News

Economists and analysts are increasingly hopeful that the Federal Reserve can avoid pushing the US into a recession, as inflation slows and strong growth persists despite 11 interest rate increases. The Fed this week raised rates by another quarter percentage point to the highest level in 22 years. But a flurry of upbeat data has

A group of companies including the UK coach and train service company Mobico has held detailed talks over launching a cross-Channel train service to rival Eurostar. Other parties involved in the discussions include the Spanish Cosmen industrialist family, which is an investor in Mobico, formerly known as National Express, according to two people with knowledge

Coutts chief executive Peter Flavel has stepped down, saying that he bore “ultimate” responsibility for the bank’s treatment of former UK Independence party leader Nigel Farage. The private bank and its owner, NatWest, have been engulfed in a crisis since Farage revealed last week that Coutts had closed his account in part because of his

NatWest shareholders have ramped up pressure on chair Sir Howard Davies to step down for mishandling the fallout from the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. “He’s clearly not in charge,” said a top-20 investor on Tuesday. “Banking is about trust and confidence. That’s sacrosanct and starts with the tone from the top.” NatWest chief

The Bank of England has estimated that it will require the UK Treasury to transfer a total of £150bn by 2033 to cover expected losses on its bond-buying quantitative easing programme, if interest rates follow the path implied by market pricing. The programme was designed so that the central bank is indemnified by the Treasury

UK economic activity slowed sharply in July as rising interest rates hit consumer spending and a manufacturing downturn deepened, a closely watched survey has shown. The flash UK PMI services output index, a measure of activity in the sector, fell to a six-month low of 51.3, according to new data released on Monday. Meanwhile the

UK banks have handed more of the benefits of interest rate rises to savers than their counterparts in Europe or the US, as politicians, regulators and clients push for a greater share of the haul. Global banks are coming under pressure to pass on the benefits of higher interest rates to their customers — but

The message of Thursday’s three UK by-elections was muddied somewhat by the Conservatives’ success in clinging on to the seat Boris Johnson vacated in outer London. But it was clear enough: this was a disastrous night for the Tories. Striking swings to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in northern and south-west England respectively confirm that

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives have narrowly held on to the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat in an unexpected UK parliamentary by-election result but were poised to lose two other seats in a night of political drama. Sunak’s ruling party retained the London seat vacated by former premier Boris Johnson by fewer than 500 votes, but the

One of the UK’s biggest offshore wind farm projects has been halted due to rising costs, a major blow to the UK government as it tries to encourage more investment in renewable power to meet net zero targets. Swedish energy group Vattenfall said it had halted development of its planned Norfolk Boreas wind farm after costs

Goldman Sachs has slumped to its lowest quarterly profit in three years, as a costly retreat from consumer banking deepened the pain of the industry-wide slowdown in deals and trading. Net income plunged by almost two-thirds to $1.1bn in the second quarter, down from $2.8bn a year earlier, Goldman said on Wednesday. The Wall Street

Morgan Stanley’s net profit fell 13 per cent during the second quarter, as chief executive James Gorman’s wealth management drive failed to offset declines in trading.  For the second quarter, Morgan Stanley reported net income to shareholders of $2.2bn, down from $2.5bn a year earlier and in line with analysts’ estimates, according to data compiled

Microsoft will next week face its first formal EU antitrust investigation in 15 years over claims the US tech giant is unfairly tying its video conferencing app Teams with its popular Office software. The push from the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, comes after Microsoft’s concessions to appease competition concerns proved insufficient, four people

Global companies are accelerating their push to decouple China data in response to the country’s increasingly stringent data and anti-espionage laws, as relations between Washington and Beijing deteriorate. The drive for full localisation of data in China and separation of information technology systems from the rest of the world is happening as Beijing strengthens its

Three of the largest US banks reported a surge in profits from charging more for loans, as the Federal Reserve’s series of interest rate rises fattened their bottom lines. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo collectively earned $49bn in net interest income in the second quarter, the difference between what the banks pay for deposits

JPMorgan Chase said earnings from its lending business would continue to increase this year on the back of higher interest rates as the largest US bank reported a jump in profits in the second quarter. The group said on Friday that net income had jumped 67 per cent year on year to $14.47bn, ahead of

Rishi Sunak on Thursday accepted in full the recommendations of independent pay review bodies to give key public sector workers wage rises of about 6.5 per cent, telling trade unions to call off strikes now. The prime minister agreed the awards for 2023-24 after talks with chancellor Jeremy Hunt, when he was reassured they could

Andrew Bailey has called on UK banks to pass on higher interest rates to savers, as the Bank of England concluded that the country’s top eight lenders are sufficiently resilient to withstand a severe economic downturn. Speaking after the latest stress tests on banks’ capacity to weather potential catastrophes, the BoE governor said lenders were

Nato leaders are set to declare they are prepared for Ukraine to ultimately join the military alliance, in a carefully hedged statement that drew immediate condemnation from Kyiv for its lack of a firm timeframe. A draft of a summit communique under discussion on Tuesday pledges to “extend an invitation” to Ukraine to join the

Thames Water has fallen short of its goal of raising £1bn of urgent funding, instead securing conditional agreement from its shareholders to inject £750mn of new equity. The troubled UK utility said on Monday its investors had agreed to provide the £750mn by April 2025 if certain conditions were met. These include a business plan