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Howard Marks, the co-founder of $172bn investment group Oaktree Capital Management, has warned that the boom in private credit will soon be tested as higher interest rates and slower economic growth heap pressure on corporate America. The 77-year-old billionaire told the Financial Times that big asset managers had competed aggressively to lend to the largest

The shape of a possible US debt ceiling agreement between the White House and Republicans in Congress is emerging as they intensify talks in a bid to avoid an unprecedented national default. People familiar with the matter said that the issues on the table in the talks had narrowed, as senior Biden administration officials and

Audits carried out by the Chinese arms of KPMG and PwC contained an “unacceptable” number of flaws, US inspectors said on Wednesday, as they vowed to expand examinations of large accounting firms in the country. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found multiple deficiencies in all four of the audits it examined by KPMG Huazhen,

Gary Neville is a changed man. As I enter the vaulted Edwardian dining room of the restaurant at his Manchester city centre hotel, Stock Exchange, a member of staff politely explains that my interviewee is running 10 minutes late, before bringing me a glass of Bordeaux. When he arrives, black-clad and relaxed after a charity

PwC is racing to contain the global fallout of an Australian leak scandal on its business after it emerged that the firm used confidential government tax plans to advise tech clients. Emails released by an Australian senate committee last week showed that PwC had used information received during its work with the government to win

The head of PwC in Australia has resigned as chief executive three days after admitting that he had received emails regarding confidential government information on changes to tax avoidance laws to win new business. Tom Seymour, chief executive of PwC Australia since March 2020, has stood down with immediate effect following a discussion with the

Donald Trump has been found liable for the sexual abuse of a journalist in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, in a significant legal defeat for the former US president as he mounts a third bid for the White House. A nine-person jury deliberated for just a few hours before unanimously finding Trump liable

Britain’s privatised water and sewage companies paid £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up from £540mn the previous year, despite rising household bills and a wave of public criticism over sewage outflows. The figures, based on a Financial Times analysis of the 10 largest water and sewage companies’ accounts, are higher than headline dividends in the year to

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has warned of a “constitutional crisis” that risks economic and financial catastrophe if Congress does not raise the federal debt limit, with the government in danger of running out of cash in the absence of new borrowing capacity. The White House and Republican lawmakers are in a stalemate over lifting

Crowds were gathering on London’s Mall on Saturday morning ahead of the coronation of King Charles III, heralding a day of ancient ceremony and military spectacle that will draw on a millennium of British history. Global leaders and foreign royalty will attend the event at Westminster Abbey — scene of royal coronations since William the

The UK’s opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties expressed optimism early on Friday that they were making significant gains as votes began to be counted after local elections in many parts of England. Both parties argued that their performances positioned them well for the forthcoming nationwide general election. Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, told

The European Central Bank has raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point — less than previous increases — in a sign that eurozone borrowing costs may soon reach their peak. The ECB’s decision on Thursday, which mirrors the US Federal Reserve’s quarter-point rate rise the previous day, takes the benchmark deposit rate

The UK competition watchdog is launching a review of the artificial intelligence market, including the models behind popular chatbots such as ChatGPT, as the industry comes increasingly into global regulators’ crosshairs. Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the UK Competition and Markets Authority, said the watchdog would examine so-called foundation models — such as the software

Shares in online learning service Chegg have plummeted by almost half after it became one of the first companies to admit that artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT had affected its finances. The news sent ripples through the sector, with shares in London-listed Pearson falling more than 13.8 per cent on Tuesday. Shares in US-listed education companies

JPMorgan Chase will acquire most of First Republic, the embattled California lender that US government officials had been racing to save for much of the past week. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and California regulators, which announced the deal early on Monday morning, said they were simultaneously closing the bank and selling off all $93.5bn

At least three large banks have submitted bids to buy all or part of First Republic, the embattled California lender that US regulators have been racing to save this weekend. Among those that have put in offers are JPMorgan Chase, PNC and Citizens, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation. JPMorgan, which led

The US government has asked JPMorgan, PNC and several other financial groups to bid for all or part of First Republic, as US regulators try to determine how much it would cost taxpayers to take over the embattled California lender. Over the past 24 hours, it has become clear to both First Republic and the

Hedge funds betting against US technology stocks have been battered by $18bn of losses after Big Tech’s robust earnings fuelled a sharp rebound in the sector. Crispin Odey and James Hanbury are among the hedge fund managers burned by a 16 per cent rally in the Nasdaq Composite this year, as a number of stocks

The UK government is set to abandon its controversial plan to review or scrap all EU-era law by the end of 2023, in a move which has sparked fury among Tory Eurosceptics. Kemi Badenoch, business secretary, told Tory Brexiters this week that the majority of almost 4,000 pieces of retained EU law would remain on

The UK competition regulator has blocked Microsoft’s $75bn acquisition of the Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, in a possibly fatal blow to the software giant’s biggest-ever deal. The Competition & Markets Authority said on Wednesday it believed the company would be commercially motivated to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service.