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The IMF has slashed its global growth forecasts and raised its projections for inflation, warning that the risks to the economic outlook are “overwhelmingly tilted to the downside”. The downgraded estimates, released on Tuesday, come as the world grapples with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prolonged disruptions caused by the pandemic and rapidly

German business confidence has fallen to its lowest level for more than two years in the latest sign that Europe’s largest economy is teetering on the brink of recession. Companies across Germany became more gloomy about both their current situation and the outlook for the next six months, according to the Ifo Institute’s closely watched

China is preparing a system to sort US-listed Chinese companies into groups based on the sensitivity of the data they hold, in a potential concession by Beijing to try to stop American regulators from delisting hundreds of groups. The system is designed to bring some Chinese companies into compliance with US rules that require public

Ukraine accused Russia of firing missiles at its key grain exporting port of Odesa on Saturday, a day after Moscow signed a deal allowing Kyiv to resume grain exports in a bid to alleviate the growing global food crisis. Two Kalibr cruise missiles hit Odesa’s port and two others were shot down by Ukrainian air

UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has indicated that Britain’s next prime minister will need to rule on Tata Group’s request for £1.5bn in government subsidies to safeguard the future of its Port Talbot steelworks. Kwarteng’s allies say the minister wants to help steelmakers including Tata, owner of the UK’s largest steelworks, to decarbonise the sector,

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates by half a percentage point — its first increase for more than a decade — while pledging to prevent rising borrowing costs from sparking a eurozone debt crisis amid political turmoil in Italy. The ECB said in a press release after its governing council met in Frankfurt

The rate of UK inflation rose to a fresh 40-year high of 9.4 per cent in June as sharp rises in food and petrol prices drove the rate towards double digits for the first time since 1982. The UK’s rate was again the highest among the G7 group of large advanced economies even before recent

UK private sector pay grew almost five times as fast as public sector workers’ remuneration in the year to May, according to official data released as ministers prepare to sign off on real-terms wage cuts for teachers, doctors and NHS staff. The figures, showing total pay growth of 7.2 per cent in the private sector

Goldman Sachs has reported a 47 per cent drop in second-quarter profits, as the Wall Street giant suffered from a slowdown in investment banking fees and plummeting revenues in asset management. In second-quarter earnings, Goldman reported on Monday net income of $2.9bn or $7.73 per share, down from $5.5bn or $15.02 per share in the

A string of big rate rises by the Federal Reserve has put pressure on central banks around the world to follow suit to counter soaring inflation and the strong dollar. A Financial Times analysis found that central banks are now, more than at any other time this century, opting for large rate rises of 50

The dramatic spikes in oil and mineral prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have distracted investors from the long-lasting and more dangerous impact of food inflation, BlackRock founder Larry Fink has warned. “The one thing I worry about that we don’t talk enough about is food,” he told the Financial Times. “This isn’t just an

China’s economy narrowly escaped a contraction in the second quarter as the fallout from President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy stoked expectations that Beijing would inject hundreds of billions of dollars of stimulus to shore up growth. The world’s second-biggest economy expanded 0.4 per cent year on year in the three months to the end of

Celsius Network, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency lenders, has filed for bankruptcy, following a wave of digital asset companies that have frozen assets and entered restructuring amid a sharp sell-off in cryptocurrencies this year. The Hoboken, New Jersey-based company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in federal court in New York comes roughly a month after

When Daniel Leon, one of the founders of Celsius Network, posted a Twitter video addressed to Warren Buffett in January 2021, he was in high spirits. The price of bitcoin was rocketing and Celsius, the crypto lender he had founded in 2017 with Alex Mashinsky, was riding the boom. “Warren, Warren, Warren,” Leon began with

Let’s say you have a hunch. Tesla shares will soar in August. Gold prices will drop next week. The New York Yankees game on Thursday will be a slugfest. US gasoline will be $5 a gallon on July 31. Are these grounds for a financial investment or a bar wager? These days, it’s hard to

Penny Mordaunt, the dark horse in the Conservative leadership campaign, has launched her bid to become prime minister with a promise to return to old Tory themes of “low tax, a small state and personal responsibility” as the increasingly contentious contest approaches the voting stage. Just hours before Tory MPs’ first-round vote on Wednesday, Mordaunt,

The race to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader is under way, as eight contenders compete for the backing of Tory MPs to make the final shortlist of two that will be voted on by party members. The eight received the nominations required to be on the ballot when Conservative MPs begin voting on Wednesday.

Set against Gustav Holst’s hymn ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’, with union jacks and a deep-voiced narrator, the message of Penny Mordaunt’s campaign launch video for the Conservative party leadership was pure patriotism. While Mordaunt’s film was derided on social media for its clichéd imagery, it appealed to the hearts of Tory members. One

One of the leading contenders to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister has said he will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest, as other Conservative MPs prepare to launch their campaigns. Defence secretary Ben Wallace was the favourite among the Tory grassroots, with a net approval rating of +86 among party members according to

Rishi Sunak, who quit as Boris Johnson’s chancellor this week, launched his bid to lead the Conservative party on Friday with a pledge that he will avoid “comforting fairy tales”. His video to launch his campaign appeared a coded attack on what many MPs have seen as the prime minister’s Panglossian approach to policy. “Someone