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US inflation was high enough in February to further complicate the path forward for the Federal Reserve as it contends with three bank failures and broader concerns about financial stability. The consumer price index rose 6 per cent year on year last month, following a 0.4 per cent increase from the previous month, the Bureau

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank has torn into global markets, with investors ripping up their forecasts for further rises in interest rates and dumping bank stocks around the world. Government bond prices soared on Monday, with two-year US Treasury yields recording their biggest one-day drop since 1987, as fund managers ramped up bets that

The UK chancellor is preparing a dramatic intervention to provide a cash lifeline to scores of tech businesses next week as he seeks to contain the damage caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Jeremy Hunt said there was “a serious risk” to tech and life sciences companies that used SVB’s UK bank, many

Silicon Valley Bank was shuttered by US regulators on Friday after customers raced to withdraw $42bn — a quarter of its total deposits — in one day and a failed effort to raise new capital called into question the future of the tech-focused lender. With about $209bn in assets, SVB has become the second-largest bank

The $52.4bn sell-off in US bank shares spread to Europe on Friday, with Deutsche Bank stock falling 8 per cent and Société Générale and HSBC both dropping 5 per cent. Investors dumped shares in the biggest US banks on Thursday on the back of difficulties at Silicon Valley Bank, a small, technology-focused lender that revealed

EY chief executive Carmine Di Sibio has sought to reassure staff that a planned split of its audit and advisory arms will happen after the head of the business in the US told partners the deal was on pause and needed to be reworked. In a message to staff on Thursday morning, seen by the

The head of one of Britain’s largest insurers has decried the “perpetual drift” of companies away from London’s stock market, saying that a low-growth economy and political infighting had eroded the UK’s appeal. The decisions last week by CRH, the world’s largest building materials group, and UK chip designer Arm to shun London in favour

China will overhaul supervision of its financial system and bolster science and technology to try to catch up with the west, as Xi Jinping embarks on a third term as president with one of the biggest reforms of the state apparatus in years. The changes — part of a series of ministerial reforms to China’s

CBI boss Tony Danker has stepped aside following an allegation over his workplace conduct at the UK’s largest business group. The CBI on Monday said it had been told in January of an allegation regarding its director-general, which was investigated and dealt with “in line with CBI procedure”. It said the investigation “determined that the

China will aim for an economic expansion of “around 5 per cent” for 2023, its lowest target for more than three decades, as President Xi Jinping seeks to restore pre-pandemic levels of growth and prepares to centralise power further in his own hands. Announcing the target, which was below last year’s goal of 5.5 per

The Financial Conduct Authority has been blamed by some UK officials and SoftBank staff for London losing out to New York on the blockbuster stock market listing of chip designer Arm. SoftBank, the Japanese owner of the Cambridge-based semiconductor company, this week dashed Rishi Sunak’s hopes of retaining the homegrown tech giant, rejecting entreaties from

Rishi Sunak is refusing to rush Britain back into the EU’s €95.5bn Horizon science programme despite his recent breakthrough in relations with Brussels, raising the prospect of a tough negotiation on rejoining the scheme. Senior colleagues said the UK prime minister was “sceptical” about the value of the research programme — the world’s biggest —

The world’s largest building materials company CRH is planning to move its listing from London to New York in a fresh blow to the UK’s capital market. The company, which has a market capitalisation of almost £30bn, is the latest UK-listed company to embark on a move to New York. Last year, Ferguson, the plumbing

Andrew Bailey has signalled that financial markets have been wrong in their growing belief over the past month that the Bank of England will need to impose many more interest rate rises to bring inflation under control. Speaking at a cost of living conference in London on Wednesday, the BoE governor said the central bank

Rishi Sunak has hinted the UK government will press ahead with his new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland even if it is rejected by the Democratic Unionist party, saying the agreement was not about “any one political party”. The British prime minister arrived in Belfast on Tuesday to sell this week’s agreement with the EU

Rishi Sunak will on Monday claim he has negotiated “fundamental” changes to the post-Brexit trading regime in Northern Ireland as he seeks to end a bitter row that has overshadowed UK ties with the EU. The British prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, are expected to seal the deal to

The record-breaking global bond market rally since the start of this year has fizzled out as mounting signs of persistent inflation force investors to reverse their views on the likely future path of interest rate rises. Investors rushed into fixed income in the first few weeks of 2023 as they became increasingly expectant that the

Joe Biden has said he did not think China would send weapons to Russia to help its military campaign in Ukraine, in comments that appeared to undercut claims from his top officials that Beijing was considering the idea. In an interview with ABC television on Friday that was aired on the evening of the anniversary

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to defeat Russia in 2023, as Ukraine marked the solemn anniversary of the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion and a year that forever altered the country and upturned the global order. “A year ago on this day, from this same place around seven in the morning, I addressed you with a brief

The EU and its allies are investigating a surge in exports to economies in Russia’s vicinity as they seek to prevent companies from evading western sanctions imposed on Moscow. David O’Sullivan, the EU’s newly appointed sanctions envoy, told the Financial Times that big increases in trade with countries in Russia’s neighbourhood raised questions as to