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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK interest rates myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The Bank of England kept rates steady at 5.25 per cent on Thursday as governor Andrew Bailey warned there was “still some way to go” before inflation hit its target. The BoE’s Monetary Policy

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK economy unexpectedly contracted in October, driven by falls in every sector and fuelling concerns that high interest rates could push the country into a downturn. Gross domestic product fell 0.3 per cent between

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Thames Water is facing more than £1bn in debt repayments next year just as MPs heighten their scrutiny of the utility’s financial health. About £1.17bn worth of loans, private placement and bonds are expiring in

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Monetary policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Leading central banks are preparing to push back at investor predictions of how quickly interest rates will fall, as they meet for the final time this year amid strong employment numbers. Investors have been betting

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. China’s state health insurance system has lost tens of millions of subscribers, as higher costs have put one of the world’s largest healthcare schemes out of reach for many people already struggling in a post-pandemic

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s consumer prices fell 0.5 per cent year on year in November, the sharpest decline in three years as the world’s second-largest economy grapples with worsening deflation. Consumer prices dropped by more than the 0.2

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK’s competition regulator has taken the first steps of an investigation into Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI, one of the tech industry’s most lucrative tie-ups. The Competition and Markets Authority on Friday said it

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese business & finance myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Moody’s Investors Service advised staff in China to work from home ahead of its cut to the outlook for the country’s sovereign credit rating, a suggestion staff believed was prompted by concern over

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK ministers are set to pick veteran TV executive Samir Shah as BBC chair to replace Richard Sharp, the former Goldman Sachs banker who resigned this year.  Shah has had a 40-year career in TV

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The head of Airbus has said the group “might need some support” from European governments for a new, multibillion-dollar commercial aircraft programme as it gears up for a successor to its best-selling A320 family of

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The White House has issued a blunt warning that the US is set to run out of funds to aid Ukraine by the end of the year, saying that a failure by Congress to

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Defaults by Chinese borrowers have surged to a record high since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the depth of the country’s economic downturn and the obstacles to a full recovery. A total of

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israeli forces battered targets in densely populated southern Gaza on the second morning of renewed fighting with Palestinian militants on Saturday after a truce broke down. The latest round of hostilities has killed at least

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel’s military has restarted fighting against Hamas in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday, ending a week-long truce that international mediators had hoped to extend to an eighth day. “Hamas violated the operational

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state and national security adviser who helped open up relations with China, usher in a detente with the Soviet Union and end America’s war in Vietnam, has died

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Charlie Munger, the vice-chair of Berkshire Hathaway, died at the age of 99 on Tuesday morning at a California hospital, the US investment conglomerate announced. Warren Buffett, Berkshire’s chief executive, said in a short statement

Barclays is exploring a plan to drop thousands of clients at its investment bank as part of a strategic overhaul that is meant to boost profits and cut £1bn of costs. Barclays executives have met several times this year to thrash out the restructuring, codenamed Minerva after the Roman goddess of wisdom, according to people

Turkey’s exports to Russia of goods vital for Moscow’s war machine have soared this year, heightening concerns among the US and its allies that the country is acting as a conduit for sensitive items from their own manufacturers. The growing trade, and the corresponding rise in imports to Turkey of 45 civilian materials used by

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hamas is expected to release at least a dozen more hostages who are being held in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as a four-day truce stretches into its second day. Israel and Hamas conducted the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Hamas has released 24 hostages who had been held in the Gaza Strip, according to Qatar, as the Palestinian militant group’s truce with Israel took hold. The group were transferred to the International Committee of