Leah Quinn

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

A low-value byproduct of cereal farming could find high-value uses in construction and packaging

For up-to-the-minute news updates, visit our live blog Good evening. As the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England prepare for their final monetary policy meetings this year, speculation continues that the rate-lifting cycle that has dominated since Covid-19 lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not only over, but could be reversed in 2024. However, economists have warned that the BoE faces a tougher job than its peers in reducing consumer price inflatio…

For up-to-the-minute news updates, visit our live blog Good evening. Artificial intelligence has dominated conversations between political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week as questions are raised over the future of the burgeoning technology. Who looks set to win the race? And on a spectrum from complete utopia to the robots stealing our jobs, just how much regulation will be required to rein in this technological innovation? A survey published at the beginn…

Good morning. The founders and top executives of the largest private equity groups in the US have seen the value of their shares rise by more than $40bn since the beginning of 2023 as new assets have poured into their firms. Shares in Blackstone, KKR, Apollo Global, Ares Management and TPG have neared or eclipsed record highs due to better-than-feared financial results. Those earnings were buoyed by growth in the firms’ overall assets, particularly credit and insurance-based investment operati…

Good morning. The chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering scrapping the non-dom tax regime: in a story that will have caused both Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves to sit bolt upright upon reading it. Some thoughts on that below. Labour’s plan to replace the existing non-dom system does an awful lot of work: it promises the funds to the NHS workforce and to breakfast clubs in primary schools, both of which will be a big part of their “retail offer” to voters at the election. And it is a not-particul…

Will the Tories’ spring Budget shift the political dial?

Good morning. The Philippines is pressing the US and its allies to boost trade and investment in the country as escalating tensions between Manila and Beijing spark fears of a wider economic fallout. Economic security should become central to the strategic relationships that the Philippines is building with its allies, said Alfredo Pascual, trade and industry secretary, in an interview with the Financial Times. “It is significant because if we are economically secure, we could also afford to st…

Would you let your boss examine your social media? For many of us, the answer would be a firm no. What about allowing your manager to tell you what to post? It may sound dystopian but increasingly workers are willing to post on their employer’s behalf. A number of companies have identified marketing potential in staff’s personal X, LinkedIn or Instagram profiles and, in what are innocuously known as “employee advocacy programmes”, are encouraging workers to share positive news about the company…

Optimistic thinking on AI, Silicon Valley Bank in China, and considering your goals in reverse