Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Yi He, co-founder of Binance, has said that its top priority is to “ensure the environment is secure, after which users can withdraw their funds and Binance can resume operations.”

She rejected comparisons with collapsed rival FTX, writing on X:

Every action has a motive. Look at some fraudulent exchanges that absconded, P2P platforms, and commercial banks: their ledgers are opaque; once the website is shut down, they simply abscond with the funds, the company is liquidated or goes bankrupt, and all they need to do is give you an arbitrary excuse. As for how much money was actually in the account and where it went, there is no way to know.

These kinds of closures happen without any warning—they just disappear. There is no real operation, no one comes out to explain what happened, and it is even less possible for withdrawals to be opened.

Windfall for oil corporations such Saudi Aramco and BP comes on back of soaring fuel prices driven by Iran war

The world’s biggest oil companies are on track to amass profits of more than $95bn (£71bn) in the third quarter as the war in the Middle East drives up the price of fossil fuels.

The windfall war profits have sparked calls for oil corporations such as Saudi Aramco and BP to pay for environmental damage and help the world transition towards renewable energy.

Cryptocurrency exchange has begun to allow withdrawals after theft believed to have come from North Korea

Investors have pulled $3.6bn (£2.7bn) in funds from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance as it recovers from a record hack in which billions were stolen from customer accounts.

The platform was hit by a $6.3bn theft on Thursday, which has since been described as the biggest heist in history. Experts identified North Korea as the probable culprit.

Sellers in areas such as Belgravia and Mayfair face hundreds of thousands of pounds in losses as property prices fall

Eight out of 10 properties in London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods – such as Mayfair, Belgravia and Knightsbridge – now sell below asking price, according to research by Coutts, which provides private banking services to wealthy clients.

Property prices in “prime central London”, which covers the city’s most expensive postcodes, have dropped 5% in the third quarter of 2026, as the slowdown in the UK’s property market hits its wealthiest residents.

Jump fuelled by fears of further Middle East supply disruptions amid reports of US-Israeli plans to strike Iran

European gas prices have jumped to levels not seen since 2022 as fears continue to grow around the continent’s supply this winter and the conflict in the Middle East.

Wholesale gas prices hit €97 (£81) a megawatt-hour on Monday, as temperatures across Europe fell and traders priced in stronger demand for heating.

Brent crude increase follows Tehran threatening retaliatory attacks on Gulf refineries and datacentres

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Oil has hit its highest level in more than five months as fears of fresh escalation in the Middle East conflict grip the energy markets.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, rose by 1% on Friday morning to above $115 a barrel – its highest level since May.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

While less red tape will be welcome news for small businesses, the chancellor is still facing pressure from bigger companies in the UK for more support.

Earlier this month some of the UK’s biggest retailers and hospitality businesses, including Tesco, Costa Coffee and the Co-op, met John Healey to urge him to cut the cost of employing young people in his first budget.

It’s not right that pointless bureaucracy gets in the way of people working hard to build something that matters to their high street.

So we’re getting government off their backs and giving businesses the breathing space to grow. Because when businesses succeed, they create good jobs, strengthen their communities and bring growth to every part of the country.”

British firms are fed up with form-filling and pointless paperwork that eats into valuable time and money when they simply want to get on with running their businesses.

That is why we are cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and giving businesses the breathing space they need to invest, innovate and create good jobs.”

The test now is delivery. Cutting unnecessary admin can free firms to invest, compete and grow – and business will want to see that ambition translated quickly into meaningful reductions in the burden they face.”

Iran’s IRGC says it hit four vessels in the northern Gulf and three more struck mines near the strait of Hormuz

• Shipping workers: how is the Middle East conflict affecting you?

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Oil prices jumped to a five-month high on Thursday after ​attacks in Saudi Arabia and hits to tankers in the strait of Hormuz threatened further disruptions to the world’s crude supply.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by 3% to hit $112 a barrel for first time since 18 May.

The $48bn giveaway comes amid concerns about the tech and as the company prepares for a stock market listing

Anthropic has said it will commit 5% of its shares to a fund for the “public good”, as the AI developer behind the Claude chatbot seeks to bolster its appeal before its stock market listing.

The company announced it would commit the shares, worth around $48bn (£36bn) at its latest valuation in May, subject to shareholder approval. It will add a further 2% of its stock to the fund for every 50% increase in its value above an undisclosed baseline.

Difference between French and German 10-year borrowing costs widens after violence breaks out

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France has been hit by a fresh wave of selling in its bond and stock markets after violent protests over the weekend left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops looted and thousands of arrests across the country.

Almost 2,400 people have been arrested in France, the interior ministry said on Sunday, with police deploying teargas in confrontations with protesters.

Animation studio narrows annual loss to £1.1m amid ‘challenging market’ in children’s content

Don’t break out the celebratory Wensleydale just yet. Aardman, the British animation studio behind the cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his beloved dog Gromit, has fallen short of a target to get back in the black, its accounts show.

The employee-owned business was aiming to record a small profit in 2025 after two years of consecutive losses but was hit by production delays and a “challenging market” in children’s content.

Brad Smith adds to calls for tougher rules for AI, including ‘kill switches’ and legal obligation to victims of rogue agents

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Artificial intelligence is less regulated than milk and washing machines, the president of Microsoft has said, as the tech industry warns over the safety of AI.

Brad Smith said there should be more safety rules to govern the technology including a legal obligation to a “victim” if their system was breached by rogue AI agents.

Global bond market sell-off continues and stocks fall amid reports White House has asked to see options for more strikes against Iran

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Oil prices have risen sharply amid fears about escalating tensions in the Middle East and a squeeze on production from the threat of a hurricane off the US coast.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by 5% to $105.3 a barrel on Thursday, triggering a wave of selling in the global bond and stock markets.

If recent complaints are believed, London and the UK are no longer welcoming for ultra-high net worth individuals

London was once globally renowned as the “billionaires’ playground”, where the world’s super-rich could relax in the Georgian townhouses of Mayfair undisturbed by the grasping hand of the state.

But if recent complaints by fleeing ultra-high net worth individuals are to be believed, the city is no longer as welcoming for those who consider themselves to be Britain’s most-persecuted minority.

German-owned supermarket beats Morrisons to become fifth largest grocer in Great Britain

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Lidl’s sales in Great Britain jumped 10% to more than £13bn this year, as shoppers sought out cheaper fresh meat, fruit and vegetables and snapped up its Deluxe range.

Pre-tax profit at the German-owned supermarket’s arm in Great Britain grew by 30% to £245.5m in the year ended in February, up from £156.8m in the previous year.

For decades, the capital’s house prices raced ahead of the national average – but now they are falling in prime areas

An elegant Georgian facade, a full-width balcony and an exclusive address in South Kensington just steps from the Natural History Museum and the V&A. Yet the listing price of this west London flat at Queen’s Gate Gardens has dropped by nearly £1m since last year, to £4.4m.

It is far from an isolated case. A nearby house originally listed at £20m was slashed to £14m this year, says a local estate agent. In neighbouring Notting Hill, a stucco-fronted property that came to market two years ago at £16m is now being offered for less than £14m, they said.

President hits out after Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX leaders back call to limit ‘reckless’ development

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AI-linked stocks tumbled on Monday after the bosses of Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX called for a slowdown in AI “reckless” development, citing fears the technology could soon run out of control.

Shares in the semiconductor designer Nvidia – the world’s most valuable company – were down 3% by early afternoon in New York, while Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) slumped 4.4% and Micron Technology and Sandisk shares slumped by 5%.

Price spike comes as rebel Houthis in Yemen target oil infrastructure and capture strategic island in Bab al-Mandab strait

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Oil prices have climbed above $108 a barrel after a series of drone attacks forced Saudi Arabia to close its east-west crude pipeline.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, surged to as much as $108.03 a barrel on Monday – a 3.25% increase on the day.

Operators blame lack of parking and councils bemoan lack of central regulation, as more than 3,000 badly parked bikes seized

London boroughs have seized at least 3,000 ebikes this year, a Guardian investigation has found, as hire companies face growing calls to stop bicycles littering streets and blocking pavements.

Local authorities across the capital have seized 3,393 hazardously parked or abandoned ebikes so far this year, 23% higher than the number seized during all of 2025.

Wall Street CEO holds meeting with John Healey amid speculation over windfall tax on banks in October budget

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of the largest US bank, JP Morgan, is understood to have warned the UK chancellor, John Healey, against raising taxes on banks in his inaugural budget in October.

The Wall Street billionaire met the new chancellor on Wednesday and cautioned him that higher taxes could put investment and employment in the UK at risk, it is understood.