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It’s Budget day in the UK, where chancellor Jeremy Hunt is set to announce billions of pounds to boost business investment and a big expansion in free childcare. Get updates on today’s Budget here.
The story around Silicon Valley Bank continues to evolve with the Fed reportedly considering tighter rules for midsized banks. Tech start-ups now have to deal with tighter regulations at bigger banks after losing their one-stop shop for financial needs.
Here’s what else to keep tabs on today:
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Economic data: France has its consumer price index for February and the US publishes retail sales figures for the same month.
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Results: Adobe, Balfour Beatty, BMW, H&M, Prudential, Eon, Marshalls and Inditex report.
Join our journalists and guests for an FT subscriber-only webinar on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank tomorrow at 4pm GMT. Register for free here.
Today’s top news
1. Technology start-ups are assessing the damage caused by Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and preparing to deal with tighter rules at larger banks. Tech founders and venture capitalists tell the Financial Times how they’re responding to the loss of SVB.
2. Jeremy Hunt will announce billions of pounds to boost business investment and measures to bolster Britain’s workforce, including a big expansion in free childcare, in a “Budget for growth”. Read more on what to expect in the UK chancellor’s Budget today.
3. A Russian aircraft has struck an unmanned US drone over the Black Sea, American officials claim, in an incident they describe as a “reckless” action by Vladimir Putin’s military. A White House official called the Russian move “unsafe” and “unprofessional”.
4. EXCLUSIVE: Hong Kong is planning its first ministerial-level trip to the UK in three years, with a visit by one of the city’s most senior finance officials. Here’s why the trip matters to both the UK and its former colony.
5. OpenAI has released GPT-4, its latest artificial intelligence model that it claims exhibits “human-level performance” on benchmarks such as the US bar exam, advanced placement tests and the SAT. The company says its new software will be used in a variety of apps ranging from Duolingo to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
The Big Read
Many of the UK’s big housing associations, which have become some of the country’s largest landlords, were established to provide safe, affordable homes for people facing poverty. But an FT investigation has found widespread mismanagement at homes run by the Peabody Trust, one of the nation’s oldest housing associations.
We’re also reading . . .
Chart of the day
Banks fail, and when they do, those who stand to lose scream for a state rescue, writes Martin Wolf. If the threatened costs are big enough, they will succeed. This is how, crisis by crisis, we have created a banking sector that is in theory private but in practice a ward of the state.
Take a break from the news
Where should the lines be drawn in the encouragement, promotion and marketing of stories about the misery of others? Nilanjana Roy writes about the persistence of the trauma memoir.
Additional contributions by Gordon Smith and Emily Goldberg
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