- Friday, June 05, 2026
BusinessDay
There are many different ways that Britain’s departure from the EU could end up before the European Court of Justice,...
Donald Trump has said he plans to begin pulling out of a 12-country Pacific trade deal championed by the Obama...
There are many different ways that Britain’s departure from the EU could end up before the European Court of Justice,...
Janet Yellen has stressed the importance of central bank independence in her first public remarks since Donald Trump’s election victory...
Germany’s finance minister has set a tough line on EU divorce talks with Britain on issues from tax breaks to...
JPMorgan has agreed to pay a fine of more than $200m to settle a US probe into its employment of...
The EU’s Brexit negotiators are pushing for a draft UK exit deal by mid 2018 as part of a narrow,...
A global bond market rout intensified yesterday while the dollar strengthened as investors bet that US president elect Donald Trump’s commitment to economic stimulus will herald faster growth and the return of inflation. Since Mr Trump’s surprise win in last week’s election, investors have begun to question long held consensus forecasts for subdued inflation and mediocre growth that underpinned a rally in bonds over the summer. Yields on US, UK, German and Japanese government debt are now rising from record lows and fixed income investors have lost nearly $1tn since the election. “It is a sea change in thinking with Trump being elected,” said Margie Patel, a senior portfolio manager with Wells Fargo Fund Management. “We are in a new paradigm and it opens the door to the possibility that we have seen the end of 35 years of declining rates. Could we be on the cusp of seeing rates rise? It’s too soon to say.” The 30 years US Treasury yield jumped above 3 per cent for the first time since January before paring its losses while 10year yields rose 4 basis points to 2.19 per cent, the highest level since January. Ten years UK gilt yields regained preBrexit vote levels, while the yield on the German 30year bond briefly moved above 1 per cent for the first time since early May. Yields rise as bond prices fall. The dollar index rose back over the 100 point mark it last hit in December. The dollar has also strengthened against its major rivals, with the euro falling 1 per cent to $1.0747 and the yen 1.3 per cent weaker at ¥108.06 per dollar. The pound dropped 0.8 per cent to $1.2494....
Russia launched a renewed offensive across Syria yesterday hours after Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict with Donald Trump amid questions...
What is going on between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump? That question hung over the US election. Now that Mr...
Britain and France have snubbed a contentious EU emergency meeting to align the bloc’s approach to Donald Trump’s election, exposing rifts in Europe over the US vote. Hailed by diplomats as a chance to “send a signal of what the EU expects” from Mr Trump, the plan fell into disarray last night after foreign ministers from the bloc’s two main military powers declined to attend the gathering demanded by Berlin and Brussels. The setback comes as markets wait for Mr Trump to unveil key appointments. They are watching for a sign of which face the president elect wishes to present to the world: appointing campaign head Steve Bannon to chief of staff will send a different message than giving the job to the more moderate Reince Priebus, Republican National Committee chairman. The split in Europe highlights the difficulties capitals face in coordinating a response to Mr Trump, who has questioned the US commitment to Nato and hinted at seeking a rapprochement with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Mr Trump at the weekend met Nigel Farage, the populist Brexit campaigner who has become the first foreign politician to meet the future US leader. Carl Bildt, the former Swedish prime minister, tweeted: “If Trump wanted to look statesmanlike to Europe, receiving Farage was the worst thing he could do.” British foreign secretary Boris Johnson dropped out of the Brussels meeting, with officials arguing that it created an air of panic, while French foreign minister JeanMarc Ayrault opted to stay in Paris to meet the new UN secretary general. Hungary’s foreign minister boycotted the meeting, saying some EU leaders were being “hysterical”. The combination of Mr Trump’s election and Britain’s vote to leave the EU had triggered calls for a total overhaul of the EU’s foreign and defence policy, with Berlin and Paris demanding greater integration. “If the US disengages from Europe, we need to look after our own security,” said one EU diplomat. Ministers will discuss plans such as bolstering the EU’s ambition to mount joint operations during a scheduled meeting today, which Mr Johnson and Mr Ayrault will attend. Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg at the weekend warned the US and its European partners against “going it alone” on defence matters. Mr Johnson’s refusal to attend will add to a difficult relationship with German counterpart FrankWalter Steinmeier, who has said he cannot bear to be in the same room as the British minister. Mr Steinmeier said it was good the EU was discussing Mr Trump. Additional reporting by Stefan Wagstyl in Berlin, Alex Barker in Brussels, George Parker in London, Andrew Byrne in Budapest and AnneSylvaine Chassany in Paris...
A global bond market rout intensified yesterday while the dollar strengthened as investors bet that US president elect Donald Trump’s commitment to economic stimulus will herald faster growth and the return of inflation. Since Mr Trump’s surprise win in last week’s election, investors have begun to question long held consensus forecasts for subdued inflation and mediocre growth that underpinned a rally in bonds over the summer. Yields on US, UK, German and Japanese government debt are now rising from record lows and fixed income investors have lost nearly $1tn since the election. “It is a sea change in thinking with Trump being elected,” said Margie Patel, a senior portfolio manager with Wells Fargo Fund Management. “We are in a new paradigm and it opens the door to the possibility that we have seen the end of 35 years of declining rates. Could we be on the cusp of seeing rates rise? It’s too soon to say.” The 30-year US Treasury yield jumped above 3 per cent for the first time since January before paring its losses while 10-year yields rose 4 basis points to 2.19 per cent, the highest level since January. Ten-year UK gilt yields regained pre Brexit vote levels, while the yield on the German 30-year bond briefly moved above 1 per cent for the first time since early May. Yields rise as bond prices fall. The dollar index rose back over the 100-point mark it last hit in December. The dollar has also strengthened against its major rivals, with the euro falling 1 per cent to $1.0747 and the yen 1.3 per cent weaker at ¥108.06 per dollar. The pound dropped 0.8 per cent to $1.2494. The sell off has hit emerging markets and yields have soared in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Mexican sovereign dollar bonds maturing in 2026 slid below par for the first time since February. “Markets are betting that Trump will implement much of his domestic agenda of a fiscal boost and deregulation while ditching most of his international agenda of protectionism and...
Tesco Bank ignored warning signs that its vulnerable software was being targeted by cyber criminals for months before thousands of its customers had money stolen a week ago, according to internet security experts. The cyber attack on Tesco Bank forced the company to repay £2.5m of losses to 9,000 customers in a heist described as unprecedented by regulators. It is being investigated by several authorities, including the National Crime Agency. The financial offshoot of the UK’s largest supermarket group has not said how the money was stolen. However, two cyber security specialists told the Financial Times that Tesco was targeted by hackers and had weaknesses in its mobile apps months before the largescale attack took place. CyberInt, an Israeli company that analyses online data, said it had found evidence that Tesco Bank customers’ current accounts, savings accounts and credit card details were being traded on the dark web the unsearchable part of the internet used mainly by criminals. Separately, mobile app testing firm Codified Security said its researchers found a number of vulnerabilities in the apps of both Tesco and Tesco Bank this year, but its attempts to inform the company were either rebuffed or ignored. “The number of times that we tried to reach out to Tesco and got no response is quite shocking,” said Martin Alderson, chief executive of Codified Security. “I think it speaks volumes as to how seriously they take the security of their company.” Tesco Bank said it received “lots of offers of support from consultants all the time” but it had “a firstclass team working around the clock”. The money was stolen by a criminal gang purchasing thousands of lowpriced goods using contactless mobile phone payments at retailers in the US and Brazil, including Best Buy, according to The Sunday Times. Elad Ben Meir, vicepresident of CyberInt, said some of the supermarket group’s sites allowed unlimited login attempts from the same IP address, making them easier to hack. In one dark web chatroom conversation a month ago seen by the FT, a hacker referred to Tesco Bank as a “money machine” and asked for someone to partner up to help “crack Tesco accounts” and make “serious money”. Using the alias Tunnel, the hacker said: “I used to cash them out. I was easily making £1,000 a week, man.” ...
An effort by the Chinese Communist party to revive the term “comrade” has raised eyebrows among the country’s gay community, which has embraced the revolutionary greeting. President Xi Jinping is trying to restore discipline in a sprawling, 88mmember party after years in which cadres chased economic growth and personal gain. This month the party sought to bolster its credentials as a classless revolutionary organisation by ordering members to greet each other as “comrade” and eliminate the growing importance attached to rank and titles. In corporate offices, and particularly within the party, the trend towards using titles and the obsequious fawning that accompanies them has galled purists. A document entitled Norms of political life within the party under current conditions came out this month after a meeting at which Mr Xi was designated the “core” of the party. “To uphold the democratic and equal relations between comrades within the party, [party members] must call each other comrades,” it read. That has bemused gay men, who have adopted “comrade” as a sign of affection and unity in an often hostile society. Newspapers that reported the order had to quickly close their articles to comments but one on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, criticised gays for coopting the word, suggesting it was they who “tarnished the word comrade”. The “comrade” move follows other efforts to purify the rank and file, including a campaign to copy the constitution by hand and a crackdown on corruption that has eradicated many of the perks that state employees enjoy. After the Communist party won the Chinese civil war, “comrade” became the standard form of greeting for all citizens, male and female. But by the 1990s the term was already seen as outmoded. China was opening up, the economy was booming and people began using the Chinese terms for “mister”, “miss” or “madame”. Only top party leaders still use comrade publicly. Meanwhile, the gay community was slowly asserting itself and expropriating “comrade”. In 1989, Hong Kong playwright Edward Lam promoted the term to replace derogatory words and to shift perceptions of homosexuality. “Comrade” was enthusiastically taken up in Taiwan, where the socially conservative KMT had ruled since 1949, and from there made its way to mainland China. Lucy Hornby ...
A global bond market rout intensified yesterday while the dollar strengthened as investors bet that US president-elect Donald Trump’s commitment...
