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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

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered the sacking of all the country’s regional army recruitment chiefs after investigators discovered officials had been taking bribes to allow people to avoid the military draft on medical grounds. Despite the patriotic fervour that has gripped the country 18 months into Russia’s full-scale invasion, some men are desperate to

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

UK ministers are set to announce a further delay to post-Brexit border controls on animal and plant products coming from the EU, amid fears that extra bureaucracy on imported goods will fuel inflation. The decision to delay the new import regime at Britain’s ports, which had been due to start in October, is also intended

US prosecutors have charged Donald Trump in connection with attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the second federal indictment brought against the former president in as many months. Trump was charged with four criminal counts including conspiracy to defraud the US, to obstruct an official proceeding and to threaten individual rights, according

UK house prices have dropped by the largest amount in 14 years, according to fresh data from Nationwide. Prices for July fell 0.2 per cent on the previous month and 3.8 per cent on the same month last year, the largest fall since 2009, the Nationwide house price index showed. The average cost of a home in the UK is now

The UK government has made it cheaper for industry to pollute in Britain compared with the EU by watering down reforms to the carbon market, in the latest sign that the Conservative party is backsliding on its climate agenda. Whitehall recently quietly announced changes to the UK’s carbon trading scheme, including offering more allowances than

Travellers determined to take to the skies despite soaring ticket prices have pushed airline profits to fresh heights, as resilient consumer spending buoys the global economy. As they reported record profits on Friday, British Airways-owner IAG said trips across the Atlantic and to leisure destinations had been particularly popular “as customers prioritise holidays”, while Air

Warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner militia sent shockwaves across the globe when they attempted the first coup in Russia for three decades. After accusing his country’s military leadership of “murdering tens of thousands of Russian soldiers” as a result of the disastrous invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin launched an audacious march on Moscow to “punish”

Donald Trump has been accused of attempting to have surveillance video footage at his Mar-a-Lago estate deleted ahead of an FBI search, as federal prosecutors added more criminal counts to a case over the former US president’s handling of classified documents. The Department of Justice filed the expanded indictment on Thursday. Federal prosecutors also added