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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

China will remove quarantine requirements for inbound travellers from January 8 as the country dismantles the remnants of a zero-Covid regime that closed it off from the rest of the world for almost three years. The National Health Commission on Monday unveiled the move as part of a wider announcement that downgraded the country’s management

Hedge funds trading bonds and currencies are on track for their best year since the global financial crisis, boosted by the steep interest rate rises that have inflicted heavy losses on equity specialists and mainstream investors. So-called macro hedge funds, made famous by the likes of George Soros and Louis Bacon, endured a barren period

Apple’s business is under threat from a widespread coronavirus outbreak in China, with supply chain experts warning of a growing risk of months-long disruption to the production of iPhones. The US tech giant has had to contend with more than a month of chaos at its main assembler Foxconn’s megafactory in Zhengzhou, China, known as

Chinese officials estimate about 250mn people or 18 per cent of the population were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, as Beijing abruptly dismantled restrictions that had contained the disease for almost three years. The estimates — which include 37mn people who were infected on Tuesday alone, or 2.6 per cent

Hospitals in Beijing are being overwhelmed by sick elderly Covid-19 patients just weeks after China abandoned its tough coronavirus containment measures with little preparation for the exit wave now ripping through the country. Emergency rooms have run out of portable beds for patients, the infirm are waiting hours for ambulances and many doctors are too