Russia’s economy ‘in stagnation’ as war takes toll February 24, 2026 Russia’s economy has “moved into a period of stagnation” after initial war efforts boosted output in the country, amid growing hopes in the West that further sanctions have been successful in limiting its growth. Four years on from the start of President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, economists have flagged the threats faced by [...]
‘I see people doing dumb things’: Jamie Dimon warns of crisis-style AI reckoning February 24, 2026 The world’s most influential banker has drawn parallels to the time before the global financial crisis amid inflated asset prices and peers doing “dumb things”. Jamie Dimon, the top boss of Wall Street behemoth JP Morgan, said: “Unfortunately we did see this in ‘05, ‘06, ‘07, almost the same thing. “The rising tide lifts all [...]
UK unemployment will surpass pandemic high, says JP Morgan February 24, 2026 UK unemployment will brush past its peak in the Covid-19 pandemic, Wall Street’s biggest bank has predicted, as employer’s still feel the brunt of Rachel Reeves’ cash grabs. The rate of unemployed Brits is tipped to reach 5.5 per cent by the late spring, according to a forecast by JP Morgan, which would mark an [...]
Trump calls on Big Tech to protect households from AI power costs February 24, 2026 The White House has requested formal pledges from US tech giants that the swelling data centre boom will not drive up electricity bills for households, as concern mounts over AI’s energy demands. Donald Trump has approached behemoths like Microsoft and Alphabet, who have notoriously rallied behind his administration, about signing voluntary, non-binding agreements committing them [...]
The era of cheap money is coming to an end – markets aren’t ready February 24, 2026 The era of historically cheap money is ending, forcing a potentially permanent adjustment to higher equilibrium interest rates that will challenge financial markets and government finances built on past assumptions, says Damian Pudner For almost a decade until the pandemic, financial markets priced money as if it would remain cheap indefinitely. Governments borrowed freely, financial [...]
Three more interest rate cuts could come, Bank of England official says February 23, 2026 The Bank of England could make three more interest rate cuts in order to reach its neutral level as inflation drops back to two per cent over the coming year, a Monetary Policy Committee member has suggested. Alan Taylor, an external member who has consistently voted for larger interest rate cuts over the past year [...]
Job vacancies at lowest level since 2021 as London worst affected February 23, 2026 The UK’s job market took another hit after total vacancies fell to the lowest level since 2021, with London the region facing the biggest drop in open roles. The number of jobs advertised plummeted 16 per cent year-on-year to January, dipping below 700,000 for the first time since January 2021, according to job search platform [...]
Minimum wage is lowering standards of living, argues Wetherspoons boss February 21, 2026 The founder and chairman of budget pub chain JD Wetherspoon has warned that minimum wage is making lowering people’s living standards by limiting companies’ ability to increase pay and hire. Sir Tim Martin argued that rather than serve as a safety net to protect workers, minimum wage is now doing more harm than good, following [...]
The office isn’t broken. The model was. February 20, 2026 For the first time in a long time, the office market looks set to turn in 2026. Not because sentiment has suddenly improved, but because the fundamentals are finally lining up. Property cycles don’t reset on headlines. They reset when the maths starts working again, and that moment is approaching. Over the last decade, offices [...]
Inheritance tax haul hits another record February 20, 2026 The government raked in a record amount of cash from inheritance tax, as receipts for the unpopular levy were boosted by frozen thresholds sucking in a record number of taxpayers and ballooning asset prices. The exchequer collected a total of £7.1bn between April 2025 and January 2026 from the tax, official HMRC figures show, a [...]