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About £75mn of assets linked to Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband have been frozen or restrained by court order as the pair face a National Crime Agency investigation into alleged PPE fraud. The court order seen by the Financial Times covers assets including a six-bedroom Belgravia townhouse, a country estate on the Isle

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. US gross domestic product grew at an annualised rate of 3.3 per cent during the final quarter of last year, capping off a stronger-than-anticipated 2023 for the world’s largest economy. While the fourth-quarter rate was

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The French government is pressing the UK to help plug a multibillion-pound hole in the budget of nuclear power projects being built in Britain by France’s electricity operator EDF. The call for a contribution from

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Financial Times had only nice things to say about Benito Mussolini in a June 1933 supplement entitled “The Renaissance of Italy: Fascism’s gift of order and progress”. Trains were running on time, investment was

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Donald Trump will win the New Hampshire Republican primary, the Associated Press projected on Tuesday night, cementing his frontrunner status and raising questions about whether Nikki Haley would end her bid for the White House.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK government borrowed much less than expected in December, in a boost to chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s plans to cut taxes ahead of this year’s expected general election. Public sector borrowing fell to £7.8bn last

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US and UK launched another round of joint air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday, the second time that Britain has been directly involved in the military action targeting the Iran-backed rebel

A week ago in Iowa, Ron DeSantis scathingly described how Donald Trump was forcing Republican politicians to “kiss the ring” of the former president in order to earn his praise and avoid public humiliation. But on Sunday afternoon the Florida governor wasted no time in bowing down to Trump, endorsing him as he exited the

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Hedge funds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The world’s most successful hedge funds made their biggest profits on record last year as punchy bets on stock markets paid off when share prices surged. The top 20 managers made profits for investors of

A third of UK universities saw a decline in overseas non-EU applicants in 2023, almost twice as many as the previous year, according to a Financial Times analysis of data from the university admissions service. The cooling of international demand for a swath of British higher education institutions came as overall non-EU applications grew 3.6

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Hedge funds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Assets managed by the Chinese operations of Bridgewater and Two Sigma surged as the US hedge funds outperformed their local peers during the market turbulence of last year. Bridgewater China Investment Management, the local arm

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Until this week, the UK economy looked increasingly set for a smooth “soft landing”, with inflation dropping sharply and early signs of growth picking up. But data releases in the past few days have added

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is set to be handed a multibillion-pound boost by official forecasters next week, paving the way for a package of pre-election tax cuts. Leading economists predict that lower UK borrowing costs could give Hunt significantly more fiscal headroom in his March 6 Budget, paving the way for income tax cuts or further

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Private equity myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Private equity executives are predicting a sharp increase in takeover activity as buyout firms that have held on to investments in the hope of higher prices finally begin to capitulate. There has been a marked

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signalled he wants to cut taxes further in the coming months and left open the possibility of holding two Budgets ahead of this year’s general election. Hunt said on Thursday

Bobby Jain’s new hedge fund is falling short of its original $8bn-$10bn fundraising target, thwarting his ambition for the industry’s largest-ever debut. The Credit Suisse veteran and former co-chief investment officer of Millennium Management has told potential clients he is now aiming to launch Jain Global in July with $5bn-$6bn of assets, according to investors.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. European stocks and bonds fell after European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde signalled that interest rates would come down in summer rather than spring and UK inflation rose unexpectedly for the first time in 10

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. UK inflation unexpectedly accelerated in December raising questions over how soon the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates. Consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 4 per cent in December, up from

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Two deputy Conservative party chairs quit on Tuesday as Rishi Sunak suffered the biggest revolt of his premiership, with 60 rebel Tory MPs attempting to force him to toughen up his Rwanda legislation. Lee Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Donald Trump is expected to win the first ballot of the 2024 presidential race, as voters in Iowa gather on Monday night for caucuses that will set the pace for the Republican campaign for the