DeepSeek nears $45bn valuation as China’s ‘Big Fund’ leads investment talks
Value soars in ongoing fundraising discussions as investors including Tencent seek slice of AI lab
Trump pauses US plan to guide ships through Strait of Hormuz
US and Iranian forces clashed in the strait during the brief mission to help commercial vessels through the waterway
Gilts and UK local elections: Bad vibes, bad timing
Plus, more on emerging markets
American healthcare costs drive global imbalances
Dark matter revealed?
Europe’s far-right firewall melts as Socialists topple Romania’s PM
Also in this newsletter: How to reuse and recycle more critical raw materials
FTAV’s further reading
Science; cringe; Toyota; Grok; similes; Paul Pressler; and stablecoins
FirstFT: Hormuz ‘Project Freedom’ mission paused
Also in today’s newsletter: Venice Biennale row and Macron’s central bank pick
Fast-moving indicators are now showing the effects of the Gulf war
Monthly surveys of economic activity and confidence have fallen more sharply among energy importers than in the US
Transcript: AI Labs — Are Anthropic really the good guys?
Murad Ahmed talks to Cristina Criddle and John Thornhill
Introducing: The Story of Money
A new video podcast from The FT exploring the history of finance
Samsung’s stock market value hits $1tn on AI euphoria
Memory chip giant’s surge pushes South Korea’s Kospi to new record
Kravis and Roberts on KKR at 50
The original private equity barbarian celebrates its birthday as the $22tn private markets face a fraught moment
Private equity benefits as spending on social care providers jumps 20%
Children’s sector offers steady revenues for buyout firms as cases of autism and other conditions increase
Transcript: Could the US scrap quarterly reporting?
Marc Filippino talks to George Steer and Ortenca Aliaj
UK supermarkets ask competition watchdog to rein in Aldi and Lidl
Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Iceland are seeking to stop discounters preventing them opening stores nearby
Russia pavilion drags Venice Biennale into EU sanctions row
Brussels has warned that allowing Moscow to participate would breach ban on providing services to Kremlin
Angela Rayner weighs options as leadership hopes fade
Neither the former deputy Labour leader nor her rivals have a clear path to replacing Sir Keir Starmer
Crypto’s ‘decentralised finance’ sector hit by investor exodus after hacks
DeFi was once touted as the future of finance but traders have grown concerned over the security of these projects
Vodafone’s slow-burn strategy is starting to pay off
The share price has picked up and its valuation as a multiple of forecast earnings has risen to the top of European telcos
Conned by a chatbot
Like tricksters, LLMs have perfected the art of plausibility
Imbalances are back on the global agenda
Policymakers must overcome the mercantilist fallacy that the way to get rich is by running surpluses forever
Don’t let the taxman grab your tax-free cash
It’s tempting to blow the lump sum on a sports car — but the more sensible option may be to take it in small amounts like regular income
Recipe: Asparagus with crab mayonnaise might be the quickest, tastiest lunch of the season
Make the most of the vegetable’s short window with this sophisticated spring recipe
Bezos shakes up Blue Origin staff incentives ahead of SpaceX IPO
Rocket maker hopes to quell employee uproar after old options expired without a payout