17 h. ago Weight loss jabs do not slow Alzheimer's disease as hoped, causing firm's share prices to plummet

Novo Nordisk had hoped to repurpose semaglutide - the active ingredient in its Wegovy and Ozempic jabs - as a groundbreaking dementia treatment after seeing early encouraging signs.

Economics

19 h. ago European defence company shares fall amid Ukraine peace talk hopes; Novo Nordisk reports Ozempic fails to help with Alzheimer’s – as it happened

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Novo Nordisk finds its semaglutide drug fails to help in Alzheimer’s treatmentGerman business morale has unexpectedly fallen this month, as companies lose hope on a recovery of the German economy following two years of contraction.The Ifo institute has reported that its business climate index fell to 88.1 in November from 88.4 in October, weaker than expected. It’s a blow to German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s efforts to revive growth through a major spending package.“Companies have little faith that a recovery is coming anytime soon.”Like U2 sang almost 40 years ago: the German economy still hasn’t found what it’s looking for.The year 2025 has been another year of hope and disappointed optimism. A year which saw excitement and enthusiasm sparked by Germany’s unprecedented fiscal policy U-turn and its decision to invest significantly in infrastructure and defence this spring. But also a year that brought a rude awakening ...

Events

22 h. ago European defence company shares fall amid Ukraine peace talk hopes; Novo Nordisk reports Ozempic fails to help with Alzheimer’s – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Novo Nordisk finds its semaglutide drug fails to help in Alzheimer’s treatmentGerman business morale has unexpectedly fallen this month, as companies lose hope on a recovery of the German economy following two years of contraction.The Ifo institute has reported that its business climate index fell to 88.1 in November from 88.4 in October, weaker than expected. It’s a blow to German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s efforts to revive growth through a major spending package.“Companies have little faith that a recovery is coming anytime soon.”Like U2 sang almost 40 years ago: the German economy still hasn’t found what it’s looking for.The year 2025 has been another year of hope and disappointed optimism. A year which saw excitement and enthusiasm sparked by Germany’s unprecedented fiscal policy U-turn and its decision to invest significantly in infrastructure and defence this spring. But also a year that brought a rude awakening ...

Events

22 h. ago Major Ozempic study fails as Novo Nordisk reveals lackluster results

Alzheimer's disease and other dementias affect more than 55 million people globally

Events

26 h. ago Love Actually star and 'inspiration' behind Narnia dies as tributes pour in

Actress Jill Freud, who shared some of her teen years in the company of famous author CS Lewis, started her career on the West End before branching out across Hollywood

Events

63 h. ago Major European airport halts flights after multiple drone sightings amid fears of Russian incursions

This comes amid a wave of reports of drone sightings in northern Europe.

Events

64 h. ago Major European airport halts flights after multiple drone sightings, defence minister announces

In a post on X this evening, Ruben Brekelmans, the defence minister, said the sightings had prompted Civilian and military air traffic.

Politics

68 h. ago Moment Keir Starmer stumbles while meeting business leaders ahead of G20 summit

Prime Minister Keir Starmer stumbled over his own feet as he arrived to meet with senior business leaders in Johannesburg ahead of the G20 summit on Friday (21 November).

Politics

5 d. ago ‘AI is going everywhere, doing everything:’ Nvidia beats Wall Street estimates amid market selloff and AI bubble fears

The $5tn firm handily beat expectations, but analysts are awaiting projections for future demand for firm’s AI chipsNvidia shares are rising in after-market trading after the company posted third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates. All eyes were on Nvidia, the bellwether for the AI industry and the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, as analysts and investors hoped the chipmaker’s third-quarter earnings would assuage concerns about whether the high-flying valuations of AI firms have peaked.“Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia in a press release. “Compute demand keeps accelerating and compounding across training and inference – each growing exponentially. We’ve entered the virtuous cycle of AI. The AI ecosystem is scaling fast – with more new foundation model makers, more AI startups, across more industries, and in more countries. AI is going everywhere, doing everything, all at o...

Politics

5 d. ago ‘We excel at every phase of AI’: Nvidia CEO quells Wall Street fears of AI bubble amid market selloff

Jensen Huang opens earnings call with attempt to dispel concerns after his $5tn firm beat Wall Street expectationsNvidia shares are rising in after-market trading after the company posted third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates. All eyes were on Nvidia, the bellwether for the AI industry and the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, as analysts and investors hoped the chipmaker’s third-quarter earnings would assuage concerns about whether the high-flying valuations of AI firms have peaked.Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvida, opened the earnings call with an attempt to dispel those concerns. In sum, Huang said, there’s a major transformation happening in AI and Nvidia is foundational to that transformation. Continue reading...

Economics

7 d. ago Japan and Switzerland’s economies contract as exports are hit by US tariffs; Alphabet shares jump after Warren Buffett reveals stake – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsChina travel warning for Japan sends shares in tourism and retail companies plungingAlthough WPP’s shares have slipped back a little (+3.7%), they’re still leading the FTSE 100 risers.AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould sums up the situation:“Executives at embattled advertising agency WPP have recently been snapping up shares in the company and it seems they may not be the only ones who see value in the business. There is speculation about a bid from French rival Havas and private equity firms reportedly looking to pick off bits of the business.“After years when it felt like WPP’s shares had been suffering a slow puncture, the tyre has burst in stock market terms for the company in 2025. This led to the departure of CEO Mark Read and investors in the US apparently being rallied by law firms for a class action lawsuit alleging they were misled about the state of the business.This better-than-expected performance was initial...

Economics

7 d. ago TotalEnergies buys £5.1bn stake in Czech tycoon’s power plants business

Daniel Křetínský to become a major shareholder in French oil company as part of deal creating 50/50 joint ventureThe Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský is to become one of the largest shareholders in TotalEnergies after selling a stake in his electricity generation business, which includes several UK power plants, to the French oil company.Křetínský, whose companies own stakes in Royal Mail and West Ham United football club, agreed to sell a 50% stake in his stable of European power plants to TotalEnergies for about €5.1bn ($5.9bn) in exchange for about 4.1% of Total’s share capital. Continue reading...

Economics

8 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Greece signs deal to supply gas to Kyiv over ‘difficult’ winter

Agreement comes as Volodymyr Zelenskyy starts European tour aimed at shoring up Ukrainian energy supply and defences. What we know on day 1,363See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageGreece has signed a deal with Ukraine to supply US-origin liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the country amid the crippling of its energy infrastructure from Russian strikes. Sunday’s agreement came as Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Athens at the start of a European tour aimed at shoring up Ukraine’s defences and energy supply ahead of winter. The deal – to run from December until March 2026 – “marks an essential step in strengthening regional energy cooperation and European energy security”, said a joint statement from the Ukrainian president and the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, after they met. The deal would make it possible to “support Ukraine in the midst of a difficult winter”, they said. The deal came as Ukrainian energy infrastructure was damaged by Russian drone strikes overnight into Sund...

Economics

2 w. ago Fears Pokrovsk will fall ‘within weeks’ as Ukraine sends in its elite units

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims his forces are on the cusp of winning

Politics

2 w. ago More in common: how Sheikh Mansour is linked to Liverpool’s owner

Manchester City owner has a co-investment vehicle with the company that is the third-biggest shareholder in FSGOne of the great curiosities regarding the state of Premier League ownership will come into focus when Liverpool visit Manchester City on Sunday.Despite a rivalry that has defined the past decade and has led to both sides’ team coaches being attacked, a £1m legal settlement being paid by Liverpool after City claimed their scouting database had been hacked, and accusations from City officials that Jürgen Klopp had made borderline xenophobic comments about state-backed owners, which the German rejected, the two clubs have more in common than some of their feuding fans may wish to acknowledge. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Tesla shareholders to vote on $1tn pay package for CEO Elon Musk

If approved, the CEO will need to increase Tesla’s value eightfold, to $8.5tn in market capitalization, by 2035Tesla shareholders met on Thursday to vote on a compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk worth close to $1tn. If approved, the package will demonstrate shareholders’ confidence the billionaire can lead his car company into an era dominated by artificial intelligence and robotics. If denied, Tesla may face the loss of a leader who once made the company name synonymous with electric vehicles.If Musk delivers on the lofty milestones in the pay package laid out at Tesla’s 6 November annual meeting, he could become the world’s first trillionaire. To do so, he will need to guide Tesla to $8.5tn in market capitalization, eight times what it’s worth today. He will also be required to deploy millions of autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots and sustain the company’s bottom line in the hundreds of billions over the next decade. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago Why talk of the fall of Pokrovsk – and Ukraine – is premature

Recently returned from the front lines near Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, world affairs editor Sam Kiley explains that Russian claims they’ve encircled Ukrainian forces are bogus

Politics

3 w. ago Shein to cooperate with French investigation into sale of childlike sex dolls

Spokesperson says company prepared to share names of those who bought dolls before they were removed from saleThe Asian e-commerce company Shein has pledged to cooperate with French prosecutors who have opened an investigation into the sale of childlike sex dolls on its platform.“We will cooperate fully with the judicial authorities,” Shein’s spokesperson in France, Quentin Ruffat, told RMC radio, adding that the company was prepared to share names of those who had bought such dolls. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago Shawbrook shares jump after biggest UK company IPO on LSE in two years

Shawbrook shares jump after biggest UK company IPO on LSE in two years  Reuters

Politics

3 w. ago Shell’s profits pass $43bn after production hits new highs in Brazil and Gulf of Mexico

Oil company plans to buy back shares for 16th consecutive quarter as protesters say its earnings are ‘horror show’Profits at Shell have climbed to more than $43bn for the year so far after fossil fuel production in the Gulf of Mexico reached a 20-year high and production in Brazil set a new record.The oil company reported better than expected earnings of $5.4bn for the third quarter, a 27% increase on the $4.3bn in the previous three-month period – but lower than the $6bn recorded over the same period a year earlier. Continue reading...

Economics