http://www.ft.com/Financial TimesPwC, KPMG and Ernst & Young, three of the 'big four' accountants, and an arm of BDO International, the fifth largest, were all auditors of the feeder funds which channelled money into Madoff fundshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200808264486502008-12-18T08:11:42.0000000-05:00Retailers were the focus of attention in European equity markets as French supermarket group Carrefour announced that it expected this year's earnings growth to fall short of expectationshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200809570586612008-12-18T06:11:59.0000000-05:00German business confidence has plunged to its lowest since the early 1980s, highlighting the speed of the country's industrial collapsehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200805511786332008-12-18T05:34:18.0000000-05:00Britain's public finances slid further into the red in November, with a drop in tax receipts – principally on income – contributing to a current budget deficit of £13bn against a shortfall of £8.1bn the year beforehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200805384286302008-12-18T05:24:41.0000000-05:00The airlines have put out a joint statement announcing that after detailed discussions they had not been able to proceed with what many had judged a bold gamble to accelerate consolidation in the global airline industryhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1218200802272386072008-12-18T02:16:05.0000000-05:00The fund believed to be the biggest single loser in Bernard Madoff's alleged $50bn "Ponzi" scheme is considering suing PwC, its own accountants, for failing to detect the fraud, as victims start looking for deep-pocketed sources of compensation for their losseshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200818511685732008-12-17T18:40:38.0000000-05:00The dollar and sterling plunged and government bond yields in the US and Europe fell to multi-decade lows as investors tried to digest the implications of the Federal Reserve's new near-zero interest rate policy.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814562785142008-12-17T16:58:04.0000000-05:00Orange ruling raises prospect of legal challenges in other European countrieshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200815024185152008-12-17T14:50:53.0000000-05:00Fears that other banks may follow example over 'hybrid-capital' instrumentshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200814451285072008-12-17T14:30:20.0000000-05:00The carmaker made its third profit warning this year as it faces a lossmaking second half after slashing projections for sales and profits amid the global car industry slumphttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200813332184822008-12-17T13:23:31.0000000-05:00The Opec oil cartel announced a further – and record – 2.2m barrels a day cut on top of the 2m b/d it had pledged since September in an attempt to shore up falling oil prices. http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200811204384512008-12-17T11:57:10.0000000-05:00The two airlines are making significant reductions in the fuel surcharges imposed on passenger fares several months after the steep fall in crude oil prices began to lower their fuel costshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200812030084582008-12-17T11:49:46.0000000-05:00Bernard Madoff, the New York financier accused of perpetrating an alleged $50bn fraud, was ordered by a US judge to be detained in his Manhattan apartment as his bail hearing was postphoned for a second timehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200811332884522008-12-17T11:23:49.0000000-05:00The banking group reported a fourth quarter loss of $2.2bn from continuing operations, an improvement on the same period last year but worse than what most analysts were expectinghttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200810324984462008-12-17T10:21:56.0000000-05:00European governments will be able to pump money into struggling corporate sectors more easily after Brussels announced a further two-year relaxation of EU state aid ruleshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200808265084252008-12-17T08:17:41.0000000-05:00Sterling fell to a record low against the euro and lost ground against the dollar after the minutes of the Bank of England's December meeting raised expectations that it would follow the Federal Reserve and slash interest rates aggressively.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200810152584442008-12-17T06:28:23.0000000-05:00Ryanair, European largest low fares airline, won a legal victory in its long-running battle with Brussels over its subsidised access to Charleroi airport in southern Belgiumhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200805391584062008-12-17T05:26:45.0000000-05:00The mining group plans to cut spending below this year's $5bn level as it reviews a number of projects and waits for commodity prices to reboundhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200804571484002008-12-17T04:44:25.0000000-05:00Competition Commission calls for airports operator should be broken up and three of its seven UK airports – Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh – to be soldhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200803513583932008-12-17T03:36:16.0000000-05:00Sweden's finance minister has triggered a war of words with Brussels over bank rescue rules after he accused the European Commission of exacerbating paralysis of the credit marketshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200814510382932008-12-17T03:18:31.0000000-05:00In spite of massive production cuts, the Japanese carmaker's inventories are piling up due to a shrinking global demand for cars, prompting it to issue its third profit warning this yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1217200809571084412008-12-17T03:11:29.0000000-05:00Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has called for an investigation of his own agency, saying there were previous multiple failures to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Bernard Madoffhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200822142783762008-12-17T00:38:23.0000000-05:00Bernard Madoff left behind a trail of 'falsified' and 'unreliable' records, hampering efforts by investigators to unravel the mystery of the $50bn "Ponzi" scheme allegedly perpetrated by the New York broker, officials said http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200820022183642008-12-16T20:14:54.0000000-05:00 French lender's corporate and investment banking arm will make a pre-tax loss of €710m in the first 11 months of the year, including a €350m potential loss from exposure to Madoff http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200816331783262008-12-16T16:21:55.0000000-05:00Security was tightened in Paris and other French cities after an obscure group demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan claimed responsibility for a bomb threat against a leading department storehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200815270383072008-12-16T15:15:03.0000000-05:00Eleven steel trading companies, including subsidiaries of ArcelorMittal and Klöckner, have been ordered to pay a total of €575m after France's competition watchdog ruled they had engaged in price-fixinghttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200815270283062008-12-16T15:13:15.0000000-05:00The US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates from 1 per cent to a new range of 0-0.25 per cent.http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200814510182902008-12-16T14:35:47.0000000-05:00Goldman Sachs reported a loss of $2.12bn, or $4.97 per share, for the fourth quarter, its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200809032482022008-12-16T08:52:45.0000000-05:00Opec's two most hawkish members, called on the cartel to double the number of barrels it has already promised to withhold from the market as oil prices continued to trade far below the group's pain thresholdhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200807562881982008-12-16T06:42:12.0000000-05:00The inflation rate fell sharply in November as falling energy prices and a deepening recession eased upward pressure on prices, although the CPI index was still higher than the 3.9% forecast by economistshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200805332181642008-12-16T06:18:57.0000000-05:00Volvo had more cancelled orders in Europe than new ones in October and November as customers continued to postpone their investment decisions due to the uncertain economic environmenthttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1216200804085281552008-12-16T03:59:21.0000000-05:00The biggest shareholder in the UK-listed online gambling company has agreed to plead guilty to a charge relating to illegal web bettinghttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200819093281302008-12-16T02:25:00.0000000-05:00Some of Germany's largest companies are to pledge to avoid mass job cuts as part of Berlin's second multibillion-euro fiscal stimulus package to be unveiled early next yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200817144880972008-12-15T17:00:29.0000000-05:00Smokers have been granted the right by the US Supreme Court to sue Altria Group and other tobacco companies over claims their marketing tactics for 'light' cigarettes are deceptivehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200814324580442008-12-15T14:55:18.0000000-05:00The fallout from Bernard Madoff's alleged fraud spread through the global financial system yesterday as more banks revealed exposure to his brokerage firm, and hedge funds, charities and other investors were left nursing possible big losseshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200815032880572008-12-15T14:47:17.0000000-05:00The European Central Bank could act as 'clearing house' to boost interbank lending http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200814565880562008-12-15T14:43:54.0000000-05:00Oil prices rebounded strongly, ahead of this week's Opec meeting, while base metals rose and gold gained as commodity markets staged a broad based recovery http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200810270679792008-12-15T10:17:25.0000000-05:00BBVA, Spain's second biggest bank, joined the growing list of private investors, fund managers and banks which have fallen victim to the alleged fraud committed by Bernard Madoff, saying it might have lost up to €300mhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200806023079522008-12-15T05:50:52.0000000-05:00The world's second-largest maker of domestic appliances provided another dire warning about the state of global consumer demand, cutting more than 3,000 jobs and indicating that fourth-quarter operating profit would fall 30%http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200804570979422008-12-15T04:48:58.0000000-05:00Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group outlined potential exposures of £400m and $360m, respectively, to Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff's alleged $50bn fraudhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200804203979352008-12-15T03:05:44.0000000-05:00Japanese business sentiment has suffered its sharpest crash in three decades, a Bank of Japan survey showsand the central bank said no early turnaround was expected with the economy set to shrink next yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1215200800450579192008-12-15T00:33:36.0000000-05:00HSBC has emerged as one the largest victims of Bernard Madoff's alleged fraud with potential exposure of about $1bn (€747m) to the investment manager's collapsed venture, according to people close to the situationhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200818324278762008-12-14T18:24:41.0000000-05:00Companies in Europe sold $57.5bn worth of bonds in the last two months of the year, making a comeback from a gloomy autumnhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200817565878722008-12-14T17:41:32.0000000-05:00Lakshmi Mittal has conceded defeat in an 18-month effort to win control of Dillinger Hütte, a prized German steelmaker, although he has come out of the fight with a $1bn (£668.7m) pay-offhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200817504278672008-12-14T17:38:03.0000000-05:00Companies are scrambling to cut inventories before the end of the year in a move that is depressing activity across many industries and could lead to some businesses collapsinghttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200817452878652008-12-14T17:32:06.0000000-05:00Norway is poised to dip more deeply into its sovereign wealth fund to finance a new fiscal spending package and offset a rapid slowdown in economic growth next yearhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200817265778612008-12-14T17:17:27.0000000-05:00Chinese demand for iron ore lifts a slumping market and helps to push prices up and could encourage shipowners to bring ships back into servicehttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200817141578552008-12-14T17:04:01.0000000-05:00During a farewell visit to Baghdad on Sunday, President George W. Bush defended a war that has taken far more time, money and lives than anticipated, saying the conflict 'has not been easy' but was necessary for US security, Iraqi stability and 'world peace'http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200815570878512008-12-14T15:47:13.0000000-05:00President George W. Bush is facing growing pressure from his own party to impose wage cuts and debt write-downs on the US's troubled auto industry as conditions of the $14bn-$15bn emergency loan Detroit says it needshttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200815445078492008-12-14T15:30:42.0000000-05:00The failure to detect what could be the world's biggest fraud allegedly perpetrated by long-time investment adviser Bernard Madoff has raised fresh questions about the capabilities of the Securities and Exchange Commissionhttp://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto1214200815270278452008-12-14T14:28:48.0000000-05:00