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US corporate bonds sold by low-rated companies have slumped in price, signalling lenders’ intensifying worries that scorching inflation and higher interest rates are beginning to hit borrowers most vulnerable to an economic downturn. Bonds assigned a triple C rating or below, the lowest rung on the ratings ladder, have posted a negative return of 2.8

Lawyers filed a multimillion pound claim on Friday against administrators of the collapsed fund of Neil Woodford, the fallen star of British stock picking, in an attempt to recoup heavy losses of hundreds of thousands of savers. It marks the third anniversary of the suspension of the Woodford Equity Income Fund, which managed £3.7bn when

Opec and its allies on Thursday agreed to accelerate oil production in July and August, as the cartel’s linchpin Saudi Arabia bowed to US pressure to cool a crude price rally that has threatened to stall the global economy. The cartel said it would increase output by almost 650,000 barrels a day in both months,

JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon on Wednesday warned investors to brace themselves for an economic “hurricane” as the war in Ukraine and policy tightening by the Federal Reserve roil markets. Dimon struck a gloomier tone on the economic outlook than in remarks he made just last week during JPMorgan’s first investor day in two

The UK and EU have agreed a co-ordinated ban on insuring ships carrying Russian oil, shutting Moscow out of the vital Lloyd’s of London insurance market and sharply curbing its ability to export crude, according to British and European officials. Lloyd’s has been the heart of the marine insurance industry for centuries and blocking its

The US chipmaker Qualcomm wants to buy a stake in Arm alongside its rivals and create a consortium that would maintain the UK chip designer’s neutrality in the highly competitive semiconductor market. Japanese conglomerate SoftBank plans to list Arm on the New York Stock Exchange after Nvidia’s $66bn purchase collapsed earlier this year. However, the

Central banks are raising rates rapidly in the most widespread tightening of monetary policy for more than two decades, according to a Financial Times analysis that lays bare the reversal of their previous historically loose stance. Policymakers around the world have announced more than 60 increases in current key interest rates in the past three

Emerging market bonds are suffering their worst losses in almost three decades, hit by rising global interest rates, slowing growth and the war in Ukraine. The benchmark index of dollar-denominated EM sovereign bonds, the JPMorgan EMBI Global Diversified, has delivered total returns of around minus 15 per cent so far in 2022, its worst start

EY is exploring a public listing or partial sale of its global advisory business as part of the most radical transformation of a Big Four accountancy firm in two decades, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. A stake sale or listing would raise the prospect of a massive windfall for EY’s existing

EY is working on a split of its audit and advisory operations worldwide in the biggest shake-up of a Big Four accounting firm in two decades, according to three people with knowledge of the plans. The proposal, which is still being thrashed out among EY’s upper echelons, is a bold attempt to escape the conflicts

Federal Reserve officials discussed the possibility of moving the US central bank to a “restrictive” policy stance that would better fight inflation through more aggressive interest rate increases, but worried that this could undermine the strong recovery in the jobs market.  According to minutes of the most recent FOMC meeting held in early May, most

Shares in some of Britain’s biggest power companies fell sharply on Tuesday as Rishi Sunak drew up plans for a windfall tax on the energy sector to help offset spiralling domestic fuel bills. The chancellor is rushing to complete an emergency energy package to offer relief to households struggling with a spiralling cost of living

The energy shock sparked by the war in Ukraine has shown the need to overhaul green energy transition plans and maintain investment in oil and gas production, according to Saudi Aramco’s chief executive. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Amin Nasser said under-investment in hydrocarbon projects, that are intended to

A three-decade golden era for globalisation risks going into reverse according to company executives and investors, as world leaders prepare to meet in the Swiss town of Davos for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began. The geopolitical fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine, combined with the disruption to global supply chains caused by

The EU’s decision to suspend its deficit and debt rules for an extra year is not an excuse for member states to persist with loose spending policies, Germany’s finance minister Christian Lindner has said, in a call for more fiscal discipline. “The fact that member states are now able to deviate from the Stability and

Global stocks rallied at the end of a turbulent week after China unveiled fresh stimulus measures to fight a growth slowdown in the world’s biggest emerging market. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 share index rose 1.5 per cent and London’s FTSE 100 gained 1.8 per cent. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 3 per

Boris Johnson will not be issued with further fines over his involvement in the “partygate” scandal, Downing Street confirmed on Thursday, as the Metropolitan Police announced the end of its probe into the affair. The Met said it had made 126 referrals for fixed-penalty notices in its investigation into parties in Downing Street and Whitehall

Turkey has blocked Nato’s initial decision to process requests by Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance, throwing into doubt the hopes for a quick accession of the two Nordic countries. Nato ambassadors met on Wednesday with the aim of opening accession talks on the same day that Finland and Sweden submitted their applications

Twitter said it plans to enforce the $44bn takeover agreement with Elon Musk, just hours after the Tesla boss declared the purchase “cannot move forward” unless the social media company can certify the number of fake accounts. The San Francisco-based group made the comments in a detailed filing on Tuesday, outlining the whirlwind weeks in

Andrew Bailey sought to defend the Bank of England’s control of inflation on Monday, with the governor telling MPs that criticism of the central bank relied significantly on “hindsight”. In a hearing at the Treasury Committee of the House of Commons, Bailey acknowledged that with inflation likely to have hit a 40-year high of 9