UK unemployment dropped back to its pre-pandemic level at the start of 2022, but the squeeze on living standards deepened, as earnings failed to keep pace with inflation despite record levels of vacancies. The jobless rate averaged 3.8 per cent in the three months to February, returning to lows last seen in 2019, the Office

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank shares dropped sharply on Tuesday after an investor sold stakes of more than 5 per cent in each of Germany’s top two lenders, worth a combined €1.75bn. Capital Group, Deutsche’s second-largest shareholder, was the seller behind a block transaction of €1.27bn of the bank’s stock on Monday, according to people familiar

When you imagine your future retirement, do you expect still to be working at the age of 78? If you enjoyed your job as much as Sir Mick Jagger, then maybe you would. The Rolling Stones frontman is marking 60 years on the road with a European tour this summer. Not everyone has his stamina,

Former Conservative minister Crispin Blunt on Tuesday retracted his remarks questioning the conviction of Imran Ahmad Khan who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008. Khan, who served as a Tory MP for Wakefield in West Yorkshire, was convicted on Monday by a jury at Southwark Crown Court following a week-long

Offshore financial centres specialise in low-profile ownership arrangements for the wealthy. They cannot be enjoying their current blaze of publicity. Scrutiny is high because Russian oligarchs habitually use offshore centres. Enemies of UK chancellor Rishi Sunak have also asked whether these bolt-holes feature in his family’s controversial finances. Providing sophisticated legal and financial services —

Thomas Piketty put inequality in the advanced market economies at the heart of political debate. The French economist’s 2013 bestseller Capital in the 21st Century used long runs of historical data on incomes and wealth to demonstrate how wide the gap between the rich and the rest has become. Thick with data and the famous

iShares has trimmed expenses on seven exchange traded funds, including its $85.5bn Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) and $73.2bn Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG), the manager said. AGG’s fees fell from 4 basis points to 3bp, disclosures show, while IEMG’s slid 2bp to 9bp. The cuts put AGG’s management fee below the 3.5bp

Oil and gas stocks are on track for further strong gains, as a sector shunned by ethically minded investors regains favour, according to the hedge fund manager who made $700mn betting on meme stock GameStop. Richard Mashaal, co-chief investment officer at New York-based Senvest Management, whose 86 per cent gains in 2021 ranked him among

Light crystallising against a dark sky as angelic voices rise: the opening image of Angels’ Atlas is one of transcendence, and Crystal Pite knows how to match it sweepingly in dance. While her Revisor with Jonathon Young won the Olivier Award for best new dance production over the weekend, Zurich Ballet was performing one of

Russia has vowed to sue if sanctions force it to default on its bonds but academics and lawyers have dismissed the threat as “payment theatre” designed to project the state’s financial strength. Over the weekend, finance minister Anton Siluanov said western sanctions were an attempt to “artificially create a man-made default” — Moscow’s first since

Like many Germans, Otmar Issing is alarmed by the surge in inflation to 40-year highs in his country and worried by the “misguided” response of the European Central Bank. But, as one of the founding fathers of the euro, Issing’s complaints carry more weight than most of his countrymen. The ECB’s first chief economist when

Chief among all the succession questions on Wall Street is what will happen when Jamie Dimon relinquishes the top job at JPMorgan. Last week, the bank offered a rare glimpse of its preparations in a securities filing that said a “substantial majority” of investors wanted him to stay on as non-executive chair when he steps

Hours after he fell short of making it into the final phase of France’s presidential election, the veteran leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon had a message for his supporters: they should not give “a single vote” to far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round in two weeks. Now the identity of France’s next president might

Airline executives and politicians are piling on pressure for the US to let Covid-19 mask rules expire on schedule next week, even as a majority of the public wants to keep them. Forced mask-wearing has caused friction in aircraft cabins. Last year, 72 per cent of a record 5,981 reports of unruly passengers were mask-related,

The Netherlands has called on governments to increase their financial and political support for the International Criminal Court as it investigates alleged war crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or risk failing to bring those responsible to justice. Increased backing for the ICC is “critically important,” Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said. The court

Alexander Saverys, an heir to one of Belgium’s oldest shipping dynasties, has hit out at Norwegian tycoon John Fredriksen’s ambition to create the world’s largest oil tanker group and vowed to build opposition to the plan. Fredriksen last week announced a $4.2bn deal to merge his Frontline group with Belgium’s Euronav, a rival tanker group

Airlines and airports spent the past two years insisting that when people could finally travel again, they would. Except, it seems, they can’t — and the industry itself is to blame. The great Easter getaway has been beset by reports of chaos. Manchester airport has warned of hour-long waiting times for security for months to

The billionaire chief executive of Fanatics plans to push on with his acquisition spree after raising another $1.5bn from investors, as the US group continues to expand from sports merchandising into digital collectibles and trading cards. “All the capital raises are always for M&A, we don’t raise capital for our operations,” Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin

Tech companies that were once cautious about in-person work are calling employees back to the office. Google wants workers to come in three days a week. So does Amazon. The move poses a challenge to business software stock valuations. Take workplace chat provider Slack and its parent company Salesforce, the cloud software group. Salesforce bought

In the spring of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, many pharmaceutical companies faced disruptions to their supply chains. Chemicals used to produce the key ingredients in drugs were often sourced from only a few suppliers in China — sometimes from just one. The pandemic has brought to light just how much the global