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The UK’s FTSE 100 hit an all-time high on Friday, as the blue-chip index dominated by multinational companies overcame the drag of a domestic economy headed for recession. The FTSE added as much as 1.1 per cent on the day to trade at 7906.58, eclipsing its previous peak in May 2018, before closing at 7902.

European government bond markets surged the most in years while stocks also rallied as investors bet that interest rates on both sides of the Atlantic would soon peak. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England both raised rates by half a percentage point on Thursday, with the BoE expressing optimism inflation would fall

Adani Enterprises has called off its $2.4bn equity fundraising in the latest blow to Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who has seen shares in his industrial empire tumble after a short seller made allegations of fraud and stock manipulation. The decision to pull the share sale and refund investors marks an abrupt turn after Adani Enterprises’

More UK companies went bust last year than at any point since the financial crisis as soaring inflation, rising interest rates and the stalling economy hit businesses. The total number of company insolvencies registered in 2022 was 22,109 — the highest since 2009 and 57 per cent higher than 2021 — according to data issued

A US appeals court has dismissed a bankruptcy petition filed by a unit of Johnson & Johnson, upending the healthcare company’s attempt to resolve billions of dollars of legal claims from customers alleging its talcum powder caused cancer. The Third US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday said it had dismissed a bankruptcy filing from

UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has sacked Nadhim Zahawi as chair of the Conservative party after his ethics adviser concluded there had been “serious breaches” of the ministerial code. Sunak finally jettisoned Zahawi after weeks of stories about his tax affairs, which have been politically damaging for the ruling party during a historic cost of

The UK tax authority has admitted that it gave misleading information last summer when it said no government minister was being investigated, even though Nadhim Zahawi was the subject of a probe. HM Revenue & Customs has now apologised for wrongly stating last June that no ministers were under investigation — mistakes it blames on

Goldman Sachs paid chief executive David Solomon $25mn for 2022, down almost 30 per cent compared to a year before, after the Wall Street bank reported a steep drop in profits, cut thousands of jobs and slashed employee bonuses. In a regulatory filing on Friday, Goldman disclosed that Solomon received a base salary of $2mn,

The US economy logged better than expected growth in the final quarter of 2022, even as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to raise borrowing costs began to weigh more heavily on business activity. The world’s largest economy expanded 2.9 per cent on an annualised basis between September and December, according to data published by the

The US and Germany will send main battle tanks to Kyiv, a significant increase of western military aid that was condemned by Russia and prompted cheers throughout Ukraine. The US will be sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine — or the equivalent of one Ukrainian tank battalion, senior Biden administration officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Several senior Ukrainian officials have resigned after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy swiftly sought to defuse concerns over corruption at a time when he is requesting more western weaponry to repel Russian forces. “We have made personnel decisions . . . regarding officials of various levels in ministries and other central government bodies, in the regions, and in the law enforcement

Microsoft has confirmed a “multibillion-dollar investment” in ChatGPT bot maker OpenAI, making its biggest bet yet that artificial intelligence systems have the power to transform the tech giant’s business model and products. Precise financial details have not been disclosed, though the company on Monday said it was investing billions of dollars in a “multiyear” agreement.

The eurozone will avoid a recession this year according to a widely-watched survey of economists which illustrates the sharp about-turn in global economic sentiment in the past couple of weeks. As recently as last month, analysts surveyed by Consensus Economics were predicting the bloc would plunge into recession this year. But this month’s survey found

Banks are gearing up for the biggest round of job cuts since the global financial crisis, as executives come under pressure to slash costs following a collapse in investment banking revenues. The lay-offs — which are expected to be in the tens of thousands across the sector — reverse the mass hirings banks made over

Google’s parent company will axe 12,000 staff, pushing total tech job losses in the past 12 months above 200,000, as industry bosses concede they overextended during the pandemic’s digital boom. The industry-wide cull has affected more than 50,000 people across just four Big Tech companies that also include Amazon, Meta and Microsoft. Apple is the

The US Treasury has begun taking “extraordinary measures” to meet its obligations, after the US government hit its $31.4tn borrowing limit, Janet Yellen said in a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday as she urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling sooner rather than later to avoid an unprecedented default. The Treasury secretary had previously

The stress for investors is not yet over after stock markets cleared out the “crap” that built up after the outbreak of Covid-19, with a long period of drab returns still lying ahead, the chief executive of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has warned. US inflation could be poised to reaccelerate before this summer, in part

Goldman Sachs’ profits plunged two-thirds last quarter, missing expectations and capping a grim year that has forced the bank to embark on its largest cost-cutting exercise since the financial crisis. It was the Wall Street bank’s fifth straight quarter of falling profits and Goldman has already moved to cut more than 3,000 jobs, slash bonuses

US drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly have become the first pharmaceutical groups to pull out of a pricing agreement with the UK government in protest at a sharp rise in the levy on branded medicines. Eli Lilly said the levy, which now amounts to more than a quarter of pharmaceutical industry revenue in the UK,

US companies are turning to convertible bonds as fundraising in Wall Street’s main equities market is at its lowest level for three decades. December was the busiest month of last year for convertible issuance by deal count according to Refinitiv data, as activity picked up over the second half of 2022. The amount US-based companies