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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Equities myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Global stock markets are set to record their strongest year since 2019 following a blistering two-month rally as investors bet that major central banks have finished raising interest rates and will cut them rapidly next year.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US has slapped sanctions on groups in Turkey and Yemen allegedly responsible for funnelling money to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in a crackdown driven by their attacks on commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea.

Central bankers are rethinking their approach to economic forecasting after their high-profile failures to spot the most recent inflationary outburst, as officials argue for greater candour with the markets about the uncertainties they are confronting.  The European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and other official forecasters failed to see how the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced that the Spring Budget 2024 will be held on March 6. The fiscal event is seen by Downing Street as a crucial milestone in the run-up to a general

Global banks eliminated more than 60,000 jobs in 2023, marking one of the heaviest years for cuts since the financial crisis and reversing much of their hiring as they emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic. Investment banks suffered a second consecutive year of plummeting fees as dealmaking and public listings dried up, leaving Wall Street trying

The influence of China’s once-powerful central bank has diminished as Beijing steps up a drive to centralise Communist party control over financial regulation. Some of the powers formerly held by the People’s Bank of China have been taken over by a party oversight body and a revamped financial regulator as Beijing resets its growth model.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to fight on in the war against Hamas, despite a mounting death toll and growing international calls to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in the Palestinian enclave and halt

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Blackstone invested more in European real estate than in any other region in 2023, as the world’s largest commercial property owner picked up bargains from market turmoil and distressed sellers.  Real estate deal-making collapsed this

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The UK economy shrank slightly in the third quarter, according to revised figures that highlight the country’s struggle to shake off its low-growth performance. The Office for National Statistics said on Friday that gross domestic

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Football’s governing bodies have lost a landmark court case that threatens their hold over the sport in Europe, potentially opening a path for the biggest clubs to form new breakaway competitions. The EU’s top court

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Sovereign bonds myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The UK is at high risk of a serious economic downturn next year, one of the world’s biggest active bond fund managers has warned. Daniel Ivascyn, chief investment officer at Pimco, told the Financial Times

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Adobe has terminated its proposed $20bn merger with product design software company Figma, following competition probes from EU and UK regulators. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said that combining the two companies would threaten

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The head of the IMF has urged Ukraine’s allies to rapidly unlock tens of billions of dollars for the country, as she warned delays in providing the extra funding would jeopardise Kyiv’s tentative economic

This article is an onsite version of our Europe Express newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday and Saturday morning A “remarkable strategic own goal by us” — that’s how Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, this week described the risk of a lapse in

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy began this week hopeful that his two biggest allies in the face of Russia’s invasion would finally approve financial aid packages worth a total of $115bn. He ended it with little to show for it. Fraying support for Kyiv in Washington and Brussels coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin vowing to attack

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. EU leaders agreed to open accession talks with Ukraine at a charged summit on Thursday, after Hungary’s prime minister relented in his opposition to the historic step for the war-torn country. The decision marks

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. BP said it had dismissed Bernard Looney, its former chief executive, who would forfeit as much as £32.4mn in pay after committing “serious misconduct” related to failing to disclose past relationships with colleagues. Looney stepped

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Accounting & Consulting services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. KPMG has underscored its position as laggard of the Big Four after it posted the slowest growth in global sales among the accountancy and consulting firms during the latest financial year. The smallest

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A draft agreement from the UN’s COP28 climate summit has dropped references to the phase out of fossil fuels after opposition from oil and gas-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia. The document — which will

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Nearly half of American voters think the US is spending too much on aid for Ukraine, according to a poll that underscores the fragility of domestic support just as Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to