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€69 per month Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%. What’s included Global news & analysis Expert opinion FT App on Android & iOS FT Edit app FirstFT: the day’s biggest stories 20+ curated newsletters Follow topics & set alerts with myFT

The US’s S&P 500 index has risen more than 20 per cent for the second year in a row, as investor excitement about artificial intelligence fuels strong gains in megacap technology stocks. Despite a sell-off in December, the basket of blue-chip stocks has ended 2024 up 23.3 per cent, following a 24.2 per cent gain

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he takes responsibility for the political divisions caused by his decision to hold snap parliamentary elections in the summer, saying the move had created “more instability than peace”.

Germany’s kindergartens are in crisis, with staff shortages wreaking havoc in the lives of working parents, damaging the nation’s productivity and risking the future prospects of a generation of children. The lack of trained childcare workers in the EU’s largest economy is causing overcrowding in day-care centres, emergency closures and a shortage of available places

€69 per month Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%. What’s included Global news & analysis Expert opinion FT App on Android & iOS FT Edit app FirstFT: the day’s biggest stories 20+ curated newsletters Follow topics & set alerts with myFT

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Defaults on US credit card loans have hit the highest level since the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, in a sign that lower-income consumers’ financial health is waning after years of high inflation. Credit

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Poland aims to complete a border wall and seal off its border with Belarus by next summer, in order to stop an influx of migrants Warsaw describes as Russia’s hybrid war. The additional infrastructure works

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Vladimir Putin has apologised to Azerbaijan for what he described as a “tragic incident” involving an Azerbaijani aircraft in Russian airspace on Christmas Day. Moscow phoned Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and the Russian president expressed

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. US tech stocks slid lower on Friday as investors pivoted away from companies that had led markets higher for much of this year. The S&P 500, Wall Street’s main equity benchmark, dropped 1.6 per cent

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is a former global head of equity capital markets at Bank of America and is now a managing director at Seda Experts Bitcoin’s spectacular surge this year has reignited a dilemma on Wall

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK tax myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Tax experts have questioned Sir Keir Starmer’s claim that a “typical family” farm will receive a £3mn exemption from inheritance tax. They argue the government’s figure is “misleading” because it requires farmers to meet complex

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Russian anti-aircraft fire may have caused a plane to crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, according to defence experts and officials in the region. The Azerbaijan Airlines flight was en route from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. India has eclipsed China as Asia’s top market for company listings this year, as buoyant stock prices spark a boom in initial public offerings. Propelled by companies including Swiggy and Hyundai Motor, India will be

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Russia has carried out a Christmas Day attack on Ukraine’s energy system, leaving more than half a million consumers without heating, water and electricity.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack, the 13th large-scale

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Syria’s rebel factions have agreed to disband and become part of the interim government’s defence ministry as the new administration rushes to consolidate power within revamped institutions. The new government’s commander-in-chief Ahmed al-Sharaa — former

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Joe Biden has stamped his legacy on the federal bench after Senate Democrats raced to confirm more than 200 nominees to lifetime appointments in courts across the US, outpacing Donald Trump’s tally during

€69 per month Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%. What’s included Global news & analysis Expert opinion FT App on Android & iOS FT Edit app FirstFT: the day’s biggest stories 20+ curated newsletters Follow topics & set alerts with myFT

While the holiday spirit will dominate the news agenda, there are notable developments to watch across the world, as the three defining themes of 2024 — elections, war and inflation — continue to hum in the background. On Tuesday, Moldova’s pro-EU president-elect Maia Sandu will attend her inauguration. Her narrow election victory in October, despite

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Senior Spotify executives and board members have sold $1.25bn worth of the company’s stock in 2024 — including $900mn in payouts for its two co-founders — as they capitalise on the music streamer’s soaring share price.