Good day. This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Sign up for our Asia, Europe/Africa, or Americas edition to get it delivered straight to your inbox every weekday morning.
Most of the nearly 4,000 retained EU laws will now remain on the UK statute book in a U-turn by the government in its controversial plan to revise or scrap all EU-era laws for law enforcement purposes. this year.
Only around 800 laws will be removed by the end of 2023, business secretary Kemi Badenoch told Tory Brexiters this week, sparking anger among eurosceptics in her ruling Conservative party.
Badenoch’s allies did not deny yesterday that the government was preparing to get rid of a December 31 “sunset clause” under which EU laws would automatically expire if they were not revised or retained.
The year-end deadline had alarmed business groups and unions, who warned it could lead to great uncertainty and the possible loss of key protections.
The new approach will be welcomed by businesses and civil servants, who have been tasked with the daunting task of revising the statute book, and will be seen as another sign of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s no-nonsense approach to EU affairs. .
This is what I’ll be looking at today:
-
Economic data: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the EU have preliminary figures for first quarter gross domestic product, and France, Germany and Poland publish their consumer price indices for this month.
-
EU meeting: Finance ministers and central bank governors arrive in Stockholm for an informal discussion, with the reconstruction of Ukraine on the agenda.
-
Results: Aon, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, Electrolux, Eni, ExxonMobil, NatWest and Pearson are among the companies that reported today.
Five more main stories
1. Amazon said growth slowed this month in its cloud division, raising investor fears about the tech giant’s main driver of earnings and taking the shine off an initial rally in its shares after its earnings report. Read more about the concerns at Amazon Web Services.
2. Joe Biden has begun courting Wall Street donors to fill his campaign war chest, planning a two-day event in Washington to bring together wealthy backers. He hopes to surpass the $1 billion he raised in 2020 before what some experts say will be the most expensive US presidential race in history.
3. The Russian stock market has risen to its highest level in over a year as domestic retail investors with nowhere else to go buy dividend-paying stocks that sold off heavily after the invasion of Ukraine. This is what Russian shareholders have won.
4. US economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter to 1.1 percent on an annualized basis despite strong consumer spending, suggesting that the Fed’s year-long battle against inflation is beginning to take effect. Read more about yesterday’s numbers, which were well below forecasts.
5. First Republic advisers are working on a private sector solution they hope they can overcome skepticism in Washington. But the plan has yet to gain the backing of White House officials, who will ultimately decide whether the government should seize the troubled bank.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
the great read
India’s large and young population could accelerate economic growth if the country can harness its skills, giving it a chance to join China among the ranks of economic superpowers. Alternatively, your masses of struggling poor might grow old before your country gets rich. In what some predict will be an “Indian century”, will the world’s most populous country reap its demographic dividend or squander it?
We are also reading. . .
chart of the day
Despite a steady upward trend in the number of new doctors and nurses, openings continue to increase. In short, Britain’s NHS has developed a leak, writes chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch, and it’s not easy to fix, as it frequently leaks to other countries.
Take a break from the news
The new adventure game. the kraken awakens is the latest beneficiary of Charisma’s revolutionary AI dialog software. Adapted from John Wyndham’s 1953 novel of the same name, He the awakening of the kraken gives insight into what happens when games start replicating.
Additional contributions by Emily Goldberg
Recommended newsletters for you
Asset Management — Discover the inside story of the movers and shakers behind a multi-billion dollar industry. sign up here
next week — Start each week with a preview of what’s on the agenda. sign up here
Thanks for reading and remember that you can add FirstFT to myFT. You can also choose to receive a push notification from FirstFT every morning in the app. Send your recommendations and feedback to firstft@ft.com
