Global dealmaking activity had its strongest start to the year in four decades, fuelled by a flurry of US acquisitions and Spac mergers, even as the global economy reels from the impact of lockdowns and coronavirus restrictions. Deals worth $1.3tn were agreed in the three months to March 30, more than any first quarter since
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Joe Biden is proposing to plough $2tn in government spending into US infrastructure alongside $2tn in higher corporate taxes, in the first stage of a multitrillion-dollar effort to reshape the world’s largest economy. The White House released details of the plan ahead of a speech by the US president in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, with administration
The biggest counterparties of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital last week discussed ways to limit the market fallout from his collapsing bets on stocks including ViacomCBS, according to four people briefed on the talks, but the effort foundered and paved the way for days of chaotic trading. Before the troubles at the family office burst into
Archegos Capital, a private investment firm, was behind billions of dollars worth of share sales that captivated Wall Street on Friday — a fire sale that has left traders scrambling to calculate how much more it has to offload, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The fund, which had large exposures to ViacomCBS
Wall Street traders are hunting for the source of a distressed stock selling spree that caused a sharp slide in several Chinese technology companies and US media groups on Friday. The mysterious share sales, worth almost $19bn, sparked rumours that a hedge fund or family office had blown up and was moving to wind down
European governments have warned that their hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed by Covid-19 cases as leaders struggle to get a grip on the pandemic after a week of ill-conceived lockdown measures and recriminations over the EU’s slow vaccine rollout. German health authorities on Friday warned that the third wave of coronavirus infections could
US president Joe Biden declared “hope is on the way” as he doubled his goal for coronavirus vaccinations to 200m within his first 100 days in office and trumpeted his $1.9tn fiscal stimulus deal for already delivering a stronger recovery. Biden’s optimism in the fight against the coronavirus and the economic downturn came on Thursday
Frantic efforts are under way to unblock the Suez Canal after one of the world’s largest container ships ran aground, severing a vital trade artery and threatening to disrupt global shipments for days. The Ever Given container ship, which is almost as long as the Empire State Building is tall, is wedged across the southern
AstraZeneca might have included outdated information from a clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine, a US health agency said on Tuesday, potentially throwing previously published positive results into doubt. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said it had been notified by the trial’s data and safety monitoring board that “it was concerned by
WeWork lost $3.2bn last year as Covid-19 shut its co-working spaces around the world, the office provider has revealed in a pitch for $1bn in new investment and a stock market listing. Documents shown to prospective investors described losses that narrowed from $3.5bn in 2019, as WeWork slashed capital expenditure from $2.2bn in 2019 to
The writer is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank Until recently, most generals and admirals retired to a quiet life. But that is changing as the Davos world of mostly frictionless global business is replaced by a new reality in which companies can be caught in the crossfire of geopolitical confrontation. Executives
Former US president Donald Trump will soon return to social media with “his own platform”, one of his senior advisers has said, following the permanent ban on his account by Twitter. Jason Miller, Trump’s senior adviser, told Fox News that Trump would be “returning to social media in probably about two or three months here,
When Turkey raised interest rates more than market expectations last week, Naci Agbal was cheered by investors who viewed the move as more evidence that the central bank governor was willing and able to pursue a conventional monetary policy. Two days later, he was out of a job — the third governor President Recep Tayyip
Once every generation or so, America’s social contract changes. After half a century in which capital has been in the driving seat, Joe Biden has a chance to tilt the advantage back to labour. Such an opportunity would have been unthinkable a year ago. The US left can thank the pandemic for this change in
Boris Johnson, British prime minister, will this week urge EU national capitals to veto a suggestion from Brussels that would block AstraZeneca vaccine exports to the UK and push post-Brexit relations to a new low. London has laid claim to millions of doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab produced at a Dutch factory, sparking a
Airbnb is using seemingly independent groups of hosts on the platform to lobby policymakers and help it fend off threats to its business model from tighter regulation. The accommodation-booking platform has more than 400 “home-sharing clubs”, groups of owners who use Airbnb to rent out rooms. Airbnb says the clubs exist to help owners “build
Tending to his fields one crisp winter morning, Chandra Singh Rana saw what looked like smoke emerging from the wooded slopes and snow-capped peaks that led to Nanda Devi, one of the world’s tallest mountains. The accompanying roar sent the 77-year-old, his grandson and fellow residents of Reni, a village nestled up in the Indian
Traders are preparing for a jolt of volatility in the Turkish lira after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan sacked the country’s central bank chief, who was regarded as a key force in pulling the lira from historic lows last year. The removal of Naci Agbal, announced in the early hours of Saturday, shocked many local and
The top US immigration official said authorities were expelling the majority of migrants crossing the southern border, as the Biden administration battled a growing political crisis over the surging number of children entering the US. “The message is quite clear, do not come,” Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC. “The border is closed. The border is secure.
Economists are cutting growth forecasts for the eurozone economy as a third wave of Covid-19 infections and vaccination delays spur tighter restrictions in several countries including France, Italy and Germany. The reintroduction of lockdown measures across Europe is fuelling concerns that the region could suffer another disappointing summer tourism season if vaccinations do not speed