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The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point to 4.75 per cent on Thursday, with increasing calls for tougher action to fight persistent high inflation. Headline inflation stuck at 8.7 per cent in May, according to worse than expected data on Wednesday, with core inflation — which excludes volatile

Corporate America is feeling the pinch from the slowdown in Wall Street’s $1.4tn market for junk-rated loans, with a growing list of companies forced either to pay more or abandon borrowing plans. Borrowers have been hit by shifts in the market for collateralised loan obligations, or CLOs, the investment vehicles that own roughly two-thirds of

UBS faces hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties over Credit Suisse’s mishandling of Archegos Capital after Swiss, US and UK regulators completed their investigations into the affair, according to people with knowledge of the probes. Credit Suisse, whose takeover by rival UBS was completed last week, suffered the biggest trading loss in its 167-year

AstraZeneca has drawn up plans to break out its China business and list it separately in Hong Kong as a way to shelter the company against mounting geopolitical tensions. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker began discussing the idea with bankers several months ago and is among a growing number of multinational companies now considering that option, according

In a week where the entire nation has been gripped by interest rate panic, the loudest voices in the room are those of the mortgage bores. Every workplace, family and social circle has one. Been prattling on about how you signed up for a 10-year fix at a smidgen over 1 per cent long before

UK households that come to the end of fixed-rate mortgage deals next year face an average £2,900 increase in annual payments, putting Rishi Sunak under pressure to defuse an election-year time bomb. The estimated increase in payments by the Resolution Foundation think-tank reflects concern that the UK has a worse inflation problem than other countries

Boris Johnson, Britain’s former prime minister, has been condemned for lying to parliament over the Covid “partygate” scandal, in a damning report that casts doubt on whether he can ever stage a political comeback. The report by a cross-party committee of MPs published on Thursday is a searing indictment of Johnson’s conduct in high office,

Boris Johnson will be found to have committed “multiple” contempts of parliament in a report by MPs into his conduct as prime minister during the partygate scandal, according to people close to the inquiry. The House of Commons privileges committee is set to publish its long-awaited report about Johnson on Thursday morning following a 14-month

Gilt yields surged to the highest since 2008, surpassing the level reached during the turmoil following Liz Truss’s mini Budget, after strong UK wage growth data on Tuesday. Wage growth accelerated in the three months to April against a backdrop of rising employment, raising the likelihood of further interest rate rises. Two-year gilt yields rose

MPs will grill top executives from the UK financial watchdog next month over the regulator’s handling of misconduct allegations against the hedge fund manager Crispin Odey. The move comes after the Financial Times revealed that 13 women alleged they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by Odey over the past 25 years. The revelations have

EU funds managed by Odey Asset Management are discussing restrictions on investors’ withdrawals as part of emergency measures to contain the fallout of sexual misconduct allegations against the hedge fund manager’s founder. It comes as the firm announced a series of management changes to funds run by Crispin Odey ahead of the market opening on

Partners at Odey Asset Management said that founder Crispin Odey would leave the firm after 13 women accused him of sexual misconduct. The high-profile financier and his firm have been at the centre of a growing crisis after the Financial Times reported on Thursday that 13 women alleged Odey had sexually assaulted or harassed them

Rishi Sunak has finally approved Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list, which includes appointments for Tory MPs and a senior official who worked in Downing Street during the partygate scandal. The former prime minister nominated several senior Conservative MPs who are his allies. Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conor Burns, and Simon Clarke were knighted, while Priti Patel and

Morgan Stanley on Thursday moved to sever ties with Crispin Odey’s Odey Asset Management in the wake of a Financial Times investigation that chronicled how the hedge fund manager evaded sexual assault allegations for decades. The bank has begun the process of terminating its prime broking relationship with Odey, according to people familiar with the

Crypto ownership more than doubled in the UK last year, the Financial Conduct Authority said on Wednesday, as it announced an October start date for its clampdown on mis-selling in a sector often dubbed finance’s “Wild West”. Almost one in 10 people surveyed by the UK’s top financial regulator owned cryptocurrencies in 2022, more than

Golf’s US-based PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway league LIV have agreed to join forces, ending a long-running feud. The PGA Tour and Riyadh’s Public Investment Fund have agreed to create a jointly managed entity to house their commercial operations, and intend to cease their pending litigation. The European Tour has also signed up

Apple unveiled its long-awaited “mixed reality” headset on Monday, in its most anticipated hardware product launch since Steve Jobs revealed the iPad in 2010. The gadget, called Vision Pro, will be available “early next year”. It combines virtual reality with augmented reality, which overlays digital images on top of the real world. Apple said it

The Opec+ group was locked in talks over a further cut in oil supplies on Sunday as Saudi Arabia and its allies scrambled to prop up the price, but hesitation from weaker African members of the group raised the prospect that no deal may be reached. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Opec’s

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday criticised China for conducting risky aerial intercepts over the South China Sea and warned that Washington would not be deterred by dangerous behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region. China was conducting “an alarming number of risky intercepts of US and allied aircraft flying lawfully in international airspace”, Austin said

CIA director Bill Burns travelled to China last month, a clandestine visit by one of President Joe Biden’s most trusted officials that signals how concerned the White House had become about deteriorating relations between Beijing and Washington. Five people familiar with the situation said Burns, a former top diplomat who is frequently entrusted with delicate