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Donald Trump is still weeks away from taking the oath of office, but the president-elect’s vow to enact a sweeping policy overhaul is already looming large over the Federal Reserve. The Fed trimmed interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday in its third consecutive reduction, but officials’ projections for half as
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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. UK inflation accelerated to 2.6 per cent in November, in line with analysts’ predictions, cementing expectations that the Bank of England will hold rates steady at its meeting on Thursday. The year-on-year rise in the
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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A top Russian general has died after a bomb went off at the entrance to his home in Moscow early on Tuesday, investigators said, killing him and his assistant. Russia’s Investigative Committee, a major crimes
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Bashar al-Assad’s central bank airlifted around $250mn in cash to Moscow in a two-year period when the then Syrian dictator was indebted to the Kremlin for military support and his relatives were secretly buying assets in Russia. The Financial Times has uncovered records showing that Assad’s regime, while desperately short of foreign currency, flew banknotes
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Every New Year’s Day, Emma Bisley starts asking herself the same question: who is going to win Christmas this year? Since 2023, the cherubic 34-year-old has been head of campaigns for Sainsbury’s, Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain. She thinks about winning Christmas the same way the Grinch thinks about stealing it, which is to say nearly
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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has been impeached by the National Assembly following his failed attempt to impose martial law last week. Opposition parties, which command a majority in the legislature, only needed the
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves came to office in July pledging to make stronger growth the number one mission of the new Labour government. Official figures on Friday underlined how far she is from achieving this ambition.  After gaining momentum since 2023, output slipped back in September and October. The figures confirm that businesses and households shied
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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK economy unexpectedly shrank 0.1 per cent in October, the second contraction in a row, in a blow to the Labour government’s economic agenda. The monthly change in GDP published on Friday by the
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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. HSBC is reviewing its retail banking operations outside the UK and Hong Kong, a move that could see it substantially scale back operations in countries including Mexico, as it seeks further cost cuts. The bank
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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Business leaders have warned chancellor Rachel Reeves at a private meeting that the economic environment is “extremely challenging”, with companies facing major uncertainty due to her tax-raising Budget and the government’s planned package of employment
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Qatar’s $500bn sovereign wealth fund is preparing to deploy its cash more aggressively ahead of a petrodollar windfall that could ultimately double its size. Mohammed Al-Sowaidi, the Qatar Investment Authority’s new chief executive, told the Financial Times the fund expected to “do bigger-ticket deals” and invest with “more frequency” as it embarks on a review
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