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US personal income dropped by 2.7 per cent in August after the lapse of emergency unemployment benefits for millions of Americans, raising fears that lower consumption could dampen the economic recovery. According to data from the commerce department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, the drop in income was worth $543.5bn and larger than economists were predicting.

Republican senators tried to distance themselves from Donald Trump on Wednesday morning, following the US president’s aggressive debate performance and his refusal to condemn white supremacists. In the first presidential debate on Tuesday night, Mr Trump repeatedly interrupted and spoke over Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger, in what quickly devolved into an ugly, acrimonious spectacle.

EY was warned in 2016 by one of its own employees that senior managers at Wirecard may have committed fraud and one had attempted to bribe an auditor. The revelation that an EY employee identified suspicious activity at Wirecard four years before the payments group imploded in Germany’s largest postwar corporate fraud will increase the

European stocks on Monday had their best day since June, leading a global equity market rally driven by investors scooping up shares in beaten-down sectors as a choppy month draws to a close. The region-wide Euro Stoxx 600 index was 2.2 per cent higher, its best showing in three months, with German’s Dax 30 posting

Donald Trump on Sunday raised the prospect of the Supreme Court striking down the Affordable Care Act just a day after announcing his third nominee to the US high court. The healthcare law introduced under Barack Obama is set to be a key flash point in next month’s confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett, Mr

The US government has sanctioned China’s biggest chipmaker, dealing further damage to the country’s semiconductor industry after cutting Huawei off from its chip suppliers. On Friday, the US Department of Commerce told companies that exports to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) posed an “unacceptable risk” of being diverted to “military end use”, according to a copy

Spain’s response to the worst resurgence of coronavirus in Europe was plunged into chaos on Friday as Madrid regional authorities defied a national government call to put the whole capital city under new restrictions. The dispute highlights the governance crisis that has accompanied the pandemic in Spain and the lack of political consensus over how

Donald Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election, sparking further concern about the November 3 poll. “We’re going to have to see what happens,” the president said when asked at a news conference. Mr Trump repeated his mantra that the ballots being posted to millions of voters

The income earned by workers around the world fell more than 10 per cent in the first nine months of 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the International Labour Organization — a loss totalling more than $3.5tn. The estimate, which equates to 5.5 per cent of global gross domestic product, was derived from

Facebook has said it will take aggressive and exceptional measures to “restrict the circulation of content” on its platform if November’s presidential election descends into chaos or violent civic unrest. In an interview with the Financial Times, Nick Clegg, the company’s head of global affairs, said it had drawn up plans for how to handle

European markets tumbled after sharp rises in coronavirus cases across the continent prompted concerns about new lockdowns, dealing a heavy blow to bank and travel shares. London’s FTSE 100 was down 3.4 per cent by mid-morning. Shares in British Airways owner IAG declined 15 per cent, while Trainline shares lost 12 per cent and InterContinental

How apt that much of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s most distinguished work was written in dissent. A Jewish woman from prewar Brooklyn, her rise to the US Supreme Court was itself a kind of “No” — to the hurdles of race, class and above all gender. In 27 years on the bench, she helped to lower

US senators were gearing up for a bitter fight over whether to confirm a new Supreme Court justice just weeks before a presidential election, following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday night. Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, said hours after Ginsburg’s death that he would hold a vote to confirm whoever

TikTok will be removed from US app stores from midnight on Sunday as Washington moves to implement executive orders from President Donald Trump that will also target WeChat, a Chinese social media app, according to a person briefed on the plans. The US commerce department, which issued the orders on Friday, stopped short of forcing Apple

The president of the European Commission said on Thursday she was convinced a trade deal with the UK was still possible despite the “distraction” caused by Boris Johnson’s move to violate the Brexit withdrawal treaty. Ursula von der Leyen said Britain’s decision to pursue legislation overriding elements of the withdrawal agreement had come as a

Boeing hid design flaws in its 737 Max jet from both pilots and regulators as it raced to have the aeroplane certified as fit to fly, according to a damning Congressional report into why two of the aircraft crashed within months of each other last year, killing 346 people. The report by the US House

The global chairman of EY has expressed “regret” that a fraud at collapsed German fintech Wirecard was “not uncovered sooner” and said the Big Four accounting firm would “raise the bar significantly” on its audits, including when verifying bank balances. Carmine Di Sibio, who has run EY since January 2019, wrote to clients amid a

ByteDance has reached a preliminary “technical partnership” agreement with Oracle for TikTok’s US operations that does not include a full sale of the popular video app, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. As part of the deal, Oracle plans to address the national security concerns the Trump administration has raised over the

SoftBank is set to sell the UK’s Arm Holdings to US chip company Nvidia for more than $40bn, just four years after its founder Masayoshi Son bought the chip designer and said it would be the linchpin for the future of the Japanese technology group.  Multiple people with direct knowledge of the matter said a

The UK government was explicitly warned in January that Boris Johnson’s Brexit divorce deal would leave Brussels able to claim jurisdiction over “large amounts” of UK state aid policy after the end of the transition period, documents seen by the Financial Times have revealed. A 10-page official briefing document shows the civil service issued clear

The threat of a turbulent US presidential election is raising the pressure on companies to load up on cheap debt as bankers warn that disruption to financial markets could deny them access to funds on favourable terms. Corporate bond issuance has started strongly in September after companies raised $210bn in August — a record for

Ireland has called on the UK to abandon moves to unpick parts of its Brexit treaty, warning that London risks forfeiting the EU’s trust as time runs out in talks on a free trade deal. Micheál Martin, the Irish premier, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to table a controversial new bill that would modify

LVMH’s planned $16.6bn takeover of US jeweller Tiffany was thrown into jeopardy on Wednesday after the French conglomerate said the deal could not be completed and Tiffany hit back with a lawsuit aimed at forcing it to respect their original agreement. The largest-ever deal in the luxury sector has become the most high-profile example of

Donald Trump raised the prospect of “decoupling” the US economy from China and claimed that America was experiencing “the fastest recovery in US history”, honing his economic messaging as the presidential campaign enters its final stretch. Mr Trump, who made China a central focus of his 2016 campaign, previewed a tougher line on trade with

Shares in SoftBank fell more than 6 per cent in Tokyo on Monday morning after weekend revelations that the Japanese conglomerate was the mystery “whale” that had driven US technology stocks to record highs. The Financial Times reported on Sunday that the group’s trading strategy meant it was now sitting on gains of about $4bn

German automotive giant Daimler has ruled out expanding production in its home country as it prepares for further cost cuts in the face of a sharp fall in global car sales. Ola Kallenius, chief executive of the group, which owns Mercedes-Benz and is the country’s oldest carmaker, told the Financial Times it would invest in

SoftBank is the “Nasdaq whale” that has bought billions of dollars’ worth of US equity derivatives in a move that stoked the fevered rally in big tech stocks before a sharp pullback on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter. The Japanese conglomerate has been snapping up options in tech stocks during the past

US executives sold $6.7bn of stock in their own companies last month, cashing in on a record-breaking market rally with the biggest burst of selling in five years. The dollar value of sales by 1,042 chief executives, chief financial officers and company directors in August topped any month since November 2015, according to figures compiled

The euro’s rise is worrying top policymakers at the European Central Bank, who warn that if the currency keeps appreciating it will weigh on exports, drag down prices and intensify pressure for more monetary stimulus. Several members of the ECB’s governing council told the Financial Times that the euro’s rise against the US dollar and

Switzerland’s financial regulator has begun enforcement proceedings against Credit Suisse over the bank’s corporate espionage scandal. The move advances a probe that Finma launched at the end of last year, marking an escalation in the fallout of the affair that rocked the country’s financial industry last year. Finma opened its investigation after details burst into