US drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly have become the first pharmaceutical groups to pull out of a pricing agreement with the UK government in protest at a sharp rise in clawback payments. Eli Lilly said on Monday that the payments, which apply to branded medicines and have risen to more than a quarter of industry
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US companies are turning to convertible bonds as fundraising in Wall Street’s main equities market is at its lowest level for three decades. December was the busiest month of last year for convertible issuance by deal count according to Refinitiv data, as activity picked up over the second half of 2022. The amount US-based companies
The White House said on Saturday it had discovered more sensitive documents at Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, piling political and legal pressure on to the US president. In a statement, Richard Sauber, Biden’s special counsel, said he had found five pages of classified material in a room adjacent to the garage of the
JPMorgan Chase said it might be forced to pay more for deposits this year in what analysts called “a warning shot for the entire industry”. Like other Wall Street banks, JPMorgan has benefited from Federal Reserve interest rate rises boosting net interest income — the difference in what banks pay on deposits and what they
The US attorney-general has appointed a special counsel to investigate the potential mishandling of government documents that were found in President Joe Biden’s residential garage in Delaware and his former private office in Washington. Merrick Garland on Thursday said the “extraordinary circumstances” surrounding the discovery of the documents meant he had to appoint a special
More than three quarters of a million UK households are at risk of defaulting on their mortgage payments in the next two years, the country’s top financial regulator has warned. In a letter to the House of Commons Treasury select committee on Wednesday, the Financial Conduct Authority said about 200,000 households had fallen behind on
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has said he is preparing to leave the US and return home within the next few weeks, after coming under fire in the wake of an attack on his country’s capital by thousands of his radical supporters. The far-right populist has been in Florida since the end of last year
Eurozone unemployment hit a fresh record low, while output from German factories rose in November, boosting hopes of a milder-than-feared economic downturn across the single currency area. Figures from Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistics bureau, showed that the number of people in the labour market without work fell slightly in November. Eurostat reported 10.849mn workers
EY is setting aside $2.5bn to fund an acquisition spree for its consulting arm following its planned separation from the Big Four firm’s audit business, as it presses ahead with preparations for the historic split. The war chest will allow the new company, which EY is aiming to float in New York, to double the
Companies have rushed to borrow money in the US corporate bond market in the first week of the year, taking advantage of easier financial conditions as investors scale back their expectations for the path of future interest rates. In the first seven days of 2023, companies from Credit Suisse to Ford issued $63.7bn worth of
Rishi Sunak has invited Britain’s trade union leaders to talks on Monday in an attempt to find a solution to the wave of disruptive strikes across the UK. The prime minister said that government departments had written to relevant unions inviting them for talks. Workers including nurses, postal staff and train drivers have been taking
The UK government has announced new legislation to enforce “minimum service levels” in eight sectors including the health service in an attempt to tackle a rash of strikes across the country. Unions representing workers in various sectors — ranging from nurses and paramedics to train drivers — have gone on walkouts to protest at real-terms
Rishi Sunak on Wednesday outlined five promises on which he wants the public to judge him at the next general election, including growing the UK economy and cutting NHS waiting lists. In his first big domestic policy speech as prime minister, Sunak said he wanted to deliver “peace of mind” to a country confronted by
Tesla shares tumbled on the first day of trading in 2023 after the group’s new vehicle deliveries fell short of Wall Street expectations last quarter, adding to worries that the electric carmaker faces a slowdown in demand. The company said on Monday it delivered 405,278 vehicles in the three months to the end of December,
Moscow said a Ukrainian air strike hit army barracks in the Russian-occupied town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 63, as it continued to target Kyiv with drones. Four high-explosive warheads struck the Makiivka temporary deployment base, while two were shot down by Russian air defences, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement
ExxonMobil and Chevron are expected to rake in almost $100bn in combined profits from 2022 as the US corporate oil titans capitalise on surging fossil fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The profit bonanza is seen by the oil majors as vindication after the companies resisted pressure from activists and some shareholders to pivot away
Pension funds should be “extremely careful” when investing in illiquid assets, as rising interest rates and falling stock markets increase the likelihood of their having to access cash quickly, the OECD has warned. In the recent era of low interest rates, pension funds poured money into alternative investments, such as infrastructure projects and private equity,
UK house prices fell for the fourth consecutive month in December, marking the longest contraction since the 2008 financial crisis, as rising interest rates deterred prospective buyers. Prices contracted 0.1 per cent between November and December, following falls every month since September, according to figures provided by Nationwide, the mortgage provider. It was the worst
The EU has rejected an Italian demand to reimpose travel restrictions on arrivals from China, as capitals across the world take divergent approaches to surging numbers of coronavirus infections in the country. EU officials at a meeting on Thursday did not endorse a call from Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, for the bloc to collectively
European natural gas prices have fallen to levels last recorded before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, as warmer weather helps the continent to preserve its reserves. The Dutch TTF gas future for the coming month, the benchmark European contract, dropped as much as 7.4 per cent on Wednesday to €76.78 per megawatt hour