FT News Briefing

Twitter experienced an unprecedented hack on Wednesday when bitcoin scammers sent a series of tweets from hundreds of accounts, Opec and Russia move to start unwinding the record oil supply cuts agreed earlier this year, and the US has threatened to impose sanctions on any companies helping Russia to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Plus, the EU’s second-highest court rejected a European Comm...

President Donald Trump signed legislation on Tuesday that gives his administration more power to impose sanctions on Chinese officials, the Trump administration reversed its rule that international students would have to return home if they are attending universities with online-only classes, Moderna’s potential Covid-19 vaccine produced immune responses in patients in the early stage trial, and t...

Brussels is planning to pursue low-tax member states over their advantageous corporate tax regimes, California is rolling back its reopening effort due to a surge in Covid-19 cases, and US technology groups and a group of state attorneys-general are joining the battle against a Trump administration rule that requires foreign students to return home if universities move to online-only courses. Plus...

Boris Johnson is set to unveil plans this week to phase Huawei out of the UK’s 5G mobile phone networks, WeWork’s executive chairman tells the Financial Times that the company is on track to have positive cash flow in 2021, and the new head of the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency warns banks about using coronavirus as cover to shut branches or to win permanent concessions from regulato...

US and European banks in Hong Kong are conducting emergency audits of their clients to identify officials and corporates that could face possible US sanctions over the new national security law, the FT reports that Wirecard executive Jan Marsalek touted secret documents about the use of a Russian chemical weapon in the UK as he bragged of ties to intelligence services to ingratiate himself with Lo...

In an interview with the FT, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said that “women are the first victims” of events such as a pandemic and discussed the steps towards recovery. Plus, UK business leaders say that millions of jobs in some of the hardest hit sectors are still at risk despite chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £30bn jobs plan, and the US hits 3m confirmed coronavirus cases.  H...

The US has begun the process of leaving the World Health Organization, the FT reports that international investors bought bonds backed by the crime proceeds of Italy’s most powerful mafia group, and US investment in offshore wind power is predicted to rise to a level that nearly matches spending on offshore oil drilling this decade. Plus, the FT’s Claire Bushey will explain how coronavirus has tri...

Facebook, Google and Twitter have all said they would temporarily block Hong Kong’s authorities from accessing user data despite threats from the government, the US claims its small business bailout programme has kept 51.1 million people in work during the pandemic, and foreign students at US universities and schools will no longer be eligible to stay in the country if their courses move fully onl...

Covid-19 has been a global shock. But will it be a transformative one? In this special edition of the FT News Briefing, the FT’s chief economics commentator, Martin Wolf, explains why the global free market era might soon be coming to an end for western democracies, and why he thinks politics, society and the economy should now revolve around the idea of citizenship.  Read Martin Wolf’s essay...

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is set to ask Brussels for full control over the review of the proposed £31bn merger between Virgin Media and O2, US consumers are expected to spend $710bn online in 2020, and American Airlines says it could have over 20,000 front-line employees more than it needs this autumn to operate its reduced flying schedule. Plus, the unemployment rate for black Am...

US public health experts are warning of a heightened risk of coronavirus transmission during US Independence Day celebrations, EU regulators are asking more questions about Google’s proposed $2.1bn takeover of fitness tracker Fitbit, and the FT’s  James Kynge explains how China’s national security law affects both Hong Kongers and foreigners living in the territory. Plus, the FT’s Judith Evan...

Coronavirus has brought an end to one of the longest waves in mergers and acquisitions history, more than 100 UK company chiefs, entrepreneurs and business groups have written to Boris Johnson warning about the economic damage of a no-deal Brexit, and the FT has revealed that German payments company Wirecard relied on a small number of customers for the majority of its genuine sales according to a...

Wall Street investment banks brought in a record amount of fees for fundraisings in the first six months of 2020 amid coronavirus, UK prime minister Boris Johnson plans to announce £5bn of infrastructure projects today, and Gilead Sciences has said it will charge governments $2,340 for a 5-day course of its coronavirus treatment, remdesivir. Plus, the FT’s Primrose Riordan explains why invest...

American shale pioneer Chesapeake Energy has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and dozens of brands are cancelling advertising on Facebook over the social media company’s handling of hate speech.  Plus, Singapore is luring hedge funds and investors away from other low tax jurisdictions with a new corporate structure. The FT’s Stefania Palma explains how the country is trying to make itself Asi...

Wirecard filed for insolvency on Thursday, days after the German payments group revealed a multiyear fraud that led to the arrest of its former chief executive. The FT’s Dan McCrum has been following Wirecard for the past five years and will upack the company’s current position. Plus, the Federal Reserve has capped dividends and banned share buybacks by big US banks in an attempt to strengthen the...

Global markets dropped on Wednesday as rising Covid-19 cases  fuelled fears that the virus could derail an economic recovery, US airlines increased the size of their debt and equity fundraisings this week to nearly $10bn after receiving a warm welcome from investors, and Bayer will pay up to $10.9bn to settle a wave of lawsuits over the potential carcinogenic effects of its herbicide product...

Wirecard’s founder Markus Braun was arrested on suspicion of false accounting and market manipulation, and the Trump administration has eased Obama-era environmental rules during the pandemic. Plus, the FT’s global finance correspondent, Robin Wigglesworth, will explain why some investors say the Federal Reserve and other central banks have in practice nationalised the bond market with their coron...

Donald Trump is set to extend a suspension of immigration into the US imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and Apple is planning to transition away from Intel chips to an in-house design for processors. Plus, last week Wirecard warned that €1.9bn was missing from its accounts. It confirms reporting by the Financial Times, which has been investigating fraud suspicions at the German paym...

Boris Johnson will hammer out a new plan with senior ministers this week aimed at unblocking talks on Britain’s future relationship with the EU, and the delay of oil and gas projects in Senegal signals the aftershocks from the coronavirus crisis are even hurting economies that have avoided the worst of the pandemic itself. Plus, some economists have suggested the Federal Reserve could target the b...

Executives from drugmaker Insys were the first from the pharmaceutical sector to be handed prison time for their role in America’s opioid epidemic earlier this year. The FT and the PBS series Frontline have investigated why the warning signs around the company were ignored for so long. FT pharmaceutical correspondent Hannah Kuchler tells Marc Filippino what they uncovered. Read the story at ft.com...

The US has suspended talks with European countries on a new global tax framework for technology companies, private equity groups in the US have been on a spending spree despite worldwide lockdowns due to the pandemic, and the bankrupt car rental company Hertz halted its controversial $500m share sale. Plus, the FT’s Seoul bureau chief Edward White explains how Donald Trump’s transactional approach...

Wall Street rallied on expectations of new aid for the US economy from the federal government and central bank, while Royalty Pharma pulled off the biggest US listing of 2020. Plus, protesters are calling to defund police departments in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Alex Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College, explains what this might look like in practice. Hosted on Acast. See acas...

The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that LGBTQ workers are protected by federal civil rights laws in a landmark anti-discrimination decision, and Europe’s young workers are among the hardest hit by a frozen labour market. Plus, the FT’s senior energy correspondent, Anjli Raval, explains why coronavirus has big oil companies, such as BP, pivoting towards clean energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co...

SoftBank has quietly poured more than $500m into Credit Suisse investment funds that in turn made big bets on the debt of struggling start-ups backed by the Vision Fund, the White House is opposed to extending coronavirus-related federal unemployment payments because it believes the measure created a “disincentive” to work, and China is bracing for a second wave of coronavirus. Plus, the FT’s Davi...

Investors in US and European equities were rattled on Thursday after the Federal Reserve’s dire assessment of the US economy and fresh concerns of an uptick in coronavirus cases, and the British government has abandoned its plan to introduce full border checks with the EU on January 1. Plus, the FT’s banking editor, Stephen Morris, unpacks the pressure HSBC is under after backing China’s Hong Kong...