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Sterling tumbled against the dollar to below $1.09, hitting its lowest point since 1985, after UK chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday unveiled a £45bn debt-financed tax-cutting package that sparked a historic increase in borrowing costs. Kwarteng’s political and economic gamble includes the biggest set of tax cuts for 50 years, with the end of the

Sterling has extended its decline to slip below $1.12, the currency’s weakest point since 1985, as the economy veers towards a recession and the government prepares a mini-Budget in which it promises a number of tax cuts. Friday’s 0.75 per cent decline brings the drop for the year to more than 17 per cent, putting

Credit Suisse has drawn up plans to split its investment bank into three and resurrect a “bad bank” holding pen for risky assets, as the Swiss lender attempts to emerge from three years of relentless scandals. Under proposals put forward to the group’s board, Credit Suisse hopes to sell profitable units such as its securitised

Vladimir Putin said Russia’s armed forces would call up its reserves immediately to support its invasion of Ukraine and indicated Moscow would probably annex large swaths of the country’s territory. In an address to his nation that significantly raised the stakes in the war, the Russian president announced “partial mobilisation” ahead of heavily stage-managed votes

Hedge funds are betting that a tumble in shares of UK asset management companies including Abrdn and Ashmore will accelerate as a brutal bear market dents their investment performance and ability to attract new business. Ken Griffin’s Citadel, Steve Cohen’s Point72 and Marshall Wace are among those running bets on lower share prices for listed

European and Asian stock markets turned higher on Tuesday as investors awaited a closely watched interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve. The regional Stoxx Europe 600 share gauge added 0.8 per cent in early dealings. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9 per cent as traders returned to their desks following a UK public holiday

Mike Ashley is to quit as a director of Frasers Group next month, stepping back from the UK retailer that he originally founded as Sports Direct four decades ago. Ashley set up Sports Direct in 1982, changing the name to Frasers after he bought the department store chain in 2018. Michael Murray, Ashley’s son-in-law, became

Dozens of Hong Kong citizens who gathered outside the city’s British consulate to watch the Queen’s funeral on Monday evening used the event to display rare public defiance against local authorities. More than 100 people were outside the building to watch the event on a live stream, despite the British consulate not holding any public

In life Elizabeth II inspired admiration in the world’s most powerful people with almost mysterious ease. In death, under a sunny London sky, she managed the feat one last time. Rarely has one place felt so filled with status and so empty of malice as Westminster Abbey did on Monday. That much was confirmed a

In December 1967, five young typists in an office in Surbiton decided to work an extra half an hour unpaid each day to help Britain’s struggling economy. Within days, their “I’m backing Britain” campaign snowballed. More workers joined in, badges were made and Bruce Forsyth recorded a single. An editorial in the Financial Times called

In 2013, the US investment bank Morgan Stanley dubbed Indonesia as one the “fragile five”, a group of emerging economies that it believed were especially vulnerable to a jump in interest rates in the US.  Almost a decade later, US interest rates are rising sharply, which is adding to the economic problems in the developing

Liz Truss will tell world leaders this week that Britain will match or exceed the £2.3bn it committed to Ukraine’s war effort against Russia in 2022 next year on her first overseas trip as UK prime minister. Truss, who met many leaders on the margins of Queen Elizabeth’s state funeral in London on Monday, will

The UK retail and hospitality industries have called on new chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to provide urgent financial support in his mini-Budget on Friday to offset the “cost of business” crisis unleashed by surging inflation. Britain’s retailers have warned inflation will add a further £800mn to business rates in the coming year because of the way the

Liz Truss has admitted that a UK-US trade deal, long seen as one of the biggest prizes of Brexit, is not on the horizon, as she arrived in New York on her first overseas trip as prime minister. Brexit supporters insisted that the 2016 Leave vote would open the way for a free trade agreement

One of the leading contenders to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister has said he will not stand in the forthcoming leadership contest, as other Conservative MPs prepare to launch their campaigns. Defence secretary Ben Wallace was the favourite among the Tory grassroots, with a net approval rating of +86 among party members according to

Rishi Sunak, who quit as Boris Johnson’s chancellor this week, launched his bid to lead the Conservative party on Friday with a pledge that he will avoid “comforting fairy tales”. His video to launch his campaign appeared a coded attack on what many MPs have seen as the prime minister’s Panglossian approach to policy. “Someone

Boris Johnson has announced his “painful” resignation but defied pressure to step down immediately as prime minister, insisting he would remain in office until a new Conservative party leader is chosen. In an address in front of No 10 Downing Street, after days of turmoil and mass resignations from his government, he accused his party

Boris Johnson’s turbulent three-year premiership was nearing its end on Wednesday night after he was urged to quit by a delegation of his closest cabinet allies. The UK prime minister was warned that unless he stepped down there would be further cabinet resignations, followed by an inevitable humiliating defeat by Tory MPs in a no-confidence