Aurelia Butler

Britons are turning to crime as the cost of living crisis drags on, with theft of meat, alcohol and confectionery from shops last year at a decade-high, according to new data.More than 1.1mn incidents of theft were recorded in 2022, up from 970,000 the year before, reaching its highest level in a decade, according to a report by the Association of Convenience Stores published on Thursday.James Lowman, chief executive of ACS which represents small shops across the UK, said the levels of theft happening daily were “unprecedented”. “Repeat offenders, known to the community and known to the police, are stealing without fear of reproach,” he added. More people are committing crimes in response to the worst cost of living crisis for a generation as many households struggle to afford basic daily items as prices continue to rise.The report comes after new data released on Wednesday showed that inflation remained stuck at 8.7 per cent in May, worse than the 8.4 per cent expected, raising pressure on the Bank of England to ramp up interest rates.A rise in gang activity and people with addiction problems stealing to fund their drug or alcohol habits had fuelled crime rates, the report found. Higher value shop products, such as meat or alcohol, can typically be sold on.Although food price inflation dipped from 19 per cent in April to 18.3 per cent last month, the cost of food itself in supermarkets still rose 0.9 per cent in May alone.Stores have limited the number of items on their shelves in recent months to reduce the risk of items being stolen, as well as adding security tags to food items such as steaks, cheese and butter. Almost 80 per cent of retailers surveyed by the ACS, which has around 48,000 members, said the cost of living crisis was driving theft, with a majority of store staff having experienced verbal abuse over the past year. Local shops are calling on the police and government to introduce a “most wanted” list of shop thieves in local areas, so prolific offenders can be identified and banned from stores or referred to rehabilitation programmes.Fiona Malone, who runs Tenby Stores, a local independent store in Wales, said: “Many of the people stealing from my shop are known to the community and the police. We need to do a better job at tackling these offenders and bringing them to justice. “Unfortunately, shop thieves know that the police rarely take notice of anything stolen under £50 in value.” More

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s central bank is likely to cut lending rates further in a bid to revive the economy but reluctance among private firms and households to borrow means continued policy easing could end up hurting banks already battling margin pressures, analysts said.Small cuts in rates will not have a big impact on demand for loans as families and businesses repair balance sheets damaged by COVID and repay debts, economists said, forcing Beijing to rely on fiscal stimulus and other policy tools to spur demand.The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) cut its benchmark loan prime rates (LPR) for the first time in 10 months on Tuesday, with a smaller-than-expected 10-basis point reduction in the five-year LPR, which influences the pricing of mortgages.Most economists expect another modest 10 bps LPR cut in the second half – on top of a 25 bps cut in banks’ requirement ratio (RRR). The PROC last cut the RRR – the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves — in March, by 25 bps.To help create room for lending rate cuts, Beijing will have to let banks lower rates on deposits, a key source of funding for the lenders, with their net interest margins – a key gauge of profitability – at record lows. Chinese banks’ NIM shrank sharply from 1.91% at the end of last year to 1.74% last quarter.”It is possible to see further LPR cuts in the second half of this year … That will again bring cost pressure on banks,” said Wang Yifeng, a banking sector analyst at Everbright Securities Co.”I think banks are likely to take measures in the fourth quarter to control the costs of liabilities, such as further lower interest rates of some deposit products,” Wang said. “Pressure on banks from narrowing NIM still persists.”Each 5 basis points LPR cut could reduce pre-tax profits of major banks by as much as 1.8%, China Merchants Securities said in a report.But lowering of both lending and deposit rates will not help banks if demand for credit doesn’t pick up.A round of deposit rate cuts by banks since September have so far failed to spur consumption, and further cuts may be counterproductive as savers are hurt by weaker returns, analysts said.New household loans, mainly mortgages and consumer loans, accounted for just 14% of total new loans in the first five months, down from 18% last year and 40% in 2021, while the bulk of new loans went to companies, central bank data showed. “A small rate cut is a useful painkiller for symptoms but cannot alleviate the real problem,” said Gary Ng, Asia Pacific senior economist of Natixis. “Households and corporates are uncertain about the economic outlook and policy predictability. It means the government needs to untangle the knot on regulations and provide more breathing space beyond monetary and fiscal policies.”CONFIDENCE WEAKNESSAs private sector business confidence remains depressed, more credit could be channeled to state firms and infrastructure projects. However, that could in turn fuel bad debt risks in the banking sector and structural distortions, economists say. “Credit demand for privately owned businesses has remained rather weak over the past few years since COVID,” said an executive at a major state bank, who did not want to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.”And now that businesses are repairing their balance sheets after the COVID restrictions were ended (in December), it’s unrealistic for them to borrow money to build up factories and expand capacity.”China remains on track to hit its modest 2023 growth target of around 5%, but a deeper slowdown in the coming months could stoke more job losses and fuel deflationary risks, further undermining private-sector confidence, economists said.On Friday, China’s cabinet discussed policy measures to support the economy. Policy insiders expect measures to be focused on quickening infrastructure spending, supporting consumer and private firms, and easing property sector curbs.Beijing should quickly implement a package of economic policies to eliminate the output gap, which measures the difference between an economy’s actual and potential output, said Zhang Ming, a senior economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top state think tank.The central government should consider issuing 1 trillion yuan ($139 billion) in special bonds to fund consumer vouchers, Zhang said. The government has so far resisted such calls for aggressive measures, even though Beijing has pledged to prioritise a consumer recovery.Despite significant growth headwinds, China, however, is unlikely to face a situation like Japan’s economic crisis in the 1990s as there has not been a “big financial shock” in the world’s No.2 economy, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) economists wrote in a report.”We think that the cautionary lessons from Japan’s experience in the 1990s have been well-documented and a repeat of it in China’s context appears far less likely.” More

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Alden Bentley, Breaking News Editor for Finance & Markets, Americas.The week’s main attraction, Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, came and went without rearranging the pieces on the table much.The Japanese yen looked a bit steadier by late morning on Wednesday but that was after the dollar advanced to a seven-month high following publication of Powell’s embargoed remarks that the central bank’s effort to bring inflation back down to 2% was “far from over.”During the grilling by committee members, Powell pushed back on the description of last week’s decision to hold its benchmark rate at 5-5.25% as a “pause” from the aggressive 500 basis-point tightening since last March, saying two more 25 bp rate hikes by year end was “a pretty good guess.”Clouding the picture though, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said in written remarks and an interview on Yahoo Finance that the Fed should not raise rates further or it would risk “needlessly” sapping the strength of the U.S. economy.So, that left traders expecting rate hikes to resume at the Fed’s July meeting, even as the futures market reflects doubts that the Fed will deliver more increases beyond that.The Japanese currency remained under pressure in U.S. dealings after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on Wednesday reiterated the central bank’s dovish stance to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy. The dollar firmed 0.3% on the day, wrapping up around 141.805 yen, though it pulled back from its highest print since Nov. 11 at 142.39, hit before Powell’s live testimony began. Meanwhile, the offshore yuan having weakened above 7.20 per dollar for the first time since late November overnight, departed Wednesday’s U.S. FX session at 7.1779.The Australian dollar was up 0.15% at $0.67975, set to snap a three-day losing streak following Tuesday’s release of the minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s June policy meeting, which lacked guidance on further rate hikes. Markets took this as a dovish sign.U.S. Treasury yields held to pretty narrow ranges and, with Powell leaning hawkish but not deviating much from last week’s FOMC message, the three major U.S. stock indexes fell, for the third straight session.Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Thursday:- Japan core CPI for May- Indonesia state budget balance as of May- Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies before Senate Banking Committee More

Good morning. China has responded with outrage after US president Joe Biden called his counterpart Xi Jinping a “dictator” in a spat that threatens to undermine nascent efforts to stabilise the US-China relationship. Biden said at a campaign fundraising event on Tuesday that Xi had not known about an alleged spy balloon that flew over the US this year. The incident sent bilateral ties plunging to their lowest point in decades.“That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened,” the US president told about 130 supporters at a gathering at a private home in California.The Chinese foreign ministry described Biden’s remarks as “extremely absurd and irresponsible”, adding that they “seriously violate basic facts, diplomatic protocols and China’s political dignity”. It also described the US president’s comments at the fundraiser as “open political provocations”.His comments came in the same week that Antony Blinken — the first US secretary of state to visit Beijing since 2018 — met Xi in an effort to repair ties.Bonnie Glaser, a China expert at the German Marshall Fund, said that while the comments might not cause a “visible setback” in US-China relations, they could harm the ties between the presidents, particularly in the wake of previous remarks from Biden about defending Taiwan and other statements that have irked Beijing.Will the row over Biden’s “dictator” comment derail efforts to stabilise US-China relations? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. Here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:Narendra Modi’s US visit: India’s prime minister will address a joint session of Congress and attend a state banquet at the White House. US-India relations have deepened in recent years, secured by rising defence and technology co-operation and the shared goal of countering China.Chinese diplomacy: Following a visit to Germany, Chinese premier Li Qiang will be in France, where he plans to attend a global finance summit hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron. (Associated Press)South Korea’s entertainment wave: Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos visits Seoul to speak about the media streaming company’s $2.5bn investment in South Korean entertainment.Five more top stories1. The US Federal Trade Commission has sued Amazon, accusing it of tricking customers into signing up for its Prime service without their consent and “sabotaging” efforts to undo their subscriptions. The lawsuit is the latest from US regulators against Big Tech companies as they crack down on what they have described as anti-competitive or anti-consumer business practices.2. Volkswagen plans to commission an independent audit of its factory in Xinjiang, as discussions with its Chinese joint venture partner have turned “fruitful”. The comments from VW chief executive Oliver Blume came after a non-profit organisation on Tuesday accused VW of being linked to forced labour in Xinjiang in a formal complaint filed with German regulators.Related: Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes have been accused of using forced labour in their Chinese supply chains, in one of the first cases brought under Germany’s new supply chain law. 3. The search for a submersible that has disappeared in the north Atlantic is focusing on “underwater noises”, after sonar buoys detected sounds Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the area where the craft went missing while on an expedition to view the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. Read the latest on the search for the submersible with five passengers aboard. Go deeper: FT science editor Clive Cookson explains the technology used in submersibles such as the missing Titan that allow them to travel thousands of metres below the sea’s surface.4. Beijing-based ByteDance is selling products to TikTok’s UK users through a new feature on the viral video app called “Trendy Beat”, which advertises items that have proven popular on videos. The items are shipped from China and sold by a company registered in Singapore that is owned by ByteDance, part of the group’s push to expand its own retail offerings. Learn more about the effort known internally as “Project S”.5. SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son has said the company will go on the “counteroffensive” after nearly three years of asset sales and hoarding cash to resume the technology group’s investments in artificial intelligence. Here’s more on the comments to investors from SoftBank’s billionaire founder.Related: Credit Suisse’s lawsuit against SoftBank has been thrown into doubt following the Swiss bank’s rescue by rival UBS, which counts the Japanese conglomerate as a client.The Big Read

US president Joe Biden, left, and former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro © FT montage/AFP/Getty Images

During Brazil’s presidential elections last October, far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro had been attacking the electoral process in ways reminiscent of Donald Trump in the US. In the end, he accepted opponent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s win — a testament to the strength of the country’s institutions. But it was also in part down to a discreet, little-known, year-long pressure campaign by the US government.We’re also reading and listening to . . . Edward Luce: “Operation seduce Narendra Modi” is not a new thing, but Joe Biden is taking flattery of India’s prime minister to new levels.Behind the Money podcast 🎧: FT investigative reporters look at the fallout from the sexual misconduct allegations against the UK hedge fund titan Crispin Odey. Listen here.Chinese economy: A spending injection alone is not the cure for China’s ailing economic recovery, writes Tao Wang, the lead China economist at UBS Investment Research.Chart of the day

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The rise in pasta prices is far outpacing broader inflation in parts of Europe and has continued despite a sharp drop in the cost of the wheat used to make it. European pasta producers have been accused of profiteering and “greedflation” as shoppers wonder why they are still paying so much.Take a break from the newsIn the age of the casual, cufflinks are at risk of slipping into obscurity. The FT’s Robert Armstrong makes the case for bringing back the cufflink, and offers tips for picking the right one.

Montblanc Meisterstück cufflinks, £230 © montblanc.com

Additional contributions by Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith More