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US drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly have become the first pharmaceutical groups to pull out of a pricing agreement with the UK government in protest at a sharp rise in the levy on branded medicines. Eli Lilly said the levy, which now amounts to more than a quarter of pharmaceutical industry revenue in the UK,

US companies are turning to convertible bonds as fundraising in Wall Street’s main equities market is at its lowest level for three decades. December was the busiest month of last year for convertible issuance by deal count according to Refinitiv data, as activity picked up over the second half of 2022. The amount US-based companies

Chinese authorities reported nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths at hospitals across the country since the end of strict pandemic restrictions in December, following criticism from groups including the World Health Organization for underrepresenting the severity of its outbreak. Jiao Yahui, director of the medical affairs department for China’s National Health Commission, said there had been a

BlackRock’s Larry Fink has admitted that “negative markets had a substantial impact” on the world’s largest fund manager last year, wiping out $1.4tn of its assets and hitting profits. In an internal memo seen by the Financial Times, the chief executive said the operating environment “is unlike anything we’ve seen in decades”. His comments come

Annual US inflation fell in December to its lowest level in more than a year, in a further sign that price pressures have peaked amid the Federal Reserve’s historic campaign to tighten monetary policy. The consumer price index, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday, declined for a sixth consecutive month, registering an

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said the UK government wanted to have a “constructive dialogue” with unions, as ambulance staff across England and Wales launched industrial action over pay and working conditions. Workers from the GMB and Unison unions have begun industrial action in 10 out of the 11 ambulance trusts in England and Wales, after

Amazon is closing three UK warehouses this year, a move that will affect 1,200 staff, as the internet retailing giant cuts costs following a squeeze in consumer spending. The closures at fulfilment centres in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, Doncaster in South Yorkshire, and Gourock in Scotland were announced on Tuesday, a week after the tech

UK government ministers are meeting union bosses on Monday in a bid to avert a fresh round of public sector strikes, as teachers’ unions ballot their members for action. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the meetings last week after the rail and health systems were crippled by a series of stoppages, with unions threatening more

EY is setting aside $2.5bn to fund an acquisition spree for its consulting arm following its planned separation from the Big Four firm’s audit business, as it presses ahead with preparations for the historic split. The war chest will allow the new company, which EY is aiming to float in New York, to double the

Kevin McCarthy has been elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives, ending a tortuous week of wheeling and dealing on Capitol Hill that exposed sharp divisions in the Republican party and raised fresh questions about whether Congress can govern effectively in the years to come. McCarthy was elected Speaker just after midnight on Saturday

Rishi Sunak has invited Britain’s trade union leaders to talks on Monday in an attempt to find a solution to the wave of disruptive strikes across the UK. The UK prime minister said in a broadcast interview on Friday that government departments had written to the relevant unions inviting them for talks to begin on

Inflation in the US has not “turned the corner yet” and it is too early for the Federal Reserve to declare victory in its fight against soaring prices, a top IMF official has warned. In an interview with the Financial Times Gita Gopinath, the fund’s second-in-command, urged the US central bank to press ahead with

British household energy bills are forecast to be lower than previously anticipated in 2023, dropping below the level of the government’s price guarantee in the second half of the year. Analysts have sharply reduced their estimates for domestic energy bills after unseasonably warm weather across Europe in recent weeks has led to lower gas usage

The UK will face one of the worst recessions and weakest recoveries in the G7 in the coming year, as households pay a heavy price for the government’s policy failings, economists say. A clear majority of the 101 respondents in the FT’s annual poll of leading UK-based economists said the inflationary shock caused by the

A third of the global economy will be hit by recession this year, the head of the IMF has said, as she warned that the world faces a “tougher” year in 2023 than the previous 12 months. The US, EU and China are all slowing simultaneously, said IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva. “We expect one-third

Pension funds should be “extremely careful” when investing in illiquid assets, as rising interest rates and falling stock markets increase the likelihood of their having to access cash quickly, the OECD has warned. In the recent era of low interest rates, pension funds poured money into alternative investments, such as infrastructure projects and private equity,

Global stocks and bonds lost more than $30tn for 2022 after inflation, interest rate rises and the war in Ukraine triggered the heaviest losses in asset markets since the global financial crisis. The broad MSCI All-World index of developed and emerging market equities has shed a fifth of its value this year, the biggest decline

UK house prices fell for the fourth consecutive month in December, marking the longest contraction since the 2008 financial crisis, as rising interest rates deterred prospective buyers. Prices contracted 0.1 per cent between November and December, following falls every month since September, according to figures provided by Nationwide, the mortgage provider. It was the worst

Silicon Valley workers are rushing to offload stakes in tech start-ups through private share sales after a wave of job cuts, compounding a collapse in valuations. Employees of embattled tech groups are flooding secondary markets — where stakeholders in a private company sell shares to third parties — as the industry’s former darlings such as

Some of the UK’s largest banks have agreed measures with the government to help struggling borrowers as they brace for a surge in late mortgage payments. The so-called forbearance measures, which were used during the 2008 financial crisis, are an attempt by banks including HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest to avoid repossessions and