The pace of China’s economic recovery rose modestly in the second quarter after signs of sluggishness in the world’s second-biggest economy stoked expectations of greater policy support. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China’s gross domestic product expanded 1.3 per cent in the three months to the end of June, up from a 0.4 per cent expansion
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When Giancarlo Devasini first got into cryptocurrencies in 2012, his interests were distinctly small-time. He piped up on a popular Bitcoin forum to ask if anyone wanted to buy DVDs or CDs for 0.01 bitcoin each, then roughly 11 cents, promising free shipping for bulk orders. Today, the 57-year-old is one of the most influential
Credit Suisse has lost ground to rival banks in winning new business for its prime brokerage unit this year after suffering a $5.5bn loss on credit extended to Bill Hwang’s Archegos family office and pledging to scale back risk. The bank has won about 2.5 per cent of new hedge fund clients served by prime
The rate of Covid-19 vaccinations reported in the US rose for a fifth straight day, stemming a slide that had brought daily inoculations to levels last seen in January. The US budget deficit has exceeded $2tn in the first eight months of the fiscal year on the back of stimulus spending, however a change in
Europe’s top banking regulator is pushing Deutsche Bank to find a successor to chair Paul Achleitner, who will leave in May 2022 when his second five-year term expires. The European Central Bank has repeatedly urged Germany’s largest lender to come forward with a clear succession plan in recent months, people briefed on the matter told
Luxembourgish is considered an endangered language by Unesco. It is almost only spoken in the Duchy of Luxembourg, a statelet with a population of 600,000, equivalent to the city of Baltimore. So bringing a drama in this language to the screen — any screen — might appear a supremely quixotic pursuit. But Claude Waringo tried.
The private capital industry has grown to more than $7tn thanks to demand for higher-returning but pricey and opaque strategies, spurring the likes of Schroders and JPMorgan to launch new divisions and sending others on the prowl for acquisitions. Although still dwarfed by the traditional asset management industry — which primarily invests in mainstream, public
The Biden administration is considering an investigation into whether imports of rare earth magnets made largely in China pose a national security threat that could warrant the imposition of tariffs. The White House said the commerce department would examine whether to probe neodymium magnets, which are used to manufacture everything from smartphones to electric vehicle
Bill Ackman has already once tried — and failed — to redefine the Spac. Now he is trying again. The hedge fund manager’s special purpose acquisition company, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, which raised $4bn last year, was not just the largest blank-cheque vehicle ever launched. It did away with some of the perks for founders,
The surge of trading in offbeat stocks is duping inexperienced investors in to high costs and a battle with Wall Street that they cannot win, according to the founder of one of the largest trading firms in the world. Zero-commission trading helps to build an illusion that amateur investors have never had it better, Alex
Brussels has warned that it is ready to intensify retaliation against the UK if Boris Johnson further postpones applying the two sides’ deal on Northern Ireland, in another sign of strained relations ahead of talks this week. EU Brexit commissioner Maros Sefcovic, writing in the Daily Telegraph, warned that “unilateral action” by the UK to
Americans love pick-up trucks. Carmakers hope they will get a jolt of excitement from electric ones too. When Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning last month, it became the latest US carmaker to unveil a product to compete in a segment that comprised about 20 per cent of the US auto market’s 14.4m sales in 2020.
Narendra Modi, Indian prime minister, has announced that his government will offer Covid-19 vaccines to all citizens for free, reversing a much-derided policy requiring India’s states to buy their own jabs at higher prices. India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has for weeks been battling a severe shortage of jabs. Thousands of British tourists are
Europe risks falling behind the US and China in efforts to decarbonise unless it legislates for a radical expansion of renewable energy, said leaders of the bloc’s chemicals and wind power industries. This would require a shake-up of national planning rules, and greater coherence in energy investment across the EU, according to Martin Brudermüller, chair
Biogen’s decision to price its newly approved Alzheimer’s treatment at $56,000-a-year has reignited the debate over the high cost of drugs in the US, the world’s largest and most profitable healthcare market. Shortly after securing US approval on Monday for the first new Alzheimer’s medicine in almost two decades, the Massachusetts-based biotech group announced a
Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a rare commodity in the modern resources industry: a high-grade copper mine that one day could produce enough metal to satisfy more than 5 per cent of China’s annual demand. Surrounded by small villages, the mine employs around 7,000 workers and has its own road for trucks
Thousands of websites went offline for almost an hour on Tuesday morning, including several of the world’s largest news sites, streaming services, online retailers and even the UK government, disrupting millions of internet users. Connectivity problems lasting almost an hour appeared to affect news sites including the BBC, New York Times and FT.com, streaming services
Russia has agreed to release $500m in credit to Belarus and look to increase the number of flights between the two countries as the Kremlin doubled down on its support for Alexander Lukashenko after his forced landing of a passenger flight that has sparked western condemnation. Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted Lukashenko in Sochi on
The US has moved to punish Belarus for the forced landing of a Ryanair flight last weekend by announcing that it would reimpose sanctions on nine of the country’s state-owned companies and would join the EU in developing a list of additional targets. In a statement late on Friday, Jen Psaki, the White House press
A US inflation measure closely watched by the Federal Reserve posted its biggest year-on-year jump since the 1990s in April, rising more than expected and fuelling concerns about price increases. The commerce department’s core personal consumption expenditure index, which strips out volatile food and energy costs, rose 3.1 per cent last month compared to a