all of i...

Private equity: from cutthroats to frenemies

16 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Elections officials in Kenya announced a winner in last week’s presidential election but the result is being challenged, Iran denies involvemen...

Will oil prices keep falling?

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Saudi Arabia has agreed to renew a three billion dollar deposit at Pakistan’s Central Bank, Saudi Aramco reported record profits, and an expected US...

FT Weekend: Chef Mashama Bailey on reclaiming African-American food

13 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For more FT Weekend content, including our special Food & Drink mini-series, search 'FT Weekend' where you listen to podcasts and subscribe there....

Ben & Jerry’s bitter battle with Unilever

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US lawmakers are set to pass a $700bn spending bill, activity on European corporate bond markets has slowed to a near standstill and US initial public...

US inflation finally takes a breather

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US stocks rallied after the latest US inflation report showed price rises slowed in July, Disney beat analyst expectations and added 15mn subscri...

Corporate America fumes at Biden’s economic package

10 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Taiwanese national security officials want to force Apple supplier Foxconn to unwind an $800mn investment in a Chinese chip company, and corporate Ame...

Why Ireland’s economy is red hot

09 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

China’s extended military drills around Taiwan are stoking fears of a drawn-out period of heightened tension and investors are split over whether th...

Apple under scrutiny for mishandling misconduct claims

08 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Investors are selling stakes in private equity and venture capital funds at the fastest pace on record so far this year, and earnings at companies suc...

FT Weekend: Author Elif Batuman. Plus, our obsession with feedback

06 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we talk to the author Elif Batuman about her new novel ‘Either / Or’. The book is set in the 1990s, and follows Elif’s...

New US unemployment claims hit six-month high

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US new unemployment claims have reached a six-month high as the labour market cools, the Bank of England raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage point...

SoftBank moves to sell down its stake in Alibaba

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

SoftBank has raised as much as $22bn in cash from deals that would sharply reduce its stake in Alibaba over the coming years, Iran and western powers ...

‘Generation Moonshot’ investors

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

China has blocked imports from hundreds of Taiwanese food producers in response to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei, a flurry of e...

China wrestles with an overseas debt crisis

02 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Instagram head Adam Mosseri is moving to London, HSBC has pledged to restore its dividend to pre-pandemic levels, and China is facing its first overse...

Beijing fears social unrest from property crisis

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Bank of England is set to consider its biggest rate rise in more than 25 years, the EU and UK are easing up on Russian oil restrictions to keep ga...

FT Weekend: A new weight-loss drug works. Is that good?

30 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we hear about a new 'miracle' weight-loss drug called Wegovy. It has unprecedented clinical results and endorsements from celebrities such ...

Is the US in a recession?

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The US economy has shrunk for two consecutive quarters, many energy companies are posting record profits but French EDF recorded a record loss, and US...

Fed hikes rates, but next steps are uncertain

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US interest rates are going up by 0.75% for the second month in a row, the drama surrounding Elon Musk’s halted Twitter takeover debacle is hurting ...

A new CEO for Credit Suisse

27 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Walmart profit warnings shine a light on disparities in US consumer behaviour, the International Monetary Fund slashes its global growth forecast, and...

Anglo-French merger would challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX

26 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US Big Tech companies are set to release quarterly earnings this week, German business confidence hits a two-year low, and French satellite operator E...

European banks set to benefit from rising interest rates

25 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The dollar’s surge to its highest level in 20 years is taking a toll on the corporate earnings of US companies with overseas operations, European ba...

FT Weekend: Why are tennis players fixing matches?

23 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we look at the dark side of professional tennis, where underpaid players are selling matches just to break even. Ranked around 200th in the...

ECB raises rates amid Italian turmoil

22 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi resigns, the European Central Bank raises interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, Russia and Ukra...

Tesla shines despite production disruptions

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tesla withstood disruption to China production and the high costs of scaling up new plants in Texas and Germany, Ukraine is getting some debt relief f...

Netflix rallies despite subscriber losses

20 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Netflix loses 1mn subscribers, small and midsize venture capital firms in China are struggling to raise funds as foreign investors flee risk, and form...

SoftBank halts plan for Arm IPO in London

19 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Japanese tech investor SoftBank has put on hold plans for an initial public offering of Arm because of the political turmoil in the UK, a luxury shoe ...

Sri Lanka picks a new leader

18 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The leader of Sri Lanka’s biggest opposition party has urged the IMF to provide support to ease the country’s humanitarian crisis and cushion the ...

Martin Wolf on how to change one's mind

16 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Lilah talks to Martin Wolf about having the confidence to change your mind. Martin is our chief economics commentator and one of the most i...

Italian political drama weighs on markets

15 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Italian prime minister Mario Draghi offered to resign, which caused problems for Italian stocks and for the euro. Plus, two of the biggest US banks ha...

Will rising interest rates actually lower prices?

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US consumer prices rose more than forecast in June, hitting an annual pace of 9.1 per cent, and investors are shunning 20-year US government bonds. Pl...

Biden in the Middle East

13 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US president Joe Biden is set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the biggest US banks report earnings this week and are expected to ...

What we know about the Abe murder

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Former UK chancellor Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss have emerged as the favourites to replace prime minister Boris Johnson, and more deta...

Crypto collapse hits black Americans hard

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Twitter is mounting legal action against Elon Musk as he tries to terminate the deal to buy the social media company, black Americans’ higher exposu...

FT Weekend: Our summer books and films special

09 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week is our summer books and films spectacular, full of recommendations of things to read and watch. First, Lilah is joined by literary editors F...

Britain after Boris

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The FT’s UK chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley and FT columnist Stephen Bush discuss what’s next for the country after Boris Johnson’s...

Marxism degrees are having a moment in China

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Pressure mounts on UK prime minister Boris Johnson to resign, but the pound holds steady. Plus the Chinese government is pushing for more students to ...

The race for electric vehicle supremacy

06 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Two high-profile UK ministers resigned on Tuesday, oil prices had its biggest one-day drop since March, and a Chinese electric car company outsold Tes...

Martin Wolf: are we heading for a global recession?

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

European power prices hit record high as Russia curtails gas supplies, foreign investors have dumped a record $33bn of Indian shares since October, an...

FT Weekend: How to live forever

02 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we return to one of our favourite episodes, to ask the question: what does it mean to defy death? Rock climber Leo Houlding tells us about ...

China’s middle class dreams of leaving

01 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The US Supreme Court cut back the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, US stocks lost $9 trillion in the ...

How the beauty industry left Revlon behind

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chinese stocks are set for their largest monthly rise since 2020, Meta frustrates app developers by charging for VR apps, and Revlon’s bankruptcy fi...

A new legal battleground in US abortion wars

29 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A former White House aide testified that former President Donald Trump tried to commandeer his limousine on January 6, an independent report advises t...

Russia heading for first default in decades

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Russia is on course to default on its debt for the first time since 1998, and Credit Suisse has become the first domestic bank to be found guilty of a...

Listener question: Should the UK cut arts funding?

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

 Nato is to agree an overhaul of its battle plans to offer better protection to the alliance’s eastern flank, and there is some debate on how t...

FT Weekend: A Strange Loop, the Tony-winning queer black best new musical

25 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we speak with Michael R. Jackson, playwright of A Strange Loop, which just won the Tony award for Best Musical and Best Book. Jackson is a q...

Ukraine in the EU?

24 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The EU recognizes Ukraine as an official candidate for membership, Russian businessmen look to work with Iran to skirt US sanctions, and the FT’s Ho...

Can all of Africa get access to electricity?

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

 US stocks stay fairly flat after Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies in Congress, a Ukrainian-made drone hits an oil refinery in Russia, and the I...

Schrödinger’s dead cat bounce

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

 The S&P 500 rose by 2.4% on Tuesday, Russia is threatening Lithuania over enforcing EU sanctions, and the global food shortage reignites the...

Jeff Bezos vs the bridge

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

China is the leader in initial public offering fundraising this year, Jeff Bezos’s superyacht ignites a debate about who cities are for, and New Zea...

Tim Sweeney on Epic's metaverse

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Passively managed index funds have overtaken actively managed funds’ ownership of the US stock market for the first time and Brazil is cracking down...

FT Weekend: What Warhol’s Marilyn tells us about the art market

18 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" sold for $195mn, making it the second most expensive piece of art to sell at auction, ever. And as ...

Switzerland’s historic rate rise rattles markets

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Stocks fall following rate rises in the US, UK and Switzerland and Russia restricts gas flow to Germany, and Covid hospitalisations are up in Europe.&...

The biggest US rate rise in almost 30 years

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark policy rate by 0.75 percentage points for the first time since November 1994, and the European Central Bank s...

A make-or-break meeting for the WTO

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The World Trade Organization is facing a credibility crisis during its first meeting since 2017, the increased value of the US dollar is hurting Ameri...

Bad news bears (market)

14 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US stocks dipped into bear market territory, two major cryptocurrency players blocked withdrawals, and British prime minister Boris Johnson published ...

FT Weekend: The rich interior lives of pigs

11 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we explore new scientific research behind: pigs! They have far more sentience and complexity than we give them credit for. Chief features w...

ECB to raise interest rates for first time since 2011

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US consumer prices are set to have registered another large monthly advance, the European Central Bank has paved the way for a series of rate rises, a...

SEC chair reviews ‘uneven’ US equities market

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission has outlined plans to overhaul what he described as an “uneven” and unfair US equity market...

Ukraine’s president: ‘Stalemate is not an option’

08 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a stalemate in the war with Russia was ‘not an option’, and the London Metal Exchange has been hit by...

Boris Johnson’s bruising no-confidence vote

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Boris Johnson on Monday night survived a bruising no-confidence vote, and Elon Musk’s legal team has written to Twitter threatening to abort his $44...

The war on ‘woke’ capitalism

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

ECB governing council members are expected to support a proposal to create a new bond-buying programme if needed to counter borrowing costs for member...

Behind the Money: Tether’s path to the spotlight

05 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Behind the Money, our in-depth business podcast, has just relaunched! We wanted to share one of our most recent episodes. Follow the show on Appl...

FT Weekend: Tina Brown and Simon Schama on the royal family

04 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend, we're marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee with a spirited discussion on what’s next for the Windsors. Tina Brown, author The Palace P...

Can Africa grow without fossil fuels?

03 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Global investors are returning to China’s stock markets after a widespread sell-off earlier this year, and Opec and its allies on Thursday agreed to...

Russian business hit by tech sanctions

02 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Export controls placed on supply of chips and hardware over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine dent the prospects for Russia's economy, and the US will prov...

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and his ‘superbank’

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The head of EY’s US business quit the Big Four accounting firm after a power struggle with its global boss, and German police raided DWS and Deutsch...

Race at work since George Floyd

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

US chipmaker Qualcomm wants to build a stake in Arm alongside rivals, and how does commodities trader Glencore rescue its reputation after pleading gu...

What’s the crypto vibe?

30 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The FT podcast “Behind the Money” digs into whether the tide has really turned in cryptocurrencies, and whether crypto fans will have to deal with...

FT Weekend: The story of a stolen cookbook. Plus, Elizabeth Strout

28 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1930s, Alice Urbach wrote a beloved cookbook in Vienna. But during the Holocaust it was stolen: Aryanized, peppered with Nazi ideology and repu...

Guerilla. Economist. Colombia’s next president?

27 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

China has offered “a few hundred million dollars” in lending to Sri Lanka to help alleviate a shortage of essential goods, Wall Street investors g...

Investing’s cults of personality

26 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Hedge funds are trying to reposition themselves in the middle of this year’s heavy tech stock sell-off, and the director of the UN’s World Food Pr...

America’s hiring headache

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Australia’s new prime minister met with world leaders to discuss climate change and Hungary’s prime minister declared an economic state of emergen...

The end of globalisation at Davos

24 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Three decades of globalisation risks are going into reverse, according to company executives and investors as world leaders meet in Davos for the firs...

Can Boeing’s move towards the Pentagon solve its problems?

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Saudi Arabia has signalled it will stand by Russia as a member of the Opec+ group of oil producers, the former head of Russia’s second-biggest oil g...

FT Weekend: Why US abortion rights are under attack

21 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s about to become much harder to find safe abortion care in America, in a country where some states already make it almost impossible. This week,...

US tensions with Latin America are a boon for China

20 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Canada is banning Chinese telecom giant Huawei from its 5G network, US plans to host the Summit of Americas are in disarray as Latin American heads of...

Why Ukraine and Russia are fighting over a teeny island

19 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Wall Street stocks fell hard on Wednesday after the retailer Target warned that inflation and supply chain disruptions would hit profit margins, and w...

Salary advancements: a double-edged sword?

18 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cash holdings among global fund managers have risen to their highest level since 9/11, China’s economic data show how badly the country is suffering...

Musk toys with Twitter deal at lower price

17 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk acknowledged on Monday that he would pay a lower price for Twitter, hedge fund Tiger Global has significantly cut back its shareholdings and...

Behind the Money is back!

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Behind the Money is back with all-new episodes! From hostile takeovers to C-suite intrigue, Behind the Money takes you inside the business and financi...

Francesca McDonagh heads to Credit Suisse

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Brussels is set to cut its growth forecasts further and boost its inflation outlook, and Sweden will jettison 200 years of military non-alignment and ...

FT Weekend: How Shakespeare gave actor Michael Patrick Thornton his life back

14 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend, Lilah talks to actor Michael Patrick Thornton, who appears in the buzzy new Broadway production of Macbeth. When Michael was 24, he had ...

Stablecoins aren’t so stable after all

13 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Norway’s oil fund has slammed “corporate greed” and excessive executive pay, some former Ukrainian officials believe their forces could push Rus...

Ping An calls for HSBC break-up

12 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Description: Turkish authorities have raised the pressure on the country’s banks to limit corporate clients’ purchases of foreign currency, US con...

Musk would let Trump back on Twitter

11 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Donald Trump, and all but one of the global investment banks in China finally managed...

Sinn Féin’s historic victory

10 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Volkswagen chief Herbert Diess has called for the EU to pursue a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine War for the sake of Europe’s economy, Gol...

The cost of China’s zero-Covid lockdown

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Xi Jinping’s renewed commitment to zero-Covid policy rattles investors in China, Africa’s top Covid vaccine plant faces an uncertain future after ...

US-China Tech Race: The great decoupling

08 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the final episode of this season of Tech Tonic, we ask if the growing tensions between the US and China could split the world into two competing te...

FT Weekend: 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' with Daniels

07 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Lilah interviews Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, also known as Daniels. Their film, starring ...

London’s push to control the British Virgin Islands

06 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Wall Street stocks suffered steep declines on Thursday with the Nasdaq’s biggest fall since 2020 and the Bank of England has warned that the UK econ...

Markets sing after Federal Reserve raises rates

05 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The US Federal Reserve raised its benchmark policy rate by half a percentage point for the first time since 2000, the European Union is trying to ban ...

Draghi urges EU to abandon unanimity requirement

04 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

BP recorded its highest quarterly earnings in more than a decade, Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, called on Brussels to abandon the requiremen...

Federal Reserve poised to raise rates a half-percent

03 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon workers at a warehouse in New York have rejected efforts to form a union, the US Federal Reserve is poised to make its first half-percentage po...

Italy’s tough new approach to Russia

02 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Italy’s tough new approach to Russia marks one of the biggest foreign policy shifts in Europe in years, Germany has called for a phased-in ban on Ru...

US-China Tech Race: brave new world

01 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Tech Tonic, how a mysterious death in Belgrade prompted Serbia to embrace Chinese surveillance technology, raising concerns among S...

FT Weekend: Morality in the Twitter era. Plus: China’s language revolution

30 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This weekend, we think about morality in the age of social media. According to writer Dan Brooks, we're great at pointing out where good is missing, b...