In the present day’s prime tales

• Governments and worldwide organisations are stepping up monetary assist for Turkey and Syria because the demise toll from this week’s earthquake surpassed 22,000 individuals, with tens of millions anticipated to be displaced.

• Japan is predicted to nominate Kazuo Ueda, a revered financial coverage skilled, as its new central financial institution chief, ending hypothesis amongst international buyers over the successor to Haruhiko Kuroda, who oversaw a decade of insurance policies designed to maintain rates of interest at ultra-low ranges by shopping for huge portions of presidency bonds. The yen climbed in anticipation.

• Moldova’s prime minister Natalia Gavrilita stop, blaming an absence of assist for her authorities because it struggles with the penalties of struggle in neighbouring Ukraine and efforts by Moscow to destabilise the nation.

For up-to-the-minute information updates, go to our dwell weblog

Good night.

It’s maybe an indication of the occasions that information this morning of UK progress flatlining within the fourth quarter of final 12 months was hailed by chancellor Jeremy Hunt as proof that the economic system was “extra resilient than many feared”.

Output shrank greater than anticipated in December, based on the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics, however GDP for the three-month interval was unchanged, that means the UK had, for now, dodged recession, outlined as two consecutive quarters of damaging progress.

It stays the one G7 member to not have recovered totally from the pandemic, in distinction with the US, which was up 5.1 per cent within the fourth quarter in contrast with 2019, and the eurozone, which was up 2.4 per cent.

One vibrant spot is London, the place new knowledge yesterday confirmed the capital powering forward of different areas in England, due to progress in skilled companies, underlining the challenges forward for the federal government in delivering on its promise of “levelling up” left-behind areas.

On the optimistic aspect, the outlook for inflation has improved since gasoline costs started to fall. Financial institution of England chief Andrew Bailey advised a parliamentary committee yesterday that public sector staff wanted to take this into consideration when asking for pay rises. The BoE predicts inflation will drop from 10.5 per cent to 4 per cent by the top of 2023.

Home costs in the meantime are exhibiting their most widespread falls since 2009 as hovering mortgage charges hit purchaser demand. The common fee for brand new loans reached 3.67 per cent in December, the best in a decade, based on BoE knowledge final week.

All of which will likely be on Hunt’s thoughts as he prepares for his Finances on March 15.

Enterprise foyer teams are calling on the chancellor to make use of his speech to pave the way in which for progress by way of tax breaks for funding and insurance policies to deal with employee shortages. They’ve additionally voiced issues that the forthcoming improve in company tax from 19 to 25 per cent will hit corporations’ capital spending.

Brexit prices for enterprise in the meantime proceed to mount, particularly in areas resembling chemical substances the place corporations now have to stick to UK-badged rules in addition to current EU guidelines, for no tangible achieve. To not point out the query marks nonetheless hanging over the broader regulatory panorama due to the federal government’s intention to “evaluate or revoke” all leftover EU legal guidelines by the top of this 12 months.

As UK chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley notes, the try by Hunt and his boss Rishi Sunak to emphasize fiscal prudence shouldn’t be made any simpler by noises off from Tory colleagues — particularly these grouped round Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss — pining for one more dose of unfunded tax cuts, regardless of the final try ending in catastrophe.

Have to know: UK and Europe economic system

Spurred by the decline in money transactions, the UK authorities and the Financial institution of England have began work on the design of a “digital pound”. Learn our explainer on the way it may work and FT shopper editor Claer Barrett’s piece on whether or not it could be good for customers.

European Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen mentioned the EU would combat again towards “huge” hidden handouts from China to its industries, in addition to responding to the US risk of inexperienced power subsidies. The finance chief of ArcelorMittal, Europe’s largest steelmaker, advised the FT that Brussels wanted to simplify the approvals course of for investments.

German inflation hit a five-month low of 9.2 per cent, however the delayed knowledge may result in an upward revision to final week’s eurozone-wide determine of 8.5 per cent.

Russia mentioned it could lower its oil output by 5 per cent or 500,000 barrels a day in response to the value cap imposed by the west. Prime power dealer Pierre Andurand mentioned Vladimir Putin had “misplaced the power struggle”. Putin will ship a state-of-the-union deal with on February 21, three days earlier than the primary anniversary of his invasion of Ukraine.

Be part of FT correspondents and company at our subscriber webinar on February 23 from 1300-1400 GMT to mark the anniversary and what may occur subsequent. Register in your free ticket at ft.com/ukraine-event.

Have to know: International economic system

China has pulled again from its participation in a subsea cable venture linking Asia with Europe as tensions develop with the US over who builds and owns the infrastructure underpinning the worldwide internet.

Hong Kong is pulling out all of the stops to lure enterprise again after three years of lockdowns in what it known as “in all probability the world’s largest welcome ever”. Points of interest embody set-up funds for worldwide corporations, visas for international graduates and 500,000 free airline tickets to encourage tourism.

Have to know: enterprise

Adidas is dealing with €700mn in working losses due to its pile of unsold Kanye West “Yeezy” sneakers. The group issued its fourth revenue warning since July, laying out a worst-case situation during which it must write off all of the remaining stock.

Disney is to lower 7,000 jobs, about 3 per cent of its workforce, as a part of a cost-saving restructuring. The modifications led to activist investor Nelson Peltz calling off his proxy combat towards the corporate which was set to be one of many largest company battles in recent times.

Credit score Suisse reported its largest annual loss because the 2008 monetary disaster as funding banking slumped and purchasers pulled cash from its wealth administration enterprise. Right here’s our Huge Learn on a make-or-break second for the financial institution.

The FT Journal dives into the weird last hours of FTX and the way Sam Bankman-Fried and his crew of millennial millionaires misplaced a $40bn crypto empire.

International buyers are betting huge on China’s reopening, snapping up a file $21bn of Chinese language equities because the begin of the 12 months. The development has been fuelled by optimistic financial knowledge revealed after the lunar new 12 months vacation.

Science spherical up

The unfold of antibiotic resistance has revived curiosity within the bacteria-killing viruses generally known as phages, first found and used to combat an infection a century in the past. Learn extra in our particular report: Way forward for Antibiotics.

The inventor of the silicon know-how behind solar energy advised the FT that combining different supplies with the silicon may enhance the effectivity of photovoltaic cells that convert daylight into electrical energy from 25 per cent to greater than 40 per cent.

The fusion power business known as for extra political assist to construct on final 12 months’s breakthrough by US scientists that demonstrated the potential of producing extra power from a fusion response than it consumed, dubbed “some of the spectacular scientific feats within the twenty first century”.

New know-how that makes use of fibre optics to search out the causes of coronary heart illness has begun testing at London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital. The iKOr machine measures blood stream across the coronary heart and will ultimately assist many sufferers affected by issues resembling chest pains, whose trigger can’t be recognized with present strategies.

And at last, the European Area Company is getting ready for one of many most bold house initiatives ever, a 12-year mission to the outer photo voltaic system to analyze whether or not three of Jupiter’s moons may assist life.

Some excellent news

College of California researchers have recognized tiny organisms that not solely survive however thrive throughout the first 12 months after a wildfire. The findings may assist carry land again to life after fires which are rising in each measurement and severity.

One thing for the weekend

The FT Weekend interactive crossword will likely be revealed right here on Saturday, however within the meantime why not attempt at the moment’s cryptic crossword?

Interactive crosswords on the FT app

Subscribers can now remedy the FT’s Every day Cryptic, Polymath and FT Weekend crosswords on the iOS and Android apps