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Joe Biden and Xi Jinping used their first in-person meeting as leaders to signal a desire to improve US-China ties after relations between the two powers plunged to a multi-decade low. With Taiwan tensions hanging over the meeting, the leaders agreed that senior officials would “maintain communication” on a range of global issues, including climate

UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned on Sunday that “everyone” will be paying more tax after his Autumn Statement, as he also said he was preparing significant cuts to public spending. Hunt is expected to set out tax rises and spending cuts worth about £55bn a year as he seeks to fill a gaping hole in

Sam Bankman-Fried’s main international FTX exchange held just $900mn in easily sellable assets against $9bn of liabilities the day before it collapsed into bankruptcy, according to investment materials seen by the Financial Times. The largest portion of those liquid assets listed on a FTX international balance sheet dated Thursday was $470mn of Robinhood shares owned

FTX, the once high-flying crypto currency group, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US, marking a stunning collapse of the $32bn empire built by the colourful 30-year-old entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried. The filing in Delaware federal court on Friday included the main FTX international exchange, a US crypto marketplace, Bankman-Fried’s proprietary trading group Alameda Research

US stocks shot higher and Treasuries rallied on Thursday after October’s closely watched inflation data came in cooler than expected, setting the stage for lower Federal Reserve rate rises. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 added 4.3 per cent in afternoon trading in New York, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 5.8 per cent. In government

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered troops to withdraw from the strategic city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, in another major setback for President Vladimir Putin’s nine-month invasion of the country. In footage shown on state television on Wednesday, Shoigu accepted a proposal from Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine, to retreat

The digital assets industry has been shaken by the near collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, one of the largest crypto exchanges, which was rescued by arch-rival Binance after a surge in customer withdrawals sparked a liquidity crisis. Binance chief executive Changpeng “CZ” Zhao wrote on Twitter that FTX had “asked for our help”, adding: “There

Jeremy Hunt is planning a stealth raid on inheritance tax in the Autumn Statement as part of the chancellor’s attempt to raise about £54bn through tax rises and spending cuts to fill a hole in the UK public finances. Government officials said Hunt was drawing up plans to extend a freeze in the inheritance tax

FTSE 100 chief executives’ pay soared by an average of 23 per cent this year, according to research from PwC that comes during tense negotiations with rank-and-file staff. The rise to £3.9mn was driven by record bonus pay-outs, partly the effect of lower targets set during the pandemic. The new data is published as companies

Elon Musk has begun to slash Twitter’s 7,500-strong workforce as the social media platform’s new billionaire owner warned of a “massive drop in revenue” following his contentious $44bn buyout of the group. As Musk embarks on the cost-cutting cull, he claimed on Friday that Twitter “has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist

US jobs growth rose at an unexpectedly rapid clip in October, defying expectations for a larger slowdown as the historically tight labour market again showed resilience in the face of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive efforts to curb demand. The economy added 261,000 positions last month, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Bank of England has signalled that borrowing costs will not rise as much as markets expect in the future, even as it imposed the biggest rate rise for three decades to combat soaring inflation. The BoE’s 0.75 percentage point increase to 3 per cent took interest rates to their highest point since 2008. But

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark policy rate by 0.75 percentage points for the fourth time in a row but hinted that it could slow the pace of future increases as recent aggressive hikes work their way through the economy. In comments that sent US stocks rising and bond yields down, the central

Profits at two of the world’s largest oil producers soared as BP and Saudi Aramco reaped a windfall from historically high energy prices that have fuelled inflation and stoked a global cost of living crisis. Saudi Aramco reported its second-highest quarterly profits since listing its shares in 2019, generating net income of $42.4bn in the

UK home secretary Suella Braverman used her personal email address to handle official documents on seven occasions, an internal Home Office inquiry has found. Braverman, who is under mounting pressure over security breaches leading up to her resignation under Liz Truss’s shortlived government, apologised for her actions on Monday. She is due to answer MPs’

President Vladimir Putin’s decision to pull the plug on the wartime deal that unblocked the passage of millions of tonnes of grain via southern Ukraine will lead to a fresh jump in price, experts warned, with “catastrophic consequences” for poorer nations already facing acute food shortages. The US called Moscow’s suspension on Saturday of its

Moscow has suspended its participation in a UN-backed deal with Kyiv that unblocked the movement of Ukrainian grain out of its southern ports, threatening to deepen the global food crisis. Russia linked its decision to pull out of the deal to an attack on Saturday on ships in the port of Sevastopol in the Crimean

Elon Musk has closed his $44bn deal to take Twitter private, bringing an end to one of the most high-profile and dramatic buyout sagas in recent memory after months of legal wrangling between the world’s richest man and the social media platform. As the billionaire entrepreneur took over on Thursday night, he fired Twitter’s chief

More than $550bn has been wiped off the value of the biggest US tech companies this week, with headlong growth stalling because of the slowing global economy and mounting cost pressures. The stock market slump has underlined a surprisingly weak earnings season from the US digital giants, ending a surge in growth during the pandemic

Russia conducted its first major nuclear drills since the start of its war on Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin made unfounded claims that Kyiv was seeking to develop a “dirty bomb”, as Moscow continued to ramp up the rhetoric over possible nuclear use in the conflict. The Russian armed forces on Wednesday practised what defence