Category: News

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…

Penny Mordaunt, the dark horse in the Conservative leadership campaign, has launched her bid to become prime minister with a promise to return to old Tory themes of “low tax, a small state and personal responsibility” as the increasingly contentious contest approaches the voting stage. Just hours before Tory MPs’ first-round vote on Wednesday, Mordaunt,…

The race to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader is under way, as eight contenders compete for the backing of Tory MPs to make the final shortlist of two that will be voted on by party members. The eight received the nominations required to be on the ballot when Conservative MPs begin voting on Wednesday.…

Set against Gustav Holst’s hymn ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’, with union jacks and a deep-voiced narrator, the message of Penny Mordaunt’s campaign launch video for the Conservative party leadership was pure patriotism. While Mordaunt’s film was derided on social media for its clichéd imagery, it appealed to the hearts of Tory members. One…

One of the leading contenders to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister has said he will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest, as other Conservative MPs prepare to launch their campaigns. Defence secretary Ben Wallace was the favourite among the Tory grassroots, with a net approval rating of +86 among party members according to…

Rishi Sunak, who quit as Boris Johnson’s chancellor this week, launched his bid to lead the Conservative party on Friday with a pledge that he will avoid “comforting fairy tales”. His video to launch his campaign appeared a coded attack on what many MPs have seen as the prime minister’s Panglossian approach to policy. “Someone…

Boris Johnson has announced his “painful” resignation but defied pressure to step down immediately as prime minister, insisting he would remain in office until a new Conservative party leader is chosen. In an address in front of No 10 Downing Street, after days of turmoil and mass resignations from his government, he accused his party…

Boris Johnson’s turbulent three-year premiership was nearing its end on Wednesday night after he was urged to quit by a delegation of his closest cabinet allies. The UK prime minister was warned that unless he stepped down there would be further cabinet resignations, followed by an inevitable humiliating defeat by Tory MPs in a no-confidence…

Boris Johnson’s premiership was teetering on the brink on Tuesday night, after chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid dramatically resigned from the cabinet. Downing Street was braced for more ministers quitting with many Tory MPs believing the dual resignation of two senior ministers could signal the beginning of the end for Johnson. Sunak…

Protesters brought parts of the UK’s motorway network to a standstill on Monday in a demonstration over high fuel prices. Police warned drivers that a “slow-moving rolling roadblock” was causing delays on parts of the M4 motorway near the border between England and Wales and on the M5 near Bristol. There were also “significant delays”…

Sir Keir Starmer will on Monday signal that Labour is willing to fight Boris Johnson over his Brexit legacy at the next election, setting out a five-point plan to tackle the economic pain caused by Britain’s EU exit. In a big tactical shift, Starmer will use a speech to denounce the “mess” created by the…

Hackers with suspected links to China’s intelligence agencies were still advertising for new recruits to work on cyber espionage, even after the FBI indicted the perpetrators in an effort to disrupt their activities. Hainan Tengyuan, a Chinese technology company, was actively recruiting English language translators in March according to job adverts seen by the Financial…

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, the pioneer of low-cost travel in Europe, has warned fares will rise for the next five years because flying has become “too cheap” to make profits as industry costs spiral. His warning comes as ticket prices have risen in Europe and the US this summer as passengers return and some airlines…