‘A foot out in the cold’: leaders huddle at IMF as icy economic winds blow

“The security blanket is covering us, but maybe we have a foot out in the cold.” That was the typically colourful warning from the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, this week to its gathering of finance ministers in Washington.At its spring meetings in April, the IMF said the erratic trade policies emanating from the White House, half a mile away from its glass and steel HQ, amounted to a “major negative shock” for the global economy.Since then, experts’ worst fears have not materialised – global growth has held up; frantic negotiations, agile manufacturers and new trading links have prevented supply chains collapsing.But the US economy has been cushioned against the full effects of the trade shift by the AI mega-boom – and the IMF issued a clear warning this week that it may not last

What could a Trump deal on critical minerals mean for Australia – and could Maga be a sticking point?

Australia’s rich deposits of minerals used for green energy technologies and military hardware are increasingly prized, especially because of rising anxiety about China’s stranglehold on the global supply chain.That anxiety escalated after Beijing imposed new restrictions on rare earths exports, prompting a furious rebuke from Donald Trump and a warning from his treasury secretary that western allies would need to “decouple” from China if it proved an unreliable supplier.The timing of the latest US-China trade conflict could be good for Anthony Albanese, who will arrive at next week’s White House meeting armed with a valuable bargaining chip to negotiate with the deal-making president.The Australian government is expected to offer the US access to a proposed critical minerals stockpile, amid wider attempts to shield the country from the worst of Trump’s trade strikes and secure the Aukus submarine deal.But one expert thinks the critical minerals fight puts Australia in a “really compromised position”, caught between the competing priorities of its strongest strategic ally and its biggest trading partner

UK government borrowing costs fall to lowest level since July

The UK government’s borrowing costs have fallen to the lowest level since July as Rachel Reeves considers tax rises and spending cuts before next month’s autumn budget.In a boost for the chancellor, the yield – in effect the interest rate – on 10-year UK government bonds has fallen by about 0.15 percentage points this week, after briefly dipping below 4.5% early on Friday for the first time in three months.Government bond yields have tumbled across advanced economies, as investors scrambled to buy safe-haven assets amid fears over US-China trade tensions and signs of stress in the US banking system

Gaucho chain to slash waiters’ share of service charge and boost head office pay

The Argentinian steak restaurant Gaucho is slashing the share of the service charge its waiters receive, using some of the funds to bump up the pay package of head office workers.A letter to workers seen by the Guardian says that from 1 October existing waiters would receive between 25.45% and 29.4% of the service charge collected at tables they have served, depending on length of service, down from 37% previously – already a reduction from 45% early last year. Bar staff will get 17% of the service charge, down from 20%

‘Finances are getting tighter’: US car repossessions surge as more Americans default on auto loans

Alarm bells are ringing on Wall Street. The recent collapses of Tricolor, a used car seller and sub-prime auto lender, and First Brands, an auto parts supplier, have put the finance industry on edge, almost two decades after problems in the sub-prime mortgage lending market set the stage for the global financial crisis.“When you see one cockroach, there are probably more,” Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase CEO, ominously cautioned analysts this week, after the US’s largest bank disclosed a $170m charge tied to Tricolor’s bankruptcy. “Everyone should be forewarned on this one.”As the car lending market shows signs of strain, business around repossessions is booming

Ferrari cuts number of cars it sends to UK after non-dom tax status scrapped

Ferrari has cut the number of cars it sells in the UK as wealthy individuals relocate overseas after tax changes and the abolition of non-dom status.The Italian luxury carmaker reportedly began limiting the number of vehicles it exported to the UK about six months ago, in an attempt to stop a decline in their residual value.Benedetto Vigna, the chief executive of the carmaker, said that Ferrari had seen a “stabilisation” in sales after its decision to reduce the number of vehicles it allocated to the UK.“Some people are getting out of that country for tax reasons,” he told the Financial Times, adding that taxes were not the only reason for the fall in residual values. “There are many different factors