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This year, anybody receiving an annual statement from America’s mighty social security system might notice a tiny ticking time bomb — if they possess sharp eyes. Tucked into a footnote is a website link that explains that the two funds in this system — called “Disability Insurance” and “Old Age and Survivors Insurance” — have

“There is no such thing as public money,” Margaret Thatcher once said, “only taxpayers’ money”. Her dictum is one that Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak should heed in their race to become Britain’s next prime minister. Both candidates for the Conservative leadership, despite repeatedly lionising the Iron Lady, are competing on spending pledges. The former

Few companies ever manage to pull off even a single significant transition in their business. But two in quick succession? Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg talks about overhauling his company’s business as readily as most chief executives discuss their next new product feature. It is one of the legacies of being in social media, where new

The US economy shrank for a second consecutive quarter, meeting one of the common criteria for a technical recession and complicating the Federal Reserve’s push to stamp out soaring inflation with a string of aggressive rate rises. Data published by the commerce department on Thursday showed gross domestic product fell by 0.9 per cent on

Short-dated US government debt rallied on Thursday after data showing the American economy unexpectedly shrunk in the second quarter prompted traders to trim expectations for Federal Reserve rate increases. Yields on two-year Treasury notes, which are sensitive to monetary policy expectations, dipped 0.12 percentage points to 2.85 per cent as the debt jumped in price.

One day in 1956, the Irish civil servant TK Whitaker had a jolt when he saw the cover of Dublin Opinion magazine. An illustration showed an empty Ireland, beside the text “Shortly Available: Undeveloped Country, Unrivalled Opportunities, Magnificent Views, Political and Otherwise, Owners Going Abroad”. Ireland’s model of economic and emotional autarky had failed. Nearly

On the day the UK experienced its hottest day on record, people glued to their TV screens saw a row of burning houses. Rather than fretting like many of us did about the surreal sight of wildfires so close to central London, Mike Fox’s attention was on a power cable in the background of the

The tap water in Ben Archard’s apartment in the Herne Hill neighbourhood of south London flows through toxic lead pipes, increasing the risk of brain damage to his children and prompting him to pay for bottled drinking water. Tests carried out by the local authority this year revealed that more than half of the 96

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has reinstated its dividend for the first time since 2020 after operating profits increased more than fivefold during the energy crisis, buoyed by higher revenues from its oil, gas and nuclear assets. The company, which is the biggest energy retailer in the UK, said on Thursday that it would

Shell has announced record profits for a second consecutive quarter and a $6bn share buyback scheme as the fallout from the war in Ukraine generates bumper earnings for the world’s oil and gas majors. Europe’s largest oil company posted adjusted earnings — the profit measure most closely tracked by analysts — of $11.5bn in the

EDF has reported a record €5.3bn first-half loss and warned that the financial hit from outages at its nuclear plants would worsen in the months ahead, just as the French government prepares to take full control of the utility. The company on Thursday forecast that its output problems, exacerbated by unexpected shutdowns at some reactors

Twitter is struggling with staff departures, falling morale and reduced spending by marketers as Elon Musk’s on-off pursuit of the social media company hits its $4.5bn-a-year advertising business. Company insiders, former staffers and ad industry executives have told the Financial Times that chief executive Parag Agrawal is leading an increasingly fraught effort to keep the

Since the Federal Reserve in March embarked on what has become the fastest pace of interest rate rises since 1981, it has provided painstaking detail about its future plans to tighten monetary policy. On Wednesday, that changed, with chair Jay Powell announcing the US central bank would shy away from offering an official running commentary

Beijing is seeking to mobilise up to Rmb1tn ($148bn) of loans for stalled property developments, in its most ambitious attempt to revive the debt-stricken sector and mollify home buyers who are boycotting mortgage repayments after lengthy construction delays. China’s property sector accounts for about one-third of total output in the world’s second-largest economy. The industry’s

Ford overcame supply chain challenges to report higher vehicle sales and reaffirm its outlook for the year, but is “actively looking” to offset costs as inflationary pressures mount. The automaker reported revenue of $40.2bn in the second quarter, a 50 per cent jump from the same period last year, thanks to a 35 per cent

Wall Street equities finished sharply higher on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve announced its second 0.75 percentage-point interest rate rise in two months. The increase in the federal funds rate to 2.25 per cent to 2.50 per cent was widely expected, and investors were encouraged as Fed chair Jay Powell said the central bank

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark policy rate by 0.75 percentage points for the second month in a row on Wednesday as it doubled down on its aggressive approach to taming soaring inflation despite early signs the US economy is starting to lose steam. At the end of its two-day policy meeting, the Federal Open

Gas and electricity bills for the most vulnerable households in Britain are predicted to soar to an average of £500 a month in January, stoking the cost of living crisis and increasing the pressure on the government to act to save millions of families from energy poverty. The warning from consultancy BFY Group came as

Has the high price of food passed a peak? Even before the UN-brokered grain deal between Kyiv and Moscow gave the green light last week for shipments to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, food commodity prices had been plummeting. Fears of recession, a bumper harvest in Russia and hopes of revived grain trade flows have

The writer is professor of corporate law at the University of Cambridge The Financial Reporting Council has announced a fresh review of the UK Corporate Governance Code, indicating that it will strengthen and expand it. The FRC, likely to be absorbed soon into a new, more powerful regulator — the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority