MoneyWeek

An emergency landing in a borrowed aircraft has seen ex-US president Donald Trump email his supporters with an urgent request for contributions of up to $2,500 a month to fund a new “Trump Force One” private jet, says The Times. The original – a Boei

Pop star Katy Perry (pictured) has saved $2.8m after winning a copyright dispute, says BBC News. Rapper Marcus Gray sued Perry in 2014 for plagiarising part of his work on her hit Dark Horse. A jury awarded Gray the payout, but a judge overturned the

European authorities have seized at least five superyachts belonging to Russian oligarchs, with a total value of nearly €1.4bn, says The Wall Street Journal. In the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, sanctions have been imposed on several Russian busin

“Cryptocurrency proponents… claim that blockchain technology offers a disruptive, decentralised solution to problems with… traditional finance… Radical change would include the decline in prominence of powerful financial institutions… The blockchain

Russia is set to default on its debt after it suggested it would pay $117m interest on two dollar-denominated sovereign bonds in roubles. Sanctions against the country’s central bank have made it difficult for Moscow to make payments to overseas bond

Chinese markets were rocked this week by a spike in Covid-19 infections (see page 8). Stocks in nearby Hong Kong plunged, with the Hang Seng index falling to its lowest close since February 2016 on Tuesday, and the Hang Seng Tech index slumping 11%.

Steve Rowe, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, is stepping down on 25 May “after nearly 40 years at the business he joined straight from school”, says Sarah Butler in The Guardian. Rowe, who has spent six years “overseeing the beginnings of a tu

Rio Tinto has made a $2.7bn bid to take full control of “what is expected to be one of the biggest copper mines in the world”, says Bradley Gerrard in the Evening Standard. The deal will see it buy the 49% of Toronto-listed Turquoise Hill Resources t

• The £595m cash offer for Stagecoach by Germany’s DWS Infrastructure looks attractive, says Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. But placing “vital UK assets, such as local bus routes, in the hands of overseas entities” is a “big risk”. DWS’s “history of

“The energy transition needs copper,” says WirtschaftsWoche. A wind turbine needs between four and nine tonnes of copper per megawatt of output. KGHM Polska Miedz is “one of the world’s most important producers of copper”, with eight mines and three

DS Smith provides packaging, paper products and recycling services. It’s a fairly “boring” business, “but in these turbulent times, the company’s dullness makes it interesting”. It may be affected by the invasion of Ukraine – it has a stake in a Ukra

“Companies are putting the brakes on planned initial public offerings [IPOs]… as investors pull back following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” says The Wall Street Journal. European companies delayed IPOs and other equity deals worth a total of $634m

Hong Kong’s “zero-Covid” strategy has kept cases and deaths to a minimum for nearly two years, says Ezra Cheung on NBC. Now, however, Omicron is “tearing” through the densely populated territory, driving deaths per capita to “the highest in the world

India is to risk the “wrath” of the West by opening talks with Moscow to buy heavily discounted oil and other goods, says Saptarshi Ray in The Times. The deal is likely to involve a rupee-rouble transaction, skirting sanctions imposed on Russia by th

Just days after a mass state execution of 81 men, British prime minister Boris Johnson visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in an effort “to end the West’s addiction to Russian oil and gas”, says Greg Heffer on Sky News. The government argues that the m

Honeymoons are no longer enough for young newly weds, says Jenny Coad in The Times. This year, couples are opting for “mega-moons” – extravagant post-nuptial holidays driven by two years of “cancelled weddings and postponed honeymoons” during the pan

One issue that has been bubbling away on the back burner is the issue of Scottish independence. At the moment, the SNP claims that it wants another referendum. Punters, however, remain sceptical about the chances of a re-run of the vote that was, at

Rewind only a year, and it seemed reasonable to assume that Covid-19 would transform the prospects of the major pharmaceutical multinationals. Three safe and effective vaccines were developed in a year. Regulators worked at record speed to get them a

• Shell’s boss Ben van Beurden (pictured) took home around a quarter more in pay in 2021, thanks to soaring energy prices driving record-high profits at the oil giant, says The Guardian. He received €7.4m last year, up from €5.8m the previous year, a

Bonuses for Deutsche Bank’s management board rose three times faster for 2021 than the overall bonus pool “as the supervisory board concluded that senior executives did a far better job than operational staff”, says Olaf Storbeck in the Financial Tim

Amazon has just announced a stock split (see below) for the first time since the dotcom bubble years. It’s the fourth such split in the company’s near-30-year history. Assuming the move is approved at the annual general meeting in May, then from 6 Ju

A stock split happens when a company decides to increase the number of its shares in issue by giving existing investors additional shares for each share that they currently hold. The firm’s share price falls to reflect the enlarged share base and its

“Covid-19 dominated 2021. It occupied our thoughts, drove our anxieties, restricted our lifestyles, determined economic winners and losers, and cast a bright light, as nothing before, on the gaping inequality inherent in American society,” writes US

Announced last week while Americans were sleeping, Congress’s $1.5trn new appropriations bill gives both sides what they want (military spending for Republicans, domestic spending for Democrats and $14bn aid for Ukraine) without “raising a dime in ne

“In the space of a week, I was coming out of my apartment and Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were there and getting in a lift. I was chauffeured everywhere, money in my bank every week. It was a life-changing experience. At that point, you’re like, ‘

conservativehome.com In the wake of Covid-19, the NHS is under more strain than ever, yet any “unvarnished” analysis of its failings are inevitably seen as an attack, says Michael Ashcroft. Governments fear public opinion and shy away from reform.

bbc.com/worklife “Workcations” – combining working remotely with a holiday – became popular early in the pandemic as workers fled cramped apartments to work from mountain cabins, says Bryan Lufkin. Now, even as Covid-19 cases fall globally, there’s

blog.acton.org This month marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Ayn Rand, creator of the Objectivist philosophy and author of Atlas Shrugged. That book famously opens with the question: “Who is John Galt?” But when I read it as a youth, mostly

Shares in ailing US home furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (BBB) soared by nearly 90% this week on the news that Ryan Cohen, the billionaire chairman of infamous “meme stock” and video game retailer GameStop, had taken a 9.8% stake in the chain,

■ The board of Jupiter Emerging & Frontier Income (LSE: JEFI) wants to liquidate the investment trust, as existing concerns about its viability have been exacerbated by the “deteriorating international outlook”, reports Investors’ Chronicle. Prior to

Ethical investing is becoming more popular as savers want to know their investments aren’t harming the planet. If you’re concerned about this, it’s also important to look into what the cash in your bank account is funding. When you deposit cash with

• Calling the taxman can be expensive, says The Sunday Times. HMRC has been charging up to 40p a minute to anyone calling on a mobile. The average waiting time was 18 minutes and 49 seconds in 2020-2021 – a huge increase from three minutes and 49 sec

Even if you don’t have any earnings at all, you are still entitled to make pension contributions and claim tax relief. Non-earners are entitled to pay up to £3,600 into a private pension each tax year. Factoring in the value of the 20% tax relief you

• Savers butting up against their annual allowance may be able to make additional pension contributions using the carry forward rules. These allow you to use any unused annual allowance from the past three tax years to increase your contributions in

The MoneyWeek exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolio is very different to our investment trust portfolio (see page 48 for Merryn’s update on this). The investment trust portfolio consists of six trusts where we believe the managers will add considerabl

San Francisco-based SoFi Technologies offers a wide range of online services. These include current and savings accounts – with innovations like early paycheque cashing and cashback deals – as well as issuing credit cards. It also offers cryptocurren

Momentum Multi-Asset Value Trust is a multi-asset trust offering global exposure to a diversified range of asset classes and sources of return, across traditional assets such as UK and overseas equity, as well as specialist areas, including infrastru

Shares in oil and gas explorer Pantheon Resources (Aim: PANR) jumped after positive news from one of its projects on the Alaska North Slope, says The Motley Fool. Last year, there were fears that the Talitha #A project could be unviable following dis

Budget airline Wizz Air Holdings (LSE: WIZZ) has slashed its growth forecast after it stopped selling flights to Russia and Ukraine, says the Evening Standard. The company had been projecting growth in seat capacity of 52% next year, but has cut that

Bill Ackman was born in Chappaqua, New York, in 1966 and went on to an undergraduate degree at Harvard, before graduating with an MBA from Harvard Business School. He later founded Gotham Partners with David Berkowitz. Although the fund originally fo

The best interest you can get on a cash Isa is 1.9% from Close Brother Savings for five years. But with interest rates expected to rise, now is not the time to lock your money up in a long-term fix. You could find your return falls behind the competi

With so many variables affecting your choice of Sipp, it isn’t possible to pick out the best provider for all investors. But work done by personal finance website Money to the Masses offers some tips on providers that might suit investors with differ

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) operates in a similar space to VCTs. The rules on which businesses qualify for EIS investment are broadly the same as for VCTs and investors qualify for the same 30% upfront tax relief, although the maximum annu

Lockdowns are hopefully behind us, but the bill for the various support schemes has created a hole in public finances. With the government increasing the income tax paid on dividends as part of its Health and Social Care Levy, and other politicians c

As noted above, the best cash Jisa rate is 2.4% from The Family Building Society. This account can only be opened in branch or by post. For a cash Jisa that can be opened and managed online, Tesco Bank offers the best rate at 2.25%. Both accounts acc

The rates currently available on cash Lisas aren’t dazzling, but you can transfer your Lisa to another provider if rates improve. So, open one now to make the most of your allowance, then be ready to move if you see a better interest rate elsewhere.

NV Exton Park, Reserve Blend RB32 Brut, Hampshire, England £40, swains.london I am continuing my occasional spotlight on indie wine merchants with a glowing review of Swains on Parliament Hill (London, NW5). This new epicurean haunt was set up at

• Kim Kardashian (pictured) should know better, says Meghan McCain on Mail Online. When the reality TV star was asked in an interview what business advice she would give to other women, Kardashian replied, “Get your f-ing ass up and work. It seems li

For nearly 15 years the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, has undertaken a massive experiment in money printing that has seen it “turn the liquidity spigots on full-blast”, says Rana Foroohar in the Financial Times. Originally intended as a way t

£30m The cost of a mansion that former Formula One boss Ron Dennis wants to build in Berkshire, according to plans submitted to the council. His proposal includes a Roman baths-style underground pool and incorporates an existing tunnel to the River T

Editor-in-chief: Merryn Somerset Webb Executiveeditor: John Stepek Editor:Andrew Van Sickle Actingeditor:Cris Sholto Heaton Marketseditor: Alexander Rankine Commenteditor: Stuart Watkins Politicseditor: Emily Hohler Digitaleditor:Ben Judge We