International - Financial Times - Credit Squeeze

Figure surpasses expectations after growth boosted by consumer spending

Industrial metal has passed $12,000 a tonne as rally continues

Consumer spending drove higher growth in the third quarter

European Commission plans additional checks and stricter rules to shore up ailing industry

Also in today’s newsletter: ByteDance’s AI spending spree, and private credit firms snap up consumer debt

Read the central bank’s December forecast from the FT’s Monetary Policy Radar team

Concern over rural economies as distilleries left with a surplus that has forced some to pause or scale back production

Salary increases for new hires drop compared with last year

Low-cost domestic producers of prized delicacies are replacing imports and breaking into global markets

More than half of those contacted by British Chambers of Commerce criticised the post-Brexit arrangements

Former BlackRock executive will be tasked with helping to reset relations with Washington ahead of 2026 trade review

American trade policy is geared towards re-industrialisation — and it’s working

Stalling of the EU-Mercosur trade deal is another bad sign for European strategic independence

Move stokes already strained trading relationship between Brussels and Beijing

Also in today’s newsletter: Binance special investigation and Apollo takes up defensive crouch

The defining market themes of 2025

Read the December forecast from the FT’s Monetary Policy Radar team

A roundtable of leading central bank watchers revealed scepticism about aspects of its new communications techniques

Argentina’s libertarian leader seeks tax and labour overhaul after midterm victory

After a year of tumult, some are warning that a system built on neutrality, consensus and direct democracy is not moving fast enough