FT News Briefing
Episodes
The Catholic Church after Pope Francis
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wall Street stocks dropped as President Donald Trump attacked Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell, Pope Francis passed away on Monday after leading the C...
How tariffs are affecting luxury goods
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Luxury goods were supposed to be making a comeback this year. But US President Donald Trump’s trade war has complicated that and things are looking ...
The Rachman Review: Iran’s nuclear talks could reshape the Middle East
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Swamp Notes is taking this weekend off so instead we wanted to share the latest episode from our fellow FT podcast, The Rachman Review.Nuclear talks b...
Japan and the US talk tariffs
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China’s imports of US liquefied natural gas have completely stopped for more than 10 weeks, and Japan’s chief trade negotiator leaves Washington w...
Emerging markets’ surprising performance
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell is warning that US tariffs are ‘likely’ to put at risk the central bank’s goals of keeping prices and une...
India’s middle-class debt crisis
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nvidia says it expects to take a $5.5bn blow as the US clamps down on the Silicon Valley group’s ability to export artificial intelligence chips to ...
How Argentina pulled off its latest IMF deal
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Brussels is exploring legal options that would allow European companies to break long-term Russian gas contracts, and Goldman Sachs had a mixed first ...
Is it glass half-full or half-empty for US banks?
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US tariff exemptions on personal electronics may only be temporary, and big banks posted major earnings on Friday despite some economic headwinds. Plu...
Swamp Notes: The Federal Reserve’s tariff dilemma
12 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Donald Trump’s global trade war has made a mess for the Federal Reserve. Despite an encouraging US consumer price index report this wee...
Uncertainty reigns in US markets
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US inflation fell more than expected to 2.4 per cent in March, and France’s Renault is one of the few carmakers insulated from Donald Trump’s trad...
Trump’s tariff reversal
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US stocks surged on Wednesday after Donald Trump paused ‘reciprocal’ tariffs for 90 days. Plus, the EU and China are working on a new trade relati...
Markets might not have hit the bottom yet
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump is pushing ahead with another 50 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, and there are questions about what will happen to nearly $2tn worth of...
Companies look for US tariff workarounds
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Equities markets continued to adapt to the tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump, oil prices hit a four-year low on Monday, and investors are...
How Italy could decide the EU’s response to tariffs
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The UK plans to introduce a lighter regulatory regime for private equity and hedge funds, and Italy may block an EU plan to respond to US President Do...
Swamp Notes: The costs of Trump’s tariffs
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week the US imposed new tariffs on most of the world. The FT’s US national editor Ed Luce joins us to analyze why they are baffling economists ...
Trump’s tariffs rattle global markets
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Donald Trump’s tariffs caused a global market sell-off on Thursday. Now, there are concerns that these levies will push the US into a r...
Tesla soars on Musk’s potential departure
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump launched a barrage of new tariffs on trading partners, and Tesla’s share price jumped on a report that chief executive Elon Musk could ...
What Wall Street expects from Trump’s ‘liberation day’
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is in talks to invest in social media platform TikTok, US President Donald Trump is expected to lay out h...
Elon Musk transforms Wisconsin court race
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Google’s artificial intelligence arm DeepMind has been holding back the release of its world-renowned research, and Elon Musk has poured an unpreced...
CoreWeave tests investor appetite for AI
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Investors warn that higher bond yields in Germany could make it harder for EU members to increase defence spending, and the tech world’s largest pub...
Swamp Notes: How Medicaid cuts could shake up Maga
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As Congress works through President Donald Trump’s recent budget, one of the likeliest cuts on the chopping block is Medicaid. The government health...
China gives IPOs the green light
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs hit carmaker shares and Chinese financial authorities have told some companies they can start launching mai...
Rolls-Royce flies high
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US will impose tariffs of 25 per cent on imports of foreign-made autos and Piyush Gupta will step down after 16 years as chief executive at Singap...
Spring Statement highlights tough UK economy
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Beijing has introduced environmental restrictions that would prevent Chinese companies from buying Nvidia’s bestselling processors, UK chancellor Ra...
Are Musk’s ties jeopardising Starlink?
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sources tell the FT that China is considering including services in a multibillion-dollar subsidy programme to stimulate consumption, software giant S...
Foreign investors feel the pinch of US stock slump
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s new prime minister calls snap elections, European investors in US equities have been dealt a double blow, and carmakers try to get ahead of...
Swamp Notes: Why Democrats can’t get their act together
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As US President Donald Trump dismantles agencies and challenges institutions across the federal government, Democrats still can’t decide how to...
UK races to avoid Trump tariffs
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
European countries are considering how to take on greater responsibilities for the continent’s defence, the UK and the US are negotiating a trade de...
Does the Olympic business model still work?
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve is still in wait-and-see mode, a handful of technology start-ups are expected to go public next month, and Turkish police have det...
Boeing struggles in the final frontier
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s military to refrain from striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days, and the Israel-Hamas ceasefire wa...
Jack Ma’s AI comeback
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Vladimir Putin has allowed a group of western asset managers and hedge funds to offload Russian securities left in limbo by Moscow’s invasion of Ukr...
Saudi Arabia puts outside consultants on notice
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
HSBC and UBS are expanding their wealth management arms in India, and the consulting boom in Saudi Arabia is slowing down. Plus, global gold prices ha...
Swamp Notes: Why Trump may want a weaker dollar
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the value of the American dollar continued to decline. The plunge has been attributed to market volatility over President Donald Trump’s ...
Modi’s tariff tap dance with Trump
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated Moscow is unwilling to drop its maximalist demands over any deal to halt the fighting in Ukraine, and I...
Lights out at Northvolt
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk’s efficiency drive failed to prevent US federal spending rising to a record $603bn in February, European battery maker Northvolt has filed...
Nissan pushes CEO out
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The S&P 500 dipped into correction territory on Tuesday and Nissan has pushed out chief executive Makoto Uchida in the wake of the collapse of mer...
Is this dotcom bust 2.0?
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wall Street stocks fell on Monday, and Pimco has recorded a 17% paper profit on its portion of a £3bn emergency loan that it and others are set to pr...
The Trump nominee uniting Democrats and Republicans
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s Liberal party selects a new leader, and US President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division is turn...
Swamp Notes: Trump’s transatlantic divorce
08 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
European leaders met twice this week to discuss a plan to protect Ukraine — without US leadership. The rift between Brussels and Washington has grow...
Tariff uncertainty continues market volatility
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump’s crypto project made at least $350mn from the launch of his memecoin, and FT markets columnist Katie Martin unpacks the week in market...
The Trump bump on Canadian politics
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Donald Trump has handed carmakers a one-month reprieve on tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, and we look at how a few billionaire...
Taiwan looks to play nice with Trump
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible”, Taiwan is trying to get on US President Donald ...
US defence stocks get left behind
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US is suspending military aid to Ukraine, Chevrolet Silverado’s complex supply chain leaves it particularly vulnerable to a looming trade war, a...
Europe takes the lead on Ukraine peace deal
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cryptocurrencies surged on Sunday after a surprise announcement from US President Donald Trump, and European leaders gathered in London to shore up su...
Swamp Notes: Trump vs the press
01 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the White House said it would pick which reporters would get access to Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the US president has sued several press out...
Trump greets Starmer at White House
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Donald Trump has said his administration is working on a trade deal with the UK, Santander’s incoming chief accounting officer is under...
The medical bills hurting China’s economy
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nvidia’s revenues soared in the quarter to the end of January as demand for its AI-focused chips boomed, healthcare costs are dragging down the Chin...
Unilever’s CEO gets the boot
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kyiv has agreed terms with Washington on a minerals deal, and finance ministers from many of the world’s largest economies are poised to skip Group ...
Germany’s debt brake problem
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US and Europe battled in the UN and G7 over whether to blame Russia for its war against Ukraine, German election winner Friedrich Merz faces serio...
German voters shift to the right in Sunday’s elections
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The center-right Christian Democrats won the most votes in Germany’s election, and the US stock market had its worst day in two months on Friday. Br...
Swamp Notes: Trump tries to bring watchdogs to heel
22 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US President Donald Trump’s executive order this week seeks to “rein in” independent federal agencies by requiring them to submit draft regulati...
Defending Europe without the US
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Investors are urging the EU to make sweeping reforms to its debt securitisation market, Walmart has staged a major comeback, and Chinese ecommerce gia...
Manufacturing on the ballot in Germany
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
KKR has submitted a preliminary bid to take a majority stake in Thames Water, and HSBC set out its cost cuts in its annual earnings report yesterday. ...
Why Trump wants Ukraine’s minerals
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US and Russia have agreed to ‘lay the groundwork for future co-operation’ on ending the Ukraine war, and US president Donald Trump has his eye...
China pumps the brakes on Tesla’s autonomous cars
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tesla risks being caught up in the China-US trade war, while US officials head to Saudi Arabia to start peace talks over Ukraine. Indonesia reaches “...
Say hello to the Magnificent 47
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
French President Macron holds an emergency meeting in Paris with Ukraine’s allies, and a stock index featuring Europe’s largest banks is outpacing...
Swamp Notes: Trump ices Europe out of Ukraine peace plan
15 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine is dominating discussions at this year’s Munich Security Conference after a call between Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, which e...
Has meme-stock kid Robinhood grown up?
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Arm plans to launch its own chip this year, and Shein’s IPO will likely be delayed after US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on tariff-free impo...
Trump excludes Europe from Ukraine peace talks
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
European officials are worried about being cut out of a US-Russia peace deal on Ukraine, and US inflation ticked up in January. Plus, China’s leadin...
Elon Musk gatecrashes OpenAI restructuring
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hong Kong tech stocks are flying high, Elon Musk’s nearly $100bn bid for OpenAI comes with a ton of baggage, and the EU says it will retaliate again...
Hizbollah’s murky path forward
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
More than 60 partners have left PwC China after a ban over its audit of failed property developer Evergrande, the FT’s Andy Bounds explains what we ...
US dealmaking slides in 2025
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China has imposed retaliatory tariffs on about $14bn of US goods, and US dealmaking has suffered its worst start to a year in a decade. French Preside...
Swamp Notes: How far can Doge go?
08 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, dominated the headlines this week as agency members gained access to sensitive data at the...
How to trade the trade war
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon shares fell after a weaker than expected outlook for the first quarter, and investors are figuring out how to trade in the trade war. Plus, The...
EU pushes ahead with sprawling AI regulation
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US allies across Europe and the Middle East have condemned Donald Trump’s plans to “take over” Gaza, the US cracks down on a trade loophole, and...
US companies endure tariff whiplash
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alphabet’s cloud services missed growth expectations last quarter, American companies are scrambling to protect their supply chains in the face of a...
Commercial real estate crawls back
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US president Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada are paused for now, commercial property investment is starting to recover from a two-year s...
The Trump trade war begins
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump hit Canada, Mexico and China with steep tariffs on Saturday, and oil and gas groups are relying more heavily on carbon offsets to reach c...
Swamp Notes: Trump redefines America’s global role
01 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
American foreign aid supports everything from arms sales to HIV treatment. But this week, with the stroke of a pen, Donald Trump suspended nearly all ...
SoftBank wants a piece of the AI pie
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apple revealed quarterly results that slightly exceeded Wall Street expectations, SoftBank is in talks to invest as much as $25bn into OpenAI, and the...
The Fed ignores Trump’s calls to cut rates
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Big Tech earnings season is in full swing, the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady despite pressure from President Donald Trump, and Syria’...
Inside the Trump tariff debate
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Advances in artificial intelligence by Chinese start-up DeepSeek caused a frantic sell-off of energy and infrastructure shares, and Donald Trump’s T...
China’s DeepSeek AI triggers tech sell-off
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
US tech stocks tumbled after advances by Chinese start-up DeepSeek ignited worries over whether America could sustain its lead in artificial intellige...
Can US oil afford to ‘drill, baby, drill’?
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pressure is piling on the European Union to cut back its sustainability agenda, Wall Street may thwart President Donald Trump’s call for a new oil b...
Swamp Notes: Donald Trump’s ‘vendetta agenda’
25 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump has made a lot of enemies over the years. He spent his first week back in the White House going after them — and is reshaping the feder...
Trump steers the world toward a tax war
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A federal judge has blocked US President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, and shares in the leading makers of anti-obesity drug...
Trump halts $300bn in clean energy loans
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
European bank dividends are at their highest levels since 2007, US President Donald Trump froze billions of dollars in federal funding to green infras...
Markets brace for Trump-era volatility
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix added a record 19mn subscribers in the fourth quarter, fuelled by live sports. US stocks rallied while currencies swung the day after Donald T...
Apple is accused of profiting from 'blood minerals'
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Belgium has launched a criminal probe into the DRC’s allegation. Donald Trump is sworn in as US president. Davos leaders reject climate banking grou...
Trump returns to the White House
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump will become US president for the second time on Monday. Investors pile into a fund that spreads its assets equally across the S&P 500...
Swamp Notes: Corporate America goes Maga
18 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Not long ago, American corporations were promoting racial justice initiatives and promising to combat climate change. That’s all changed in the mont...
Can Hollywood bounce back?
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump’s Treasury pick Scott Bessent wants to increase sanctions on Russian oil producers, and the FT’s Stephen Gandel unpacks a bumper earn...
Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Israel and Hamas have agreed a deal to halt the war in Gaza and free the remaining hostages. Wall Street banks notched up profits at the end of last y...
Why China wants Musk to save TikTok
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Saudi Aramco is to expand its investments in lithium production, officials in Beijing are discussing using Elon Musk as a broker in a potential sale o...
A power shift in Lebanon
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Goldman Sachs is building a new private credit unit, and Nawaf Salam is named as Lebanon’s new prime minister. China’s trade surplus with the rest...
Venezuela’s leader starts another disputed term
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The US is on the cusp of a gas boom and the west hits Venezuelan officials with fresh sanctions. A £1.5bn class action lawsuit against Apple goes to ...
Swamp Notes: Greenland, USA
11 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump has an aggressive negotiating method: he makes big threats in order to extract concessions. But now that he’s floated the idea of invad...
Bond vigilantes target government spending
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The EU is preparing for president-elect Donald Trump to roll back his predecessor’s executive orders, bond markets have entered a new era of antagon...
Crunch time for Citi
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
EU leaders warn Donald Trump not to meddle with the continent’s territories, and Wall Street analysts are betting Citigroup will miss a critical lon...
Canadian politics post-Trudeau
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China’s airlines are rapidly expanding into Europe, and we take a look at what’s next for Canada’s Liberal party following Prime Minister Justin...
China’s central bank overhaul
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Trudeau is resigning as Canadian Prime Minister, and Germany’s solar power industry is in trouble. US bankruptcy filings hit their highest ra...
What’s next for US Steel?
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Eurozone economists warn the European Central Bank has been too slow to cut interest rates, and US Steel faces a bleak outlook after President Biden’...
Swamp Notes: Where does Musk fit in Maga?
04 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk’s first big foray into politics was a success — he used his world-leading fortune and mass media platform to help Donald Trump regain th...
Climate change is coming for your Bordeaux
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tesla’s annual vehicle deliveries declined for the first time in more than a decade, and China’s BYD hit a milestone. Crypto chief Do Kwon makes h...
Activist investors give Japan a wake-up call
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The UK’s financial watchdog has failed to remove illegal crypto adverts, and in Japan, shareholder activists are waking companies up from decades of...
Biden’s departing gift to Ukraine
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
US stocks dropped for the second straight trading session, the Biden administration said it will unleash almost $6bn in additional aid to Ukraine, and...
Should banks foot the bill for cyber scams?
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Defaults on US credit card loans have hit the highest level since the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and as payment fraud rises, banks and tech co...
Swamp Notes: Listener mailbag, the election and 2025
21 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are the Democrats doomed? Which world leaders are happiest to see Trump back in the White House? And why are investors flooding into American stocks? ...
Why Microsoft needs nuclear energy
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A number of cryptocurrency-focused hedge funds are outpacing their rivals, the Bank of England holds interest rates at 4.75 per cent, and Microsoft ha...
What 2024 taught central bankers
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by a quarter-point but signals a slower pace of easing, and we look back at what central banks learned in 2024...