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UK mortgage approvals rose unexpectedly in June, despite further increases in interest rates. Bank of England statistics showed net mortgage approvals for house purchases rose to 54,700 from 51,100 the previous month, while approvals for remortgaging rose to 39,100 from 34,100. Analysts had expected the housing market to slow in a month when stubbornly high

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

Economists and analysts are increasingly hopeful that the Federal Reserve can avoid pushing the US into a recession, as inflation slows and strong growth persists despite 11 interest rate increases. The Fed this week raised rates by another quarter percentage point to the highest level in 22 years. But a flurry of upbeat data has

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

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

NatWest shareholders have ramped up pressure on chair Sir Howard Davies to step down for mishandling the fallout from the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. “He’s clearly not in charge,” said a top-20 investor on Tuesday. “Banking is about trust and confidence. That’s sacrosanct and starts with the tone from the top.” NatWest chief

NatWest chief executive Alison Rose has agreed to step down after she admitted to inaccurately briefing a BBC journalist about the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account. Rose will leave with immediate effect, the bank said in a statement. Paul Thwaite, chief executive of the bank’s commercial and institutional business, will take over for 12

Credit Suisse has been fined $388mn by US and British regulators for “significant failures in risk management and governance” related to the collapse of Archegos Capital, which caused a $5.5bn trading loss and helped bring about the demise of the Swiss lender. The US Federal Reserve imposed a $269mn penalty on the bank for “unsafe

Powerful Republican donors and billionaires Ken Griffin and Nelson Peltz are rethinking plans to support the US presidential bid of Ron DeSantis over concerns that the Florida governor has veered too far to the right. They have been discouraged by DeSantis’s interventionist policies, people familiar with their thinking told the Financial Times. Griffin objects to

The message of Thursday’s three UK by-elections was muddied somewhat by the Conservatives’ success in clinging on to the seat Boris Johnson vacated in outer London. But it was clear enough: this was a disastrous night for the Tories. Striking swings to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in northern and south-west England respectively confirm that

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives have narrowly held on to the Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat in an unexpected UK parliamentary by-election result but were poised to lose two other seats in a night of political drama. Sunak’s ruling party retained the London seat vacated by former premier Boris Johnson by fewer than 500 votes, but the

European stocks and Wall Street futures slipped on Thursday after tech earnings disappointed, while investors prepared for key central banks meetings next week.  Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 lost 0.2 per cent, dragged lowed by declining technology stocks, while France’s Cac 40 gave up 0.1 per cent and Germany’s Dax slipped 0.2 per cent at the

The biggest US banks spent more than $1bn on severance costs during the first six months of 2023, underscoring the steep price of unwinding Wall Street’s overexpansion during the coronavirus pandemic. Goldman Sachs, which has been hit particularly hard by the slowdown in trading and investment banking, on Wednesday became the latest big bank to

Vladimir Putin ordered the seizure of Danone and Carlsberg’s Russian operations after businessmen close to the Kremlin expressed an interest in the assets, according to people close to the decision. On Tuesday the government appointed Yakub Zakriev, Chechnya’s agriculture minister, as head of the Danone business and installed Teimuraz Bolloev, a longtime friend of Putin,

The UK’s financial regulator and information watchdog will warn banks that they cannot hide behind data protection rules if they fail to alert savers to better deals. Under pressure to pass on the benefits of higher rates, banks told the Financial Conduct Authority at a meeting earlier this month that they could not tell certain

Microsoft moved a step closer to sealing its contentious $75bn purchase of Activision Blizzard with the announcement on Sunday that arch-rival Sony has signed a licence for the games company’s most popular title, Call of Duty, after the deal is completed. The agreement signalled a truce between the two gaming giants after a bruising 18-month

The Pentagon’s annual funding bill is set to become the focus of a political showdown after Republicans inserted “anti-woke” social provisions into the legislation. The bill — known as the National Defense Authorization Act — is normally shielded from the most bitter partisan bickering and often passes with support from both political parties. But on

Three of the largest US banks reported a surge in profits from charging more for loans, as the Federal Reserve’s series of interest rate rises fattened their bottom lines. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo collectively earned $49bn in net interest income in the second quarter, the difference between what the banks pay for deposits

Rishi Sunak on Thursday accepted in full the recommendations of independent pay review bodies to give key public sector workers wage rises of about 6.5 per cent, telling trade unions to call off strikes now. The prime minister agreed the awards for 2023-24 after talks with chancellor Jeremy Hunt, when he was reassured they could

Rishi Sunak is expected on Thursday to back pay rises of about 6 per cent for public sector workers in 2023-24, but only after ministers were ordered to find significant savings from their Whitehall budgets. The prime minister said any pay rises for this year had to be responsible and could not be funded by