FT News Briefing
Episodes
How will the Taliban 2.0 rule?
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/76ae831e-7a74-4429-8bbb-2b947a04cb44Biden made his first comments on Afghanistan...
Afghanistan’s President flees his country
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/b1e7f141-e281-4bee-81e3-b11eaf9d767dAfghanistan’s president fled the country a...
Financial technology start-ups in Africa
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/80e6939d-d085-499d-ac9d-3ac6386b69c1Airbnb reported strong quarterly earnings an...
The debt-laden UK high street
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/baa5d27d-d16c-4f47-9902-abb72f02429dA top Federal Reserve official told the FT t...
Philip Morris battles to buy a medical inhaler company
11 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/b20cdab3-2e47-4bbe-bbff-39c42459d105The rapid pace of US consumer price increase...
US Senate on the cusp of approving Biden’s $1tn infrastructure package
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/7822a4a7-d31a-40ce-8217-ebbafc4acb09Oil prices continue to slide on investor con...
Can science link extreme weather to climate change?
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/65fa9d74-d971-4536-a411-c06d86d8de64FT calculations of 20 Chinese billionaires s...
Robinhood’s wild stock market debut
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/0e09d7d2-95d7-4fa1-80ff-9ff466f3cf6aApple intends to install software on US iPho...
Why China’s youth ‘lie flat’ instead of enduring stress
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/c6ee7948-06e7-4f4c-8940-2f83d85bdf4dThe value of the world’s stock of negative...
PepsiCo’s juicy private equity deal
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/9221dcf1-ef98-4474-9d9f-226f08843bbfSpain has called on the EU to back measures ...
Optimism soars on the airline industry’s recovery
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/219d15f1-b6fa-471c-b0ed-2a2c4163f757Forests in the US that generate the carbon o...
How climate change is steering the future of food
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/97741491-f1aa-4107-a84d-ebd874b1259dHouse prices are increasing in almost every ...
Amazon misses revenue targets in latest quarter
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon shares slumped in after-hours trading after the ecommerce giant missed Wall Street’s revenue targets, Robinhood shares stumbled out of the ga...
Fed signals taper decision closer, India’s tech IPO boom
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve signalled it was moving closer to the moment when it will withdraw its support for the US economic recovery by tapering the centra...
Investors are spooked by China’s regulatory crackdowns
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Apple’s profit nearly doubled in the latest quarter as iPhone sales surged, and a former oil trader at Glencore has pleaded guilty in the US over hi...
The $30bn insurance broker deal that never came to be
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The UK government will consider loosening travel restrictions for travellers from the EU and the US, Intel will change the way it names its most advan...
The stock winners and losers half way through the year
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The international community is responding to the military’s protest crackdown in a variety of ways, and a look at why Nasdaq is separating its exist...
Introducing Tech Tonic: You Can’t Always Get What you Quant
23 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As a News Briefing special we present Tech Tonic episode 3, our FT audio deep dive into how AI is gaining a new edge in markets. If you enjoyed t...
US housing prices spark officials’ concern
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Washington and Berlin have reached a deal to resolve their longstanding dispute over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and Brussels has insisted it will not...
Netflix gambles on gaming and podcasting
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix gained 1.5m subscribers in the second quarter but lost 430,000 subscribers in the US and Canada, and UBS has launched a portfolio that invests...
US businesses in Hong Kong between a rock and a hard place
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fears over the coronavirus on Monday contributed to European stocks’ worst session of 2021 Description: The threat of the Delta coronavirus var...
The search for a Covid supershot
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Opec and its allies have reached a deal to raise oil production in response to soaring prices, and China just launched the world’s largest carbon tr...
Pilita Clark’s picks for summer reading about the environment
16 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US retail banks cut their branch networks and trimmed headcount in the first half of the year, and Brussels' historic attempt to tackle climate change...
Artist Damien Hirst issues his own ‘Currency’
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jay Powell, sought to ease concerns in Congress about the Federal Reserve’s response to surging inflation, th...
The index of everything
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Visa and Mastercard have left open key gateways between Binance and the financial system despite rising regulatory scrutiny of the cryptocurrency, the...
The European Central Bank focuses on climate change
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
David Cameron was paid a salary of more than $1m by Greensill Capital, the finance company whose dramatic collapse exposed the former UK prime ministe...
EU’s Andreas Schwab responds to White House criticism of EU tech regulation
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant is causing concern about Europe’s economic recovery, and the number of start-ups valued above $1bn...
Martin Wolf's summer reading list
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The UK’s advertising watchdog says it will clamp down on misleading marketing for crypto investments, and stock markets dropped on Thursday on risin...
A wave of private equity buyouts in the UK prompts concern
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Former president Donald Trump is suing Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, as well as their respective chief executives, in lawsuits alleging “...
What did Didi’s bankers know before the IPO?
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Didi lost a fifth of its market value after Chinese regulators announced an investigation into the ride-hailing app that last week raised more than $4...
China’s widening tech crackdown
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
KKR is expanding its operations to target more takeovers in the UK, ransomware hackers hit more than 1,000 companies in what appears to be one of...
Introducing Tech Tonic: Trust me, I’m a robot
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As a News Briefing special we present Tech Tonic, our FT audio deep dive into the promises and perils of artificial intelligence. If you en...
What the Apple Daily closure means for the free press in Hong Kong
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s leading economies have signed up to a plan that looks to force multinational companies to pay a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 ...
How English Channel ports avoided a Brexit meltdown
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Private equity firms have broken a 40-year record with $500bn in deals that helped to propel global mergers and acquisitions activity to an all-time h...
Inside the secretive private equity firm behind the £6.8bn Asda buyout
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today the UK will set out a plan for a simpler, more “nimble” post-Brexit system of state subsidies, and the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi is anti...
The frontrunner to replace Angela Merkel talks the CDU and Germany’s economy
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A US judge has dismissed two antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, investors are reassessing their conviction in the reflation trade that has captivate...
The Amazon wage effect
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The UK’s financial watchdog has ordered crypto exchange Binance to stop all regulated activities in Britain, and Denmark’s media industry is pione...
Biden strikes infrastructure deal, Bitcoin’s plunge
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US President Joe Biden has secured a deal on an infrastructure package worth about $1tn to spend on upgrading roads, bridges and broadband networks ov...
Meme ‘stonks’ and the market
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.comhttps://www.ft.com/content/eb36b605-47d9-465a-91f8-d47a4af45faeTech groups in Taiwan are accused of locking...
Why Instagram is getting filtered out
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
House prices have set records in the US and parts of Europe, and the artificial intelligence-based drug-discovery platform Insilico has raised more th...
US student athletes’ Supreme Court victory
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The head of the US Food and Drug Administration is under fire after approving a controversial Alzheimer’s drug, a Covid outbreak at a Chinese port h...
How artificial intelligence is reshaping the world
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Reflation trade has been pummelled after the Federal Reserve unexpectedly signalled a shift in its stance on inflation, and, European Central Bank exe...
Black Americans’ unease with official embrace of Juneteenth
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The premium above super-safe US Treasuries that investors demand to buy risky corporate debt has dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade, an...
Federal Reserve signals first rate rise in 2023
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Federal Reserve officials expect to start raising US interest rates in 2023, Toshiba’s latest corporate crisis is a scandal over efforts to thwart a...
Web founder Tim Berners-Lee auctions off original source code
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Tokyo Olympic Games will need a public bailout of about $800m if spectators are banned, and the end of the interminable EU and US struggle over ai...
When Biden meets Putin
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s longest undersea electric cable, between the UK and Norway, is set to be switched on this week, the US Federal Reserve could begin discu...
China’s proliferating smart city technology
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Israel’s parliament has voted in a new government, ending rightwing stalwart and five-time premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year grip on power, Sou...
Inflation rises but worries fade, global taxation deal
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Leaders of the G7 economies convening in the UK will announce a pledge to provide 1bn coronavirus doses to poorer countries as part of plan to “vacc...
The true cost of zero commission trading
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s report on US consumer prices is expected to show that prices further accelerated in May, US president Joe Biden will use this week’s G7 su...
The FBI’s hi-tech sting, the day the internet broke
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden’s plan to overhaul the international tax system will face a difficult passage through the US Congress as Republicans threaten to vote down...
Abu Dhabi’s creative pivot away from oil
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US officials say they have recovered $2.3m worth of ransom payments made to hackers who shut down the Colonial pipeline last month, investors pile int...
The potential disruption of decentralised finance
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturers warns the global chip shortage could last until mid-2022, the G7 advanced economies ha...
Are we in a new era of inflation?
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Biden administration is banning Americans from investing in dozens of Chinese defence and surveillance technology companies, and US job creation i...
AMC butters up retail investors, Naomi Osaka shakes up sports media
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A wave of high-profile ransomware assaults over the past two months has convulsed the insurance market, US cinema chain AMC is offering popcorn to its...
Djibouti is trying to become the Singapore of Africa
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Former Apollo Global Management chief executive, Leon Black, has been hit with a lawsuit claiming that he raped and harassed a young Russian model, Op...
How Covid-19 finally caught up with Taiwan
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The surge in pet ownership during the pandemic has helped propel the group behind pet insurer Bought By Many to a valuation of more than $2bn, and a d...
US regulation on cryptocurrencies could be coming
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
American retailers are rushing to secure inventory ahead of the year end holiday season, US financial authorities are preparing to take a more active ...
European stocks are getting their moment in the sun
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The market for special purpose acquisition companies has become an unexpected casualty of the Archegos Capital Management scandal, and the activ...
Big oil companies face backlash on both sides of the Atlantic
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tesla is set to pay for chips in advance to overcome the global chip shortage, and Amazon locks in its $8.45bn acquisition of MGM. Plus, the FT’s US...
Can oil dependent countries adjust as the world shifts from fossil fuels?
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
England’s National Health Service is preparing to scrape the medical histories of 55m patients into a database it will share with third parties, and...
Can economic reform create a more level playing field for Black Americans?
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Deutsche Bank is relocating 100 bankers from London to offices in the EU and Asia as Germany’s largest lender accelerates a corporate restructuring ...
Epic vs Apple legal battle wraps up
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today is the final day of the courtroom battle between Apple and Fortnite developer Epic games, which has accused Apple of abusing its position by for...
Quantitative easing and rising stock prices
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire that would end an 11-day conflict that has claimed the lives of at least 230 Palestinians and 12 Israelis....
Fears of regulation lead to cryptocurrency chaos
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US companies have urged South Korea’s president to free Samsung’s jailed chairman and argue the billionaire executive could boost American efforts...
JPMorgan’s executive shuffle puts two women in line to replace Jamie Dimon
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
JPMorgan Chase has shuffled several top executives, and has elevated two women who could be successors to chief executive Jaime Dimon, and the eurozon...
Biden tells Netanyahu he supports a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US President Joe Biden yesterday expressed support for a Israel-Gaza ceasefire in a call with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, and today EU foreig...
The growing market for emotional recognition technology
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
AT&T is nearing a deal to combine its content unit WarnerMedia with rival Discovery to create a media giant to compete in streaming, the insurance...
Why Elon Musk is focusing on bitcoin’s fossil fuel issues
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Airbnb’s first-quarter revenues showed a strong recovery in travel in the US as pandemic restrictions eased, and Netflix tries to adjust as it moves...
Consumer price data stokes inflation fears, US labour shortage
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US stocks suffered their worst losses in months and government bonds also fell after government data showed the US inflation rate jumped to a 13-year ...
US companies announce record share buybacks, Covid hits India’s middle class
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Companies are dusting off share buyback plans after a blockbuster earnings season, and shareholders are rebelling against executive pay proposals. Plu...
Colonial pipeline hackers didn’t mean to create problems, UK services’ Brexit struggles
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The hacker group blamed for the ransomware attack on the Colonial pipeline insisted it only wanted to make money and did not want to cause problems fo...
US issues emergency powers to keep fuel flowing, CEO diversity promises
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The US government enacted emergency powers on Sunday in a bid to keep fuel supplies flowing after a cyberattack shut down a key pipeline, and European...
Merkel opposes US move to waive vaccine IP, the drive behind the commodity supercycle
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Angela Merkel has expressed opposition to the Biden administration’s proposal to suspend intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, and Nor...
US to support temporary suspension of Covid-19 vaccine patents, India’s coronavirus crisis is affecting global shipping
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stocks of major vaccine makers were rattled on Wednesday after the US decided to support a plan to temporarily suspend the intellectual property right...
Yellen says US interest rates may have to rise, European central banks lag in gender equality
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that US interest rates may need to rise so that the economy does not overheat, and US states and compa...
US banks move to reduce deposits, the Spac bubble deflates
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A wave of cash flooding bank balance sheets has prompted some US lenders to advise corporate clients to move money out of deposits, and Apollo has bou...
Epic Games vs Apple, Serbs worry about pollution from Chinese investment
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The trial between Epic Games and Apple is set to kick off today, and the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline is back in federal court. Plus, the FT’...
Amazon caps big week of tech earnings, Bafin’s Binance probe
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon reported its second straight quarter of $100bn-plus sales, comfortably beating Wall Street’s targets, and the FT’s Elaine Moore looks at Ap...
Fed says no change to monetary policy, Credit Suisse’s new chair aims for turnround
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve upgraded its view of the US economic recovery, but kept interest rates close to zero, Brussels has insisted it is putting in place...
Google’s big Q1, how to craft a New Deal for the young
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Google reported record first quarter earnings, and stock market listings around the world are running at their fastest pace this year. Plus, FT ...
US donates AstraZeneca vaccine doses, the rise of OnlyFans
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The US will share up to 60m doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine with other countries, and Total has declared force majeure on its multibillion-d...
US offshore wind energy, the rise of Germany’s Green Party
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Chinese companies have raised a record $11bn on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq this year, vaccine makers have warned about the risks of giving...
The data invisibility of Asian Americans
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Biden plans to announce a set of tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, and there has been a rally in the price of lumber due to demand from t...
US to propose big emissions cut by 2030, Huarong tests Beijing’s backing
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US President Joe Biden is set to announce his country’s steepest ever emissions cuts, Russia plans to pull out of the International Space Station by...
Football clubs back out of Super League, Derek Chauvin found guilty in murder of George Floyd
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A jury in Minneapolis found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on three charges in the killing of George Floyd, TikTok is accused of illegally...
Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine could weigh on other programmes, Cuba’s future in a post-Castro era
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The concerns that led to a halt in Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine rollout could damage confidence in the company’s longer-term vaccines pro...
A tournament to compete with the Champions League, is Clubhouse worth $4bn?
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Consumers around the world have stockpiled an extra $5.4tn of savings since the coronavirus pandemic began, and many of Europe’s wealthiest football...
Markets rally on strong economic data, investors react to Biden’s sanctions on Russia
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Global equities reached new heights and Treasuries rallied sharply on Thursday on the back of upbeat economic data in the US, and Dubai has become the...
US bank profits surge, Deutsche Bank recovers, Suez Canal officials seize ship
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Three of the largest US banks beat profits expectations on Wednesday on the back of a strengthening US economy, and Egyptian authorities have seized t...
Eurozone’s economy proves resilient, Toshiba buyout battle
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Coinbase prepares to be the first leading cryptocurrency exchange to list on a US stock market, and the eurozone economy is showing signs of adapting ...
UK to launch probe into Cameron and Greensill, US states turn to online betting for tax revenue
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Boris Johnson has commissioned an independent inquiry into the lobbying scandal involving David Cameron and Greensill Capital, and the $5bn-valued cyb...
David Cameron breaks Greensill silence, investors brace for corporate tax hikes
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Former British prime minister David Cameron has admitted he made mistakes over his government lobbying for Greensill Capital, leading Chinese smartpho...
Amazon on course to defeat union effort, Goldman’s Deliveroo move
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon looked on course to defeat a historic effort by workers to unionise an Alabama warehouse, and companies and countries around the world are weig...
US corporate tax offer to the world, ShareChat valued at $2.1bn, Vaccitech IPO
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The start-up that owns the biotechnology behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US, Indi...
EMA to probe Sputnik vaccine, Renesas Electronics, Brazil crises
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The EU drug regulator will launch an investigation next week into whether clinical trials of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine contravened ethical...
Janet Yellen proposes global corporate minimum tax, the Taiwanese company at the heart of the global economy
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen is calling on other countries to join the US in setting a corporate global minimum tax, and bond investors who...
Computer chip shortage, corporate America caught between US and China
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The boom in Bitcoin mining is having an unintended consequence: it has driven up the cost of computer chips. Plus, the FT’s US-China correspondent, ...
Biden’s $2tn infrastructure plan, Deliveroo’s IPO flop, Black Americans in finance
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wall Street touched a record high Wednesday as the White House released details of President Joe Biden’s multi trillion-dollar US stimulus plan, and...
IMF head issues warning, Russia’s Arctic trade route, Amlo’s progress
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The head of the IMF has warned that the world should be ready for an emerging market debt crisis as the global economy emerges from the coronavi...
Biden’s Taiwan shift, US companies see inflation, Archegos hits big banks
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Biden administration is sticking with a Trump administration policy that will make it easier for US diplomats to meet with Taiwanese officials, an...