FT News Briefing

David Cameron was paid a salary of more than $1m by Greensill Capital, the finance company whose dramatic collapse exposed the former UK prime minister’s extensive lobbying efforts, and US banks will face tough questions about the prospects for their lending operations this week when they report second-quarter earnings, flattered by smaller-than-expected credit losses during the pandemic. Plus, Ma...

The rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus variant is causing concern about Europe’s economic recovery, and the number of start-ups valued above $1bn grew rapidly in the second quarter. Plus, the FT’s EU correspondent, Javier Espinoza, interviews the influential European Union lawmaker who is steering the EU’s flagship tech regulation through Parliament and wants to target the top US tech comp...

The UK’s advertising watchdog says it will clamp down on misleading marketing for crypto investments, and stock markets dropped on Thursday on rising concerns about prospects for the global economy. Plus, the FT’s chief economics commentator, Martin Wolf, picks his top economics summer reads.  UK advertising watchdog to crack down on misleading crypto marketing https://www.ft.com/content/19ad...

Former president Donald Trump is suing Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube, as well as their respective chief executives, in lawsuits alleging “unlawful censorship” of Americans, the new Delta variant of coronavirus is driving up infection rates in countries across the globe, and South Africa’s president has been arrested. Plus, the FT’s private capital correspondent, Kaye Wiggins, explains why...

Didi lost a fifth of its market value after Chinese regulators announced an investigation into the ride-hailing app that last week raised more than $4bn in a New York IPO, the Opec impasse highlights growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon cancels a highly sensitive $10bn cloud contract awarded to Microsoft, and a new report that says Viktor Orban’s governm...

KKR is expanding its operations to target more takeovers in the UK,  ransomware hackers hit more than 1,000 companies in what appears to be one of the largest supply chain attacks to date, and oil prices jumped to the highest level in three years on Monday after oil producers abandoned a decision over increasing oil production. Plus, the FT’s deputy Beijing bureau chief looks at why Chinese r...

As a News Briefing special we present Tech Tonic, our FT audio deep dive into the promises and perils of artificial intelligence.    If you enjoyed this episode, click here to subscribe to Tech Tonic.   Tech Tonic S2 E2: Trust me, I’m a robot What does it mean for AI to augment human perception? In this episode the FT’s Madhumita Murgia takes us to a small village in rural India whe...

The world’s leading economies have signed up to a plan that looks to force multinational companies to pay a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 per cent, economists believe that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by the end of 20-23, and Robinhood is targeting a valuation of $40bn or more ahead of its public offering. Plus, the FT’s Nicolle Liu explains what the closure of the Apple...

Private equity firms have broken a 40-year record with $500bn in deals that helped to propel global mergers and acquisitions activity to an all-time high, and the dominant Chinese ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, became the largest Chinese company since Alibaba to list in the US, and nightmarish fears of traffic jams and clogged ports after Brexit never materialised thanks to several factors.&n...

Today the UK will set out a plan for a simpler, more “nimble” post-Brexit system of state subsidies, and the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi is anticipating a wave of infrastructure spending as it bets on the US market to drive its next phase of growth. Plus, the FT’s private capital correspondent, Kaye Wiggins, investigates the low-profile investors behind the £6.8bn buyout of UK supermarket chain...

A US judge has dismissed two antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, investors are reassessing their conviction in the reflation trade that has captivated Wall Street this year after a hawkish tilt by the US central bank inflicted losses on some fund managers, Binance customers have lost the ability to withdraw and deposit pounds using one of the main UK payments systems. Plus, the FT’s Berlin bureau...

The UK’s financial watchdog has ordered crypto exchange Binance to stop all regulated activities in Britain, and Denmark’s media industry is pioneering a new bargaining tactic to try and make Google and Facebook pay for news. Plus, the FT’s Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson reports that some US companies blame Amazon’s aggressive hiring practices for the current labor shortage.  Financial watchdog ba...

US President Joe Biden has secured a deal on an infrastructure package worth about $1tn to spend on upgrading roads, bridges and broadband networks over the next eight years, and the US Federal Reserve loosened restrictions on dividends and buybacks by America’s biggest banks as it released an analysis showing the lenders could suffer almost $500bn in losses and still easily meet capital requireme...

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com https://www.ft.com/content/eb36b605-47d9-465a-91f8-d47a4af45fae Tech groups in Taiwan are accused of locking up migrant workers as coronavirus hits the sector, and the rapid rise in prices for raw materials has reversed a decades-long decline in the cost of solar energy. Plus, our global finance correspondent, Robin Wigglesworth, explains how financial m...

House prices have set records in the US and parts of Europe, and the artificial intelligence-based drug-discovery platform Insilico has raised more than $255m from investors. Plus, the deputy head of the FT’s Lex column, Elaine Moore, explains why Instagram is struggling to stay relevant in today's social media landscape.  House prices climb to record levels in US and Europe https://www.ft.co...

The head of the US Food and Drug Administration is under fire after approving a controversial Alzheimer’s drug, a Covid outbreak at a Chinese port has further disrupted global shipping, and the Tokyo Olympics will have limited spectators when the games begin next month. Plus, the FT’s US sports business correspondent, Sara Germano, explains the US Supreme Court ruling in favour of student athletes...

Reflation trade has been pummelled after the Federal Reserve unexpectedly signalled a shift in its stance on inflation, and, European Central Bank executive Fabio Panetta says the introduction of a digital euro would boost consumers’ privacy. Plus, the FT’s innovation editor, John Thornhill, talks about the new season of the Tech Tonic podcast and its main focus, artificial intelligence.  Ref...

The premium above super-safe US Treasuries that investors demand to buy risky corporate debt has dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade, and tensions between Hong Kong and Taiwan threaten one of the region’s most important trade and investment relationships. Plus, the FT’s race and equalities correspondent, Taylor Nicole Rogers, explains why some black Americans take a dim view of Ameri...

Federal Reserve officials expect to start raising US interest rates in 2023, Toshiba’s latest corporate crisis is a scandal over efforts to thwart activist shareholders, and the appointment of 32-year-old Big Tech critic, Lina Khan, as chair of the US Federal Trade Commission signals tougher antitrust enforcement.  Fed signals first rate rise will come in 2023 https://www.ft.com/content/0bf83...

The Tokyo Olympic Games will need a public bailout of about $800m if spectators are banned, and the end of the interminable EU and US struggle over aircraft subsidies marks a major truce in what seemed an intractable trade conflict. Plus, the FT’s global technology correspondent, Tim Bradshaw, spoke to world wide web founder Tim Berners-Lee about his decision to auction off the original sourc...

The world’s longest undersea electric cable, between the UK and Norway, is set to be switched on this week, the US Federal Reserve could begin discussions this week about shrinking its $120bn monthly asset purchase scheme, and Nato leaders issue a warning about China’s military ambitions. Plus, the FT’s Europe editor, Ben Hall, previews US president Joe Biden’s first meeting with Russian president...

Israel’s parliament has voted in a new government, ending rightwing stalwart and five-time premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year grip on power, South Korean shipbuilders and sea freight companies will seek to raise billions of dollars via stock market listings in the second half of 2021 as the industries enjoy a global trade rebound, leaders of the G7 countries back a western rival to China’s Belt...

Leaders of the G7 economies convening in the UK will announce a pledge to provide 1bn coronavirus doses to poorer countries as part of plan to “vaccinate the world” by the end of 2022, US government bonds shrug off leap in inflation, global regulators are calling for cryptocurrencies to carry the toughest bank capital rules of any asset, and iconic British department store group Selfridges has&nbs...

Today’s report on US consumer prices is expected to show that prices further accelerated in May, US president Joe Biden will use this week’s G7 summit to encourage allies to join Washington’s tougher stance towards Beijing, and Olympic sponsors worry if being associated with the games will damage their brand. Plus, the FT’s Eva Szalay interviews a market insider who says popular trading platforms...

Joe Biden’s plan to overhaul the international tax system will face a difficult passage through the US Congress as Republicans threaten to vote down a prospective deal, and millions of internet users lost access to major sites yesterday due to a configuration error at a Silicon Valley internet infrastructure provider, Fastly. Plus, more than 800 people around the world have been arrested in a...