MoneyWeek

Aspiring Hollywood actor Zachary Horwitz (pictured) was arrested in the US this week on suspicion of running a $690m Ponzi scheme, says the BBC. Horwitz, 34, was accused of “scamming millions from film investors by tricking them with fake Netflix dea

Tyson Foods, the biggest US meat producer, lost more than $200m after buying “ghost cattle” from a rancher who was issuing “phoney invoices for never-purchased animals” and gambling the money “on cattle and corn futures”, says Jeremy Hill on Bloomber

“The herd-like decision of... big battalion investors such as Aviva... Aberdeen Standard, Legal & General [and] M&G... to boycott the [Deliveroo] float on... holier-than-thou grounds of rider employment terms and [governance]... is being held up as a

Bitcoin has hit a new record high above $63,000 (£45,638). But while bitcoin has more than doubled this year, gold has disappointed, notes John Authers on Bloomberg. That’s odd given the “historic amount of money printing” and talk of coming inflatio

Former vice president Mike Pence (pictured) signed a two-book deal for his memoirs reportedly worth millions of dollars, making him one of the first of Donald Trump’s “inner circle to announce such a lucrative arrangement”, says The Guardian. Pence’s

Is the US housing market heading for a repeat of 2007? asks John Mauldin in his Thoughts from the Frontline newsletter. That year brought a meltdown in sub-prime property, precipitating a global financial crisis and the Great Recession. In 2021, hous

ASML Holding is probably the most important company in the world, says WirtschaftsWoche. That’s according to Baillie Gifford’s James Anderson, who holds 10% of the group in his funds. It has a virtual monopoly in photolithography systems, which use u

Next’s “extensive” online presence and the diversity of its offerings meant it could respond to changing preferences and shopping trends when consumers moved to working from home as Covid-19 struck. The “FTSE 100 giant” has gained “great-survivor” st

• Slippers are now “socially-acceptable attire for a trip to the grocery store” and the “pyjama suit” is being touted as the “next big thing” for working from home, says Lex in the Financial Times. No wonder, then, that Crocs, the maker of plastic cl

Deliveroo’s “disastrous” debut “damaged London’s reputation” for big tech flotations, says The Guardian. But now the City is about to receive a “shot in the arm”: cybersecurity firm Darktrace is planning a £3bn listing on the London Stock Exchange. F

The UK has enjoyed its best first quarter for initial public offerings (IPOs) in 14 years, says Hannah Godfrey on City AM. The first three months of 2021 also saw the most funds raised in a single quarter since 2014 as the main market and the junior

Shares in China’s top e-commerce firm Alibaba jumped by 10% after it received a $2.75bn fine for antitrust violations, says Callum Jones in The Times. Officials “could have fined the company more than twice that amount”. The antitrust probe concerned

There has been much dark talk about the disruption Brexit was causing for exporters and the possibility of firms either going bust or having to move production to the continent, says Matthew Lynn in The Spectator. However, the data tells a “different

The US has led calls accusing Russia of “threatening and destabilising activities” after reports emerged that it had ramped up the number of troops on its border with Ukraine, says The Wall Street Journal. Russia now has more forces in the area than

Tensions between Taiwan and China are “at their highest since the mid-1990s” after 25 military jets breached Taiwan’s airspace on Monday, says The Guardian. The move, which is the largest incursion in a year, is part of a strategy of “sabre-rattling”

With more than £5m matched on Smarkets so far (and another £3.57m matched on Betfair), punters are still convinced that Sadiq Khan is a near-certainty to be re-elected as mayor of London. The odds of him winning are at 1.02 (98%) on both sites. Smark

The US appears to be running out of job seekers, says Peter Coy on Bloomberg: employers are having to come up with ways to entice them. California-based door and window manufacturer Sierra Pacific Industries is “so desperate to fill openings that it’

Joe Biden may have campaigned as a sleepy grandfather, but in office he is turning into the most radical American president since Ronald Reagan, except from the other side of the political spectrum. Alongside a massive stimulus programme, a reversal

• McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski (pictured) received around $10.8m in total pay last year. He earned $963,500 in base salary, down from almost $1.3m after the fast-food giant cut executive salaries between April and October due to the pandemic affe

Europe to bounce back: Investors’ confidence in Germany’s economic recovery deteriorated after the government “signalled a further tightening of pandemic restrictions”, says Carolynn Look on Bloomberg. The economic sentiment indicator for Germany fro

The pay of American chief executives “surged” in 2020, say Theo Francis and Kristin Broughton in The Wall Street Journal. Despite a year of historic upheaval, median pay for 322 of the biggest public companies rose to $13.7m last year, up from $12.8m

In the wake of the pandemic, global debt stands at “levels not seen since World War II”, writes Peter Spiller on Citywire. Spiller – who has managed the Capital Gearing Trust (LSE: CGT) since 1982 and now runs it with co-managers Alastair Laing and C

When a company sells shares in itself to the public for the first time, it typically goes down the route of an initial public offering (IPO). An IPO is managed and underwritten by one or more investment banks, which earn large fees from the process.

The world’s best welfare system? Editorial The Economist In 2015, a convincing American economics paper came to a “hard-nosed conclusion”: cuts to welfare payments led to ajobs boom, says The Economist. The idea that “lavish welfare benefits dis

capx.co Phase 1 of the HS2 high-speed rail link is under way, with a view to opening a new rail line between London and Birmingham sometime between 2029 and 2033, says Andrew Cordiner. But in a post-Covid-19 world, the business case for it looks we

“It was $16 a week. I’d been booked into a hotel, which of course I could not pay for, but I was rescued by Julie Andrews [who spotted Smith in a lift]… I didn’t realise that I’d have to pay Equity [the actors’ trade union] and my agent and my London

“In China, it’s good to be rich, but not too rich,” says Shuli Ren. Getting to the top of the billionaire rankings carries great risks – all who have got there have landed themselves in trouble with Beijing. Jack Ma, for example, founder of Alibaba,

aier.org The gold standard, under which coins and notes were exchangeable for gold, had its virtues, says William Luther. Because the value of gold was stable, market participants could be confident in the value of money. The decentralised, self-a

GameStop has announced that it intends to elect activist investor Ryan Cohen as its next chairman, a move that “cements” his influence at the videogame retailer, says John J Edwards III on Bloomberg. The news sent the shares up by 4.4% to $186, a wel

■ Some investors are paying far more in fees than the charge advertised on a fund overview page, says David Brenchley in The Sunday Times. Research by wealth manager SCM Direct shows that on average investors pay almost twice as much as the “at-a-gla

Any discussion of plant-based investing must begin with Beyond Meat (Nasdaq: BYND). The shares soared after listing in the spring of 2019, but have slipped by 40% since hitting an all-time high in July of that year. Rodney Hobson on Interactive Inves

Once you’ve tucked money away into a savings account or a pension, you would naturally assume that it is yours forever. But if you forget about your accounts, the government can borrow the money. There is £50bn in lost accounts, according to asset-tr

The cost of car insurance has dropped to a seven-year low, according to comparison site moneysupermarket.com. But that may not help you if you own an SUV. “Car insurers have refused to cover four-by-four vehicles unless they have been fitted with a s

The past 12 months have proved how invaluable fast broadband at home is. Whether you are working from home, home-schooling or simply entertaining yourself with another Netflix binge, we all want a fast internet connection. Unfortunately, that service

Businesses ploughing funds into investment are now entitled to claim the 130% “super-deduction” unveiled in last month’s Budget. At the current corporation-tax rate of 19%, the concession means that every £100,000 you invest in qualifying assets will

• Almost four in ten businesses in the UK have suffered some sort of cyber attack or breach over the past 12 months, the government’s latest annual cyber security breaches survey reveals. The research suggests the pandemic has substantially increased

Emerging Asia has pulled out of the pandemic faster than many might have expected. Its outperformance relative to developed economies and emerging market peers is due to several factors. Its experience of dealing with past health crises – notably Sar

specialises in guarantor loans. The stock has by fallen 30% since March after it was revealed that City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was extending its investigation into the firm’s activities, says Roland Head on The Motley Fool. T

Shares in car dealership Lookers (LSE: LOOK) jumped last week after the group said it was set to surpass earnings expectations thanks to “resilient” trading, says Jane Denton on thisismoney.co.uk. It sold 44,000 cars in the first three months of 2021

Larry Salander was born in Long Beach, New York, in 1949, and went to the University of Miami before dropping out to run his father’s antiques shop. A few years later he opened his own shop, followed by one on Madison Avenue in New York, branching ou

2019 Howard’s Folly, Sonhador Branco, Alentejo, Portugal £120, for six bottles (£20 each) or £96 for six bottles for members of howardsfollywine.co.uk; £19, pullthecork.co.uk, £14.50, derventiowines.co.uk. The Howard in question is Howard Bilton,

Anthony Seldon Cambridge University Press, £19.99 Bookshelves “creak with memoirs and biographies of prime ministers”, but there are “far fewer” books “on the nature of the office and its freakish demands”, says Steve Richards in the Literary Rev

• “The knives are out for that godawful TV talent show The X-Factor,” says Rod Liddle in The Sun. Past performers claim they were simply used by the programme. “Gee. No, rilly?” Former contestant Cher Lloyd (pictured), for example, whined: “How could

Editor-in-chief: Merryn Somerset Webb Executiveeditor:John Stepek Editor:Andrew Van Sickle Marketseditor:Alexander Rankine Commenteditor:Stuart Watkins Politicseditor:Emily Hohler Digitaleditor:Ben Judge Wealtheditor:Chris Carter Seniorwriter

£120m The reported sale price for Glympton Park, an 167-acre estate in the Cotswolds, says The Guardian. It was sold by senior Saudi royal Prince Bandar bin Sultan to the family of Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and his son Crown Prince Salm