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UK economic activity fell unexpectedly in August for the first time since January as higher borrowing costs hit demand, according to a survey that prompted markets to reassess their interest rate expectations and led to a sterling sell-off. The pound slid against the dollar after the release of the flash UK composite purchasing managers’ index

SoftBank-owned chip designer Arm has started the final countdown to the biggest US initial public offering in almost two years, filing a preliminary prospectus for a Nasdaq listing that is set to take place early next month. Arm is on track to be the most valuable company to complete a US IPO since at least

Asking prices for UK homes recorded their sharpest August drop since 2018, in another sign that the property market is slowing after four consecutive months of house price falls. New sellers listed their homes for £364,895 on average in the five weeks to August 12, £7,012 less than in the previous month, representing the biggest

China is expected to make the biggest cuts this year to two of its core lending rates, as pressure mounts on policymakers and banks to reverse a trend of slowing momentum and revive flagging demand in the world’s second-biggest economy. The People’s Bank of China is set to announce reductions to both one-year and five-year

The leaders of Japan and South Korea on Friday put decades of frequently acrimonious relations behind them, signing on to a trilateral pact with the US that will deepen military and intelligence co-operation between the three allies. The agreement, formally reached at President Joe Biden’s retreat at Camp David outside Washington, sets up annual summits

China’s central bank has stepped up defence of its currency as concerns mount over the health of the world’s second-largest economy. The efforts by the People’s Bank of China to arrest a slide in the renminbi follow a series of gloomy economic data releases this week that showed weakening exports and waning consumer confidence. Foreign

Foreign investors have dumped Chinese stocks and bonds after losing confidence in Beijing’s promises of more help to shore up the country’s wobbling economy. Financial Times calculations based on data from Hong Kong’s Stock Connect trading scheme show that investors have almost completely reversed Rmb54bn ($7.4bn) in net purchases of Chinese equities that followed a

Lower gas and electricity prices drove a sharp drop in UK inflation to 6.8 per cent in July from 7.9 per cent the previous month, the lowest rate of price increases since February last year.  The figure met economists’ expectations and will come as a modest relief after wage data on Tuesday was surprisingly strong, highlighting the work

UK wages grew much more than expected in the three months to June, according to official figures that are likely to reinforce policymakers’ concerns over the pressures fuelling inflation.  In April to June, annual growth in regular pay, which excludes bonuses, was 7.8 per cent, the highest regular annual growth rate since comparable records began

The rouble has fallen to a 16-month low against the dollar as a surge in Russian military spending and a collapse in export revenues add pressure to a currency suffering under western sanctions and an escalation of capital outflows.  Russia’s currency has lost about 25 per cent of its value this year and traded below

UBS is facing a further legal challenge to its controversial takeover of Credit Suisse, as hundreds of individual shareholders — including scores of former employees of the failed bank — are due to lodge a claim in Zurich’s commercial court on Monday. The Swiss Investor Protection Association (SASV), which represents retail investors, is planning to

Sam Bankman-Fried has been taken into custody after a federal judge found that the FTX founder probably attempted to tamper with witnesses on two occasions while awaiting trial on fraud charges stemming from the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange. In a brief written order following a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Friday, Judge Lewis

The UK economy picked up pace in the second quarter as consumers proved more resilient than expected in the face of rising interest rates. Gross domestic product was 0.2 per cent higher in the period from April to June than in the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday. This followed

The Biden administration will ban US investment into quantum computing, advanced chips and artificial intelligence sectors in China, as it ratchets up efforts to ensure the Chinese military does not benefit from American technology and capital. President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued an executive order establishing the prohibitions, which will largely affect private equity and

Google and Universal Music are in talks to license artists’ melodies and voices for songs generated by artificial intelligence as the music business tries to monetise one of its biggest threats. The discussions, confirmed by four people familiar with the matter, aim to strike a partnership for an industry that is grappling with the implications

China’s trade slumped in July, with exports and imports falling more sharply than economists forecast, adding to concerns about growth prospects in the world’s second-biggest economy more than six months after Beijing eased pandemic restrictions. Exports declined by 14.5 per cent year on year in dollar terms, official data showed on Tuesday, the steepest fall

Private equity firms are increasingly offering sweeteners such as fee discounts to secure backing from deep-pocketed investors, in a sign that the industry is facing its toughest-ever fundraising environment. Blue-chip firms including CVC Capital Partners, Ardian, TPG and Cinven have all in recent months offered investors either a discount on management fees or other incentives

Chinese authorities are putting pressure on prominent local economists to avoid discussing negative trends such as deflation, as concerns mount about Beijing’s ability to boost a flagging recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy. Multiple local brokerage analysts and researchers at leading universities as well as state-run think-tanks said they had been instructed by regulators, their

The US and China are opening new lines of communication to tackle contentious issues, in one of the first signs of progress towards stabilising relations since secretary of state Antony Blinken visited Beijing in June. According to three people familiar with the situation, Washington and Beijing will create two working groups to focus on Asia-Pacific

Apple proved resilient in its latest quarter as the number of paying subscribers for its array of digital services crossed 1bn users worldwide, helping to lift profits from a year ago even as total revenue declined. The world’s largest company by market value said on Thursday that total revenue fell 1 per cent to $81.8bn