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US inflation eased last month to its lowest level in nearly two years but an uptick in core prices will keep pressure on the Federal Reserve to press ahead with another interest rate increase in May. The consumer price index for March rose by 5 per cent year on year, according to data published by

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s efforts to revitalise the UK economy have not been sufficient to raise it from the foot of the global league table this year, according to forecasts published by the IMF on Tuesday. In its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook, the fund predicted that the UK economy would shrink by 0.3 per cent in

Corporate America is facing its sharpest drop in profits since the early stages of the Covid pandemic, according to Wall Street forecasts, as high inflation squeezes margins and fears of an impending recession hold back demand. Companies on the S&P 500 index are expected to report a 6.8 per cent decline in first-quarter earnings compared

Investors are loading up on protection against a fresh round of financial turmoil in US regional bank stocks as lenders prepare to reveal how badly their earnings have been squeezed by the troubles that took down Silicon Valley Bank. Regional bank share prices have stabilised since SVB’s collapse sparked a massive mid-March slide, but traders

US fund managers are increasing investments in international stock markets after rising interest rates and fears of an economic slowdown brought an end to more than a decade of domestic dominance. US stocks have vastly outperformed most other developed and emerging markets since the financial crisis, but the trend began to reverse last year. The

A British business registered to a terraced house in a north London suburb appears to have arranged the sale of about $1.2bn of electronics into Russia since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine at the start of 2022. Mykines Corporation LLP, a company based in the London borough of Enfield, is listed in Russian records

The IMF’s managing director has warned that the global economy is facing years of slow growth, with medium-term prospects their weakest in more than 30 years. Speaking in Washington ahead of the World Bank and IMF spring meetings next week, Kristalina Georgieva said the world economy would expand at an average annual rate of about

Police have arrested the husband of former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon as a suspect in an investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National party. Peter Murrell resigned as chief executive of the SNP last month after the party was forced to admit it had 30,000 fewer members than it had claimed.

Jamie Dimon has criticised regulators in the wake of the banking turmoil for incentivising banks to load up on government securities and imposing flawed stress tests. Dimon said the failure last month of Silicon Valley Bank and the Swiss government-engineered takeover of Credit Suisse risked undermining confidence in the banking industry and had prompted investors

EY has been banned from taking on listed companies as new audit clients in Germany for two years over flawed work for disgraced payments company Wirecard, in a landmark ruling by the country’s audit watchdog Apas, according to people familiar with the matter. The Big Four firm and five current and former employees have also

Switzerland’s Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the state-backed takeover of Credit Suisse by its larger rival UBS. The Bern-based prosecutor is looking into potential breaches of Swiss criminal law by government officials, regulators and executives at the two banks, which agreed an emergency merger last month over the course of a frantic weekend

Donald Trump will turn himself in to New York prosecutors on Tuesday, his lawyer said, insisting the former president would “not be put in handcuffs”. Joe Tacopina added he expected the charges — the first criminal indictment in history of an ex-US president — to relate to payments to buy the silence of porn actress

Donald Trump has been indicted following a years-long investigation by Manhattan prosecutors that has led to the first criminal charges against a former US president in the country’s history, according to his lawyers. “President Trump has been indicted. He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court,” his lawyers

Spain’s inflation almost halved in a month to 3.1 per cent in March as energy costs dropped, in a possible early sign of a sharp fall in European headline inflation this year. The year-on-year rise in Spanish consumer prices compared with the previous month’s rate of 6 per cent and was lower than the 4

Binance hid substantial links to China for several years, contradicting executives’ claims that the crypto exchange left the country after a clampdown on the industry in late 2017, according to internal company documents seen by the Financial Times. Chief executive Changpeng Zhao and others holding senior positions repeatedly instructed Binance employees to hide the company’s

Jeremy Hunt, UK chancellor, is to pump more money into the NHS to fund a new pay deal for heath workers, in a surprise move that comes despite the Treasury’s previous focus on efficiency savings to fund the offer. Steve Barclay, health secretary, said on Tuesday that the pay deal would be fully funded. “I

Israel’s president Isaac Herzog has implored the government to halt a bitterly contested judicial overhaul, warning that the polarisation it had caused had put “our security, economy, society” under threat. Mass protests erupted across the country overnight with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked his defence

IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva has warned of increased risks to financial stability and the need for vigilance following the recent banking sector turmoil in advanced economies. Speaking at a conference in Beijing, the IMF head said uncertainties in the world economy remained “exceptionally high”, with global economic growth expected to slow below 3 per

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has raised concerns over Rokos Capital Management after the hedge fund was forced to hand over large amounts of cash to its banks as collateral when an outsized bet on US government bonds backfired earlier this month. SEC chair Gary Gensler brought up the hedge fund during calls with

Equity markets were mixed on Friday as concerns over the health of the global banking system dragged down shares in US lenders down more than 14 per cent this week. The FTSE All-World stock index was down 0.1 per cent on Friday during Asian trading but up 1.6 per cent for the week. Technology stocks