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Facebook has misled investors about the size of its audience and concealed a years-long decline in younger users in the US, said Frances Haugen, a whistleblower, in a complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The drop in younger users continued even during the coronavirus pandemic, when overall social media use surged. “During Covid,

Oil prices jumped to the highest level in at least three years after Opec and its allies agreed to stick with existing oil production plans, resisting calls to help damp soaring global energy prices to protect the economic recovery. Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, rose 3 per cent on Monday to trade as high

Senior Democrats say they are willing to lower the $3.5tn cost of the spending measures in Joe Biden’s signature package to boost America’s social safety net, following days of infighting that has threatened to derail the president’s economic agenda. Party leaders have given members another month to come to an agreement over the package, which

US private equity group Clayton, Dubilier and Rice has triumphed in the four-month long takeover battle for Wm Morrison with a bid of £9.97bn including debt for the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket. The fate of the grocer, which was founded in 1899 and has been a quoted company since 1967, was sealed in an auction process

The political fight over the US debt ceiling spilled into the $22tn Treasury market for the first time on Friday, as investors dumped short-term bills that mature around the time the US could run out of cash. The yield on Treasury bills that mature on October 21, three days after the date by which Treasury

Nancy Pelosi appeared determined to press ahead with a make-or-break vote on Joe Biden’s $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill in the US House of Representatives on Thursday, even as progressive lawmakers threatened to sink the flagship piece of the president’s legislative agenda. “We are proceeding in a very positive way to bring up the bill . . . in a

Democrats in Congress are scrambling to find a way to raise the US debt ceiling and avert what a chorus of executives and policymakers are warning would be a “catastrophic” default in less than three weeks. Republicans have repeatedly refused to support an increase in the country’s borrowing limit. On Tuesday the opposition party, led

Wall Street and European stock markets dropped sharply as fears of interest rate increases and stagflation upended a narrative of economic recovery and easy monetary policy that has supported asset prices for months. The blue-chip S&P 500 share index fell nearly 1.7 per cent while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.5 per cent. Europe’s Stoxx

The parties that hold Germany’s balance of power said they would start talks to decide who they want to join in government after the Social Democrats’ narrow election win over Angela Merkel’s ruling conservatives. The Greens and the liberal Free Democrats have emerged as kingmakers after Sunday’s historic vote, which the SPD, led by Olaf

Germany’s two main parties are neck and neck after Sunday’s election, according to first exit polls from voting to determine who will succeed Angela Merkel as leader of Europe’s largest economy. An exit poll from public broadcaster ARD put both the left-of-centre Social Democrats and the centre-right CDU/CSU on 25 per cent, with the Greens

The world’s financial markets rarely sit glued to their screens waiting for the no-nonsense Norges Bank to pronounce its verdict on Norway’s monetary policy. This week was different. The 0.25 percentage point rise in its interest rate was the most visible expression yet of a turn in the monetary policy cycle that is spreading across

US prosecutors have reached an agreement with Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei and daughter of the Chinese tech giant’s founder, to resolve fraud charges against her. The details of the agreement are set to be announced in a court hearing in Brooklyn at 1pm, Eastern time, according to a letter from Nicole

Deepening worries over Evergrande have ignited selling in a $428bn corner of the Asian debt market, underscoring how the crisis at the Chinese property developer is spreading to other assets as traders and investors brace for a crucial payment deadline on Thursday. Yields on US dollar-denominated bonds issued by riskier Asian borrowers have soared to

The US has vowed to support European countries hit by an energy supply crunch blamed by some officials and traders on Russia, and said it would “stand up” to suppliers accused of manipulating prices. Surging gas costs due to tight supply and low reserves have forced European governments to draw up plans to provide emergency

The International Energy Agency has called on Russia to send more gas to Europe to help alleviate the energy crisis, becoming the first major international body to address claims by traders and foreign officials that Moscow has restricted supplies. The Paris-based body said that while Russia was fulfilling its long-term contracts to European customers it

Shares in Chinese and Hong Kong property groups fell to their lowest levels in half a decade as an escalating liquidity crisis at developer Evergrande showed signs of spreading beyond the sector. Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, faces obligations of more than $300bn to creditors and other businesses and a crucial interest payment

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison defended his decision to renege on a submarine deal with the French government as acrimony intensified over Canberra’s decision to sign a new security pact with the US and UK. Morrison said he did “not regret the decision to put Australia’s national interest first” in comments that came just hours

France has recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra for consultations, in a diplomatic protest against a new security pact under which Australia will buy nuclear-powered submarines from the US and cancel its existing contract with Paris.  Jean-Yves Le Drian, French foreign minister, issued a statement on Friday night saying he had been told to

Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration have begun debating whether to recommend authorising Pfizer’s application to offer widespread booster doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. Members of the regulator’s vaccine advisory committee are expected to vote at the end of Friday’s meeting on whether to endorse a third dose of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine. While

Taiwan and Japan have hailed the potential for a new security pact between Australia, the UK and US to offset an increasingly assertive China, even as France reacted with fury to Canberra’s cancellation of a $90bn submarine programme to agree the deal. The US allies said the new AUKUS partnership, under which Canberra will procure