Category: News

Companies in England are heading for an “iceberg” next spring with business rates set to rise by up to £3bn because of soaring inflation, industry groups have warned. They said those businesses that gain from an upcoming revaluation could see those benefits eroded as a result, while those that lose out will see their losses…

Thousands of British companies are cutting economic ties with China en masse, threatening to heap more pressure on the cost of living, the head of the CBI business group has warned. Tony Danker, the CBI director-general, said chief executives were increasingly switching business links from China to other countries in anticipation of a further deterioration…

Global stocks were on track to post their best month since late 2020, bouncing back from a savage first half of 2022 as easing rate rise expectations and upbeat earnings from big tech groups fuelled a broad rally. The FTSE All-World index of developed and emerging market shares has jumped 6 per cent in July,…

The US economy shrank for a second consecutive quarter, meeting one of the common criteria for a technical recession and complicating the Federal Reserve’s push to stamp out soaring inflation with a string of aggressive rate rises. Data published by the commerce department on Thursday showed gross domestic product fell by 0.9 per cent on…

European gas prices jumped higher on Wednesday after Russia followed through on its threat to further reduce supplies to the region, increasing the risk the continent could face shortages in the winter months. Gas prices rose as much as 13 per cent on Wednesday as flows on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline were cut to…

The IMF has slashed its global growth forecasts and raised its projections for inflation, warning that the risks to the economic outlook are “overwhelmingly tilted to the downside”. The downgraded estimates, released on Tuesday, come as the world grapples with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prolonged disruptions caused by the pandemic and rapidly…

German business confidence has fallen to its lowest level for more than two years in the latest sign that Europe’s largest economy is teetering on the brink of recession. Companies across Germany became more gloomy about both their current situation and the outlook for the next six months, according to the Ifo Institute’s closely watched…

China is preparing a system to sort US-listed Chinese companies into groups based on the sensitivity of the data they hold, in a potential concession by Beijing to try to stop American regulators from delisting hundreds of groups. The system is designed to bring some Chinese companies into compliance with US rules that require public…

Ukraine accused Russia of firing missiles at its key grain exporting port of Odesa on Saturday, a day after Moscow signed a deal allowing Kyiv to resume grain exports in a bid to alleviate the growing global food crisis. Two Kalibr cruise missiles hit Odesa’s port and two others were shot down by Ukrainian air…

UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has indicated that Britain’s next prime minister will need to rule on Tata Group’s request for £1.5bn in government subsidies to safeguard the future of its Port Talbot steelworks. Kwarteng’s allies say the minister wants to help steelmakers including Tata, owner of the UK’s largest steelworks, to decarbonise the sector,…

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates by half a percentage point — its first increase for more than a decade — while pledging to prevent rising borrowing costs from sparking a eurozone debt crisis amid political turmoil in Italy. The ECB said in a press release after its governing council met in Frankfurt…

The rate of UK inflation rose to a fresh 40-year high of 9.4 per cent in June as sharp rises in food and petrol prices drove the rate towards double digits for the first time since 1982. The UK’s rate was again the highest among the G7 group of large advanced economies even before recent…

UK private sector pay grew almost five times as fast as public sector workers’ remuneration in the year to May, according to official data released as ministers prepare to sign off on real-terms wage cuts for teachers, doctors and NHS staff. The figures, showing total pay growth of 7.2 per cent in the private sector…

Goldman Sachs has reported a 47 per cent drop in second-quarter profits, as the Wall Street giant suffered from a slowdown in investment banking fees and plummeting revenues in asset management. In second-quarter earnings, Goldman reported on Monday net income of $2.9bn or $7.73 per share, down from $5.5bn or $15.02 per share in the…

A string of big rate rises by the Federal Reserve has put pressure on central banks around the world to follow suit to counter soaring inflation and the strong dollar. A Financial Times analysis found that central banks are now, more than at any other time this century, opting for large rate rises of 50…

The dramatic spikes in oil and mineral prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have distracted investors from the long-lasting and more dangerous impact of food inflation, BlackRock founder Larry Fink has warned. “The one thing I worry about that we don’t talk enough about is food,” he told the Financial Times. “This isn’t just an…

China’s economy narrowly escaped a contraction in the second quarter as the fallout from President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy stoked expectations that Beijing would inject hundreds of billions of dollars of stimulus to shore up growth. The world’s second-biggest economy expanded 0.4 per cent year on year in the three months to the end of…

Celsius Network, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency lenders, has filed for bankruptcy, following a wave of digital asset companies that have frozen assets and entered restructuring amid a sharp sell-off in cryptocurrencies this year. The Hoboken, New Jersey-based company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in federal court in New York comes roughly a month after…

When Daniel Leon, one of the founders of Celsius Network, posted a Twitter video addressed to Warren Buffett in January 2021, he was in high spirits. The price of bitcoin was rocketing and Celsius, the crypto lender he had founded in 2017 with Alex Mashinsky, was riding the boom. “Warren, Warren, Warren,” Leon began with…

Let’s say you have a hunch. Tesla shares will soar in August. Gold prices will drop next week. The New York Yankees game on Thursday will be a slugfest. US gasoline will be $5 a gallon on July 31. Are these grounds for a financial investment or a bar wager? These days, it’s hard to…