FT News Briefing

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Tuesday that he’s running for re-election, UBS could lose customers as a result of its takeover of Credit Suisse, and the French luxury group LVMH became the first European company to hit a $500bn market value. Mentioned in this podcast: Biden prepares to take his case for a second term to American voters Hunt admits UK business taxes are too high...

Santander is trying to poach some of Credit Suisse’s most senior investment bankers, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak looks to establish calm after deputy prime minister Domic Raab resigned last week, American dollar stores have to adjust for the age of inflation and UK therapist are pushing back on US mental health platform.  Mentioned in this podcast: Santander moves to hire some of Credit Sui...

There’s been a lot of big finance and economics news in 2023. Whether it's stories about rising interest rates, tech industry layoffs or bank runs, it can almost feel like you need an MBA just to make sense of it all. That’s why the Financial Times is launching a bonus series called Behind the Money: Night School.  Over the next five weeks, this show will help you understand the concepts behi...

Regional banks across the US have largely stopped the massive outflow of deposits after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, investors representing $4.5bn of wiped-out Credit Suisse bonds have filed a lawsuit against Switzerland’s banking regulator, and the FT’s Brooke Masters argues the US court battle over regulator approval of an abortion pill could have a chilling effect on the country’s pharm...

Natural gas consumption in the EU fell almost 18 per cent in the past eight months, Ukraine will plead for urgent shipments of surface-to-air missiles at a meeting of its western allies on Friday, and Germany looks ready to legalise recreational cannabis use.  Mentioned in this podcast: EU gas usage falls 18% after price shock caused by Russian supply cuts Military briefing: Ukraine pleads fo...

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox has agreed to pay $787.5mn to settle a landmark defamation case , Bank of America emerged from banking turmoil with higher first-quarter profits, China’s latest GDP numbers show the economy is rebounding from one of its worst years in decades, and lawmakers and activists from across the political spectrum have come out against efforts in western countries to ban or curb TikTok...

Apple and Goldman Sachs launched a new savings account with an interest rate more than 10 times the national average, a Chinese genetics company said it would press ahead with US expansion as it tries to distance itself from its former parent company, and the FT’s David Pilling explains what’s at stake in the conflict in Sudan.  Mentioned in this podcast: Apple and Goldman offer US savings ac...

Companies have committed more than $200bn to US manufacturing projects since Congress passed sweeping subsidies last year, one of Charles Schwab’s largest investors sold its entire $1.4bn stake in the brokerage giant during last month’s banking turmoil, Turkish voters head to the polls next month and are losing faith in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Poland and Hungary halt Ukraine grain impo...

In the final episode of this Tech Tonic series, we hear how radical quantum ideas are reshaping our fundamental understanding of the universe. Nobel Prize winner Anton Zeilinger tells the FT’s Madhumita Murgia about the future of teleportation and the quantum internet; quantum computing pioneer David Deutsch makes the case for the theory that we live in a multiverse; and FT innovation editor John...

BP has started pumping crude through a new $9bn offshore platform as it slows its transition out of fossil fuels, global equities have recovered from the banking crisis but risks remain, and experts are sounding the alarm over the latest version of Open AI’s artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. Mentioned in this podcast: BP commits to Gulf of Mexico as $9bn platform comes online OpenAI’s red t...

Donald Trump is suing his former lawyer Michael Cohen, an uptick in core prices in the US is keeping pressure on the Federal Reserve to push ahead with another interest rate rise in May, and a study shows 91 of the poorest countries will spend an average of more than 16 per cent of their revenue on foreign debt repayments.  Mentioned in this podcast: Donald Trump sues former lawyer Michael Co...

EY has scrapped plans to break up its audit and consulting businesses, the IMF has warned the global economy could be in for a “hard landing”, and the European aviation industry estimates it will cost more than €800bn to reach its net zero goals. Mentioned in this podcast: EY scraps break-up plan after months of internal dissent IMF warns of ‘hard landing’ for global economy if inflation pers...

Companies on the S&P 500 index are expected to report a 6.8 per cent decline in first-quarter earnings, Eli Lilly’s CEO told the Financial Times that Europe may miss out on new drugs if it pushes ahead with legislation reducing the time period for market exclusivity, and Russians are in a new era of fear and distrust as President Vladimir Putin’s regime encourages citizens to inform o...

China’s financial sector is reeling from a series of new corruption probes and the FT’s Middle East correspondent, Raya Jalabi, explains how Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad gained so much power and influence.  Mentioned in this podcast: China’s financial sector rocked by expansion of anti-corruption drive Syria’s state capture: the rising influence of Mrs Assad The FT News Briefing is produce...

Quantum computers aren’t the only form of groundbreaking technology that use quantum physics. Madhumita Murgia hears from Dr. Margot Taylor, neuroscience researcher at The Hospital for Sick Children, who’s using quantum sensors to unpick the mystery of how autism first appears in the brain And we speak to Matthew Brookes, physics professor at Nottingham university in the UK, who helped b...

Brands keep spending on TikTok despite a threat by the US to ban the social media app, KKR is looking to buy a large stake in FGS Global, and Ukraine says it’s “ready” to talk to Russia about the Crimean peninsula if Kyiv’s counteroffensive succeeds. Plus, the FT’s Anjli Raval examines whether boomerang chief executives actually work out for their companies.  Mentioned in this podcast: Brands...

Former US president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges in court on Tuesday, Credit Suisse held its last annual general meeting, and shareholders at HSBC rail over the company’s decision to buy Silicon Valley Bank’s UK business.  Mentioned in this podcast: Donald Trump pleads not guilty to criminal charges in New York Credit Suisse chair apologises to investors at bank’s fina...

The president of the European Commission has called on Beijing to play a “constructive” role in bringing peace to Ukraine, EY has been banned from taking on any new listed audit clients in Germany for two years, and the makers of popular plagiarism detection software are launching a tool that also detects if essays are created using artificial intelligence chatbots. Plus the FT’s Polina Ivanova ta...

Former President Donald Trump will turn himself in to New York prosecutors on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia and other members of the Opec+ group announced surprise production cuts of more than 1mn barrels a day, and China’s President is urging an increasingly assertive stance on the world stage and this year urged cadres at a key meeting in Beijing to “dare to fight.”  Mentioned in this podcast: Oil...

The Port of Los Angeles is one of the world’s busiest — and most inefficient. It’s now using an early quantum computing application to help solve its logistical bottlenecks.  Has it made a difference? The FT’s John Thornhill investigates. We hear from truck drivers at the Port of Los Angeles ; Matt Schrap, CEO of the Harbor Trucking Association; SavantX co-founder Ed Heinbockel, who helped br...

Donald Trump has been indicted in what is the first criminal charges against a former US president in the country’s history, Ukraine’s deputy economy minister Oleksandr Gryban speaks to Marc Filippino about investing in Ukraine’s post-war economy, and the FT has published a video of its investigation into North Korean oil smuggling networks.  Mentioned in this podcast: Donald Trump indicted o...

Social media giant Meta is deliberating a company-wide ban on political advertising in Europe, crypto exchange Binance hid substantial links to China, and UBS is bringing back Sergio Ermotti to lead the bank as it integrates Credit Suisse. Plus, the FT’s Eleanor Olcott explains why China’s ecommerce giant Alibaba is splitting into six business units.   Mentioned in this podcast: Meta bos...

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon will testify about his bank’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the Middle East is enjoying an IPO boom, China has expanded its bailout lending as its Belt and Road Initiative falters, and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged with bribery.  Mentioned in this podcast: JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon to be deposed in Epstein lawsuits  Middle East on ‘radar’ o...

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed a bitterly contested judicial overhaul, the first consignment of German Leopard 2 tanks has reached Ukraine, and shares of First Citizens Bank surged nearly 50 per cent on Monday morning following news it would buy much of the failed Silicon Valley Bank.  Mentioned in this podcast: Netanyahu partner says reforms that have roiled Israel t...

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity are the biggest winners from investors pouring cash into US money market funds over the past two weeks, senior EU and UK officials have stepped up discussions on potential plans for closer defence and security co-operation, the London Metal Exchange has found bags full of stones at one of its warehouses instead of the nickel they were supposed to contain...