Is austerity in the UK really over after 2018's budget?
Philip Hammond knew what he had to do. With Theresa May sitting behind him, the chancellor’s job was to put flesh on the bones of the prime minister’s promise to the British public...
UK government borrowing target back on track
Philip Hammond’s plan to bring down the government’s annual borrowing was back on track last month after a blowout in August that knocked the chancellor off course.
Public sector net borrowing in September, excluding...
Bank of England raises alarm over surge in high-risk lending
The Bank of England has issued a stark warning over the rapid growth in lending to indebted companies around the world, drawing parallels with the US sub-prime mortgage market that triggered the 2008...
Italian deputy PM threatens to sue EU boss over budget criticism
The Italian deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, has threatened to sue Jean-Claude Juncker for damages, accusing the EU president of pushing up Rome’s cost of borrowing by likening Italy to Greece.
Salvini, who is...
Italy's budget drama – all you need to know
Why all the excitement about the Italian budget?
The financial markets are het up about events in Rome for three reasons. First, Italy is the third biggest economy in the eurozone after Germany and...
Money for nothing? Dire Straits launch back catalogue bond
First it was David Bowie selling his own “Bowie bonds”, and now fans of Dire Straits are being given the chance to invest in the band’s multimillion-selling back catalogue.
A new investment scheme has...
UK bookies beware: US will look after its own in betting revolution
The estimate that $150bn-worth (£110bn) of sports bets are placed illegally in the US every year may be exaggerated but nobody doubts the true figure is enormous. That it is why it is...
The Guardian view on QE: the economy needs more than a magic money tree...
When running for the Labour leadership, Jeremy Corbyn wanted a “people’s quantitative easing” to boost the economy. It was frostily dismissed in 2015 as being forbidden by provisions in the Lisbon treaty. If...
May considers banning City of London from selling Russian debt
Theresa May has agreed to look into imposing a ban on the City of London from helping Russia to sell its sovereign debt, which prop ups the Russian economy.
Last month, City clearing houses,...
How economies could insure themselves against the bad times | Robert Shiller
The time has come for national governments around the world to start issuing their debt in a new form, linked to their countries’ resources. GDP-linked bonds, with coupons and principal that rise and...