FT News Briefing

The ECB is in a pickle

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

UBS has reported the biggest-ever quarterly profit for a bank, eurozone core inflation has edged down, and Switzerland has proposed sweeping measures ...

Another coup in Africa

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Military officers in oil-rich Gabon said they had seized power, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo wrapped up a visit to China, and the billionaire f...

Why Europe can’t quit Russian energy

30 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The EU is set to import record volumes of liquefied natural gas from Russia this year, asset management firm Grayscale won a US court ruling to launch...

An unlikely alliance in Brazil

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Goldman Sachs plans to sell one of its personal financial management divisions, Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is close to sealing an...

In search of a new economic playbook

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Chinese corporate earnings reports are forecast to log poor performance and companies are set to downgrade outlooks, and policy makers walked away fro...

Putin breaks his silence on Prigozhin

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Russia's leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday publicly said warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin was dead, the emerging markets group Brics has invited six more cou...

Wagner group’s Prigozhin presumed dead

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has reportedly died after a plane crash north-west of Moscow, Nvidia’s revenue more than doubled in ...

All eyes on Jackson Hole

23 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Markets are looking for signals from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell during this week’s Jackson Hole symposium, global stock markets have lost a...

Can Arm’s listing reignite the IPO market?

22 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Description: The sell-off in US government debt continued to hit the world’s largest bond market on Monday, and Silicon Valley start-ups are wo...

Drought causes headaches for Panama Canal

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Some of private equity’s biggest names are handing over companies they own to the lending arms of rivals, and Iran is dealing with the consequences ...

Saudi Arabia and UAE race to buy computer chips

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

US mortgage rates have soared to a 21-year high, US retailer earnings reports send mixed messages on consumer spending, and Saudi Arabia and the Unite...

Introducing: The Russian Banker

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Who is Sergei Leontiev? To the US asylum system, he’s an exiled Russian banker who was persecuted by the state and forced to flee. To Russia, he’s...

New pain for China’s property sector

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lower gas and electricity costs drove a sharp drop in headline UK inflation in July, Fitch Ratings has downgraded WeWork, and there’s increasing anx...

A year of the Inflation Reduction Act

16 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

US stocks hit a five-week low as a warning of potential Fitch downgrades sent bank shares lower, Beijing is making one of its biggest top-down efforts...

A looming ESG crackdown

15 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A surprise election result in Argentina spooked markets, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn is trying to pivot to India, and it looks like there’s a US reg...

The new commodity superpowers

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The rouble has fallen to a 16-month low against the dollar, airlines have joined forces with farmers to lobby in Washington so that corn helps power t...

Peak social media: The future

12 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the final episode of this Tech Tonic season, FT correspondents weigh in on the trends that will determine the future of social media. From Meta’s...

US inflation is still on the right track

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Iran has transferred five US citizens from prison to house arrest, US headline inflation in July rose slightly from June, and in Mexico the influence ...

China’s economy falls into deflation

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Walt Disney reported quarterly results that showed declines at its television and movie businesses, China’s economy has fallen into deflation, and P...

The weight-loss drug craze

09 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The UK government is pushing back against an attempt by some members of the House of Lords to close loopholes in transparency legislation, US ban...

Why admitting Ukraine into the EU is tricky

08 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Meta has axed a team that used artificial intelligence to create the first database of more than 600mn protein structures, and PayPal is launching a s...

Latin American central banks’ head start

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Private equity firms are increasingly offering sweeteners such as fee discounts to secure backing from deep-pocketed investors, US banks are still rel...

Peak social media: Building better platforms

05 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can we get rid of the bad bits of social media and keep the good? Is it possible to create a more positive social media experience than the ...

Bank of England continues interest rate rise campaign

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Stronger than expected online sales helped Amazon beat Wall Street expectations for last quarter, and the Bank of England raised interest rates for th...

A hard landing for Europe?

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Investors are increasing their bets that Europe will sink into a painful economic downturn, and luxury groups are bracing for the end of the post-pand...

Trump indicted over attempt to overturn 2020 election

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

US prosecutors have charged Donald Trump in connection with his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, Uber reported its first operati...

Booming markets neutralise impact of Fed's interest rate rises

01 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rising stock prices and falling bond yields in the US have essentially neutralised the impact of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate rises, western ...

The economic impact of extreme heat

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Bank of Japan announced that it’s going to allow bonds to rise more freely, and China’s politburo has signalled several target measures meant ...

Peak social media: The power of influencers

29 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Social media today is less about making friends and more about following popular content creators. While those creators are starting to hold some powe...

Stricter rules for US banks

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates back to their record high, and US bank regulators have advanced plans to impose more arduous capit...

US hits highest interest rates in 22 years

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, Facebook parent Meta returned to double-digit revenue growt...

A glimmer of hope for the global economy

26 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Alphabet earnings beat expectations, a new report from the IMF says the future of the global economy is looking a little brighter than it did a few mo...

Spain in political limbo

25 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Credit Suisse has been fined $388mn by US and British regulators, and Spain is facing an uncertain political future as the right and left failed to se...

A missed shot for women’s football

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

America’s risky corporate loan market has been hit by the biggest slew of downgrades since the depths of the Covid crisis in 2020, and European bank...

Peak social media: The debate over young users’ mental health

22 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a growing feeling that social media is bad for us: bad for society and bad for our wellbeing. That trend has culminated in a new wave of leg...

Treatments for Alzheimer’s, finally

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Nasdaq Composite had its biggest one-day drop in more than four months, the winner of Thailand’s general election has been suspended from parlia...

Signs of a UK inflation cool-down

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A crackdown on password sharing helped Netflix add nearly 6mn subscribers, UK inflation fell to a 15-month low of 7.9 per cent in June, Ukraine’s ar...

Russia targets western companies

19 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Big investment banks are turning more bearish on the dollar, and Europeans struggle with a near-record heatwave. Plus, the FT’s Anastasia Stognei ex...

China’s economic slump

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Thames Water’s biggest investor slashed the value of its stake last year, Ford’s steep price cut for its electric pick-up truck rattled shareholde...

Can Tories prevent a massive defeat?

17 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The EU wants other polluting nations to cut emissions faster. Three of the largest US banks reported a surge in profits last week from charging more f...

Peak social media: The ads machine

15 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Zuckerberg used advertising to turn Facebook into the first global social media giant, boasting 3bn users around the world. But today there are q...

ChatGPT generates US investigation

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The UK government has invited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to London, and US regulators are going after the company behind ChatGPT. Plus, th...

US inflation cools

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

US inflation fell sharply to 3 per cent in June, the $1.35tn US junk bond market has shrunk by almost $200bn since its all-time peak in late 2021, and...

A big win for Microsoft’s Activision deal

12 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Hunt has ordered ministers to find more than £2bn to fund public sector pay rises this year, JPMorgan is trying to scoop up Silicon Valley Ban...

Nato torn over Ukraine’s membership bid

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hedge funds have cut their bets on a rising US stock market to the lowest level in at least a decade and pivoted to Europe, a top US banking regulator...

Loan losses mount for US banks

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israel is set to start voting on controversial judicial reforms on Monday and the largest US banks are expected to report the biggest jump in loan los...

The Congo river conservation debate

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Investors sold stocks and bonds across the world on Thursday as US borrowing costs touched a 16-year high, US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen is in Ch...

Protecting elephants in the Congo River Basin

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US and Germany are among the western allies falling behind in delivering promised heavy weapons to Ukraine, and big asset managers are flocking to...

Tracking the gorillas of the Congo Basin

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israel’s raid on the West Bank reignites fears of escalating violence, Switzerland is looking into potential Russian sanctions violations and we con...

A deep look inside the Congo River Basin

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The UK’s financial watchdog has summoned bank chief executives to address concerns that savings rates are lagging behind the surging cost of mortgag...

France’s George Floyd moment

03 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Apple has been forced to make drastic cuts to production forecasts for the mixed-reality Vision Pro headset, French president cancels a trip to German...

Peak social media: Trouble at Twitter

01 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk took over Twitter with the promise of promoting free speech and making the loss-making platform profitable again. But his critics say he’s...

The Thames Water debt debacle

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US Supreme Court has curbed universities’ ability to consider race in admissions, turmoil at the top of Thames Water has left the UK government ...

Banks try to avoid ending up like SVB

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sterling suffers biggest one-day fall against the dollar in a month following UK growth fears, US banks are stepping up the sales of their loan portfo...

Japan goes all in on chips

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio, has won a second term in office, the US Supreme Court rejects a Republican election plan, and a New York...

Wagner head downplays attack on Russia

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The head of the Wagner militia has denied trying to overthrow the Russian government, and western banks may not be able to participate in the Shanghai...

Wagner’s 24-hour coup

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wagner troops withdrew from Russia late Saturday night after an abandoned coup attempt on Moscow, Greek prime minister Kyriako Mitsotakis won re-elect...

The housing supply problem

25 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Home prices in the US and UK skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic. In a special four-part series, we explored how they got so out of whack and ...

The UK’s ‘mortgage bomb’

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Bank of England’s 50 basis point interest rate rise is causing concern for the UK’s already-high mortgages, and Germany has signed another lon...

Modi tries to deepen US tech ties

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi is set to address the US Congress today, and US regulators are accusing Amazon of duping customers into signing...

The trials and tribulations of AI voice tech

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC has accelerated dealmaking in the US, and US president Joe Biden’s son has agreed to plead guilty to tax and...

US and China meet in an attempt to ease tensions

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has met with China's President Xi Xinping in an attempt to ease US-Sino tensions. Plus, the aerospace industry s...

AstraZeneca could spin off China business

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

AstraZeneca has drawn up plans to break out its China business, and France is challenging a German-led plan to build up Europe’s air defences. ...

Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: epilogue

18 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this last episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the FT’s chief economics commentator sits down with the FT’s executive opinion editor, Jonathan De...

Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: Hillary Clinton

17 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this fourth episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the FT’s chief economics commentator discusses the rise of populist politics with someone who was ...

Central banks all over the place

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

UK hedge fund firm Odey Asset Management is being dismantled in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against its founder and Saudi Arabia has spe...

Fed skips an interest rate increase

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US Federal Reserve paused its interest rate rise campaign on Wednesday after 10 straight increases, and former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has...

The housing supply problem: Part 4

14 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

EY’s global chief executive Carmine Di Sibio says he is planning to retire next year, and the FT’s Joshua Franklin explains the impact of JPMorgan...

The Crispin Odey investigation

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

France is drumming up support for a global levy on greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry, and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlu...

Scotland’s Sturgeon arrested

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The former first minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, was arrested on Sunday, Boris Johnson’s exit from UK parliament will have consequences for t...

Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: resisting autocracy

10 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this third episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the renowned FT columnist and economist speaks to the journalist and historian Anne Applebaum, who ha...

Rishi Sunak comes to Washington

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tesla and General Motors have struck a deal to let the Detroit carmaker’s customers plug in at 12,000 of the Texas company’s roadside chargers, an...

Introducing Unhedged

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We want to tell about a new podcast coming soon! On Unhedged, Ethan Wu, Katie Martin and other markets nerds at the Financial Times explain the big id...

The housing supply problem: Part 3

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US, Taiwan and Japan will share real-time data from naval reconnaissance drones, India’s deadliest train accident happened despite years of inve...

Sequoia Capital to spin off its China business

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The UK Cabinet Office will tell central government departments to remove all surveillance equipment made by Chinese companies from sensitive sites; an...

SEC sues world’s largest crypto exchange

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

US securities regulators yesterday sued the world’s largest crypto exchange and accused Binance of a host of violations, sliding German butter price...

A daring high-wire act: Inside the Asda buyout

05 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Saudi Arabia is cutting oil production, Turkey has a new finance minister and Apple is unveiling a mixed-reality headset today. Plus, the FT’s Kaye ...

FTNB Live! FT Weekend Fest in Washington DC

04 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A special live recording of the FT News Briefing at the FT Weekend Festival in Washington, DC. Our terrific colleagues played a friendly game of news ...

Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism: the ‘democratic recession’

03 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this second episode of Martin Wolf’s series, the renowned FT columnist and economist speaks to Larry Diamond, a leading contemporary scholar in t...

What did the fight over the US debt ceiling cost?

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Binance has lost a quarter of its market share, the US government is on the verge of passing a deal to raise the debt ceiling, and Eurozone inflation ...

The housing supply problem: Part 2

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US House of Representatives voted to raise the debt ceiling last night. Plus, in part two of our housing series, the FT’s Persis Love explores a...

Wall Street gives crypto a chance

31 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

China has called for “stable and constructive” ties with the US in a meeting with Elon Musk and some Wall Street companies are building their own ...

Ageing populations hit government credit ratings

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Democrats and Republicans are confident they can pass a deal to avert a US debt default, the lira slides after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan...

Martin Wolf on saving democratic capitalism

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the first of this four-part series, the renowned FT columnist and economist Martin Wolf tells the FT’s executive opinion editor Jonathan Derbyshi...

Nvidia closes in on the trillion dollar club

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More large US companies are taking shelter in bankruptcy court, Nvidia is on course to become the first chipmaker to be valued at more than $1tn, and ...

The housing supply problem: Part I

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

UK gilt yields hit levels not seen since last year’s “mini” Budget crisis, and Australia’s government has referred a PwC tax leak scandal to t...

A new gold rush

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A double-digit drop in German exports to China has rattled Europe’s biggest economy and the UK is set to lose a high-profile solar power investment....

Adani tries to win back investors

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

China’s semiconductor industry fears Japanese curbs on exports of crucial chipmaking equipment are stricter than US limits, Meta has been hit with a...

China bans Micron’s products from key infrastructure

22 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is expected to launch his campaign for US president this week, China has banned operators of key infrastructure from buy...

TikTok spied on our reporter

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US Supreme Court rules to protect big tech companies from being liable for users’ posts, and G7 countries are preparing new sanctions against Ru...

Will the digital euro come online?

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ukraine’s allies worry that support from the US will lose steam during next year’s election cycle, and Japan’s stocks are reaching new highs. Pl...

US sues to block drug merger

17 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the biotechnology company Amgen’s $28.3bn deal to acquire Horizon Therapeutics, Italy is struggling to sp...

Ford to scale back China investments

16 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ford plans to reduce its future investment in China, and prominent investors are upset with the record number of share buybacks. Plus, the FT’s Elen...

Turkey’s tight election

15 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu are locked in a tight battle for the presidency as the election count suggested ...

Markets shrug off potential US debt default

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk says he’s hired a new CEO for Twitter, and Turkey heads to the polls this weekend for what analysts say is the biggest presidential electi...

China makes a show of corporate raiding

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Disney sharply reduced its losses from video streaming in the second quarter, US inflation dipped to its lowest level since April 2021, and the FT’s...

Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky takes on Twitter

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump has been found liable for the sexual abuse of a journalist in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, Ireland plans to set up a sovere...

Is commercial property the ‘next shoe to drop’?

09 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Bank of England is set to raise interest rates to their highest level since 2008 this week, and investors are worried about the impact of rising r...

US debt ceiling deadline looms

08 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The G7-led price cap on Russian oil exports has forced the Kremlin to raise the tax burden on producers, and education companies are struggling after ...

Another rough day for US regional banks

05 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Apple said on Thursday that revenues shrank for a second straight quarter, the European Central Bank raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentag...