Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

January’s sizzling gains follow a strong 2025 for gold.

Gold gained 65% last year, as investors sought out protection from inflation and geopolitical tensions (a trend that has accelerated since!).

“The biggest question this year will be whether investment demand is going to be strong enough to maintain the strength of the gold market.”

“The highlight is definitely investment demand. The lowlight — the one people may be surprised about — is that central bank demand dropped.”

After a precious metals shop in Hong Kong’s central business district announced that hundreds of silver bars had sold out for the day on Jan 28, murmurs of disappointment rippled through a waiting queue.

Despite increasing its supply to cater to strong demand, the store saw hundreds of bars snapped up in just over an hour.

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© Photograph: Angelika Warmuth/Reuters

© Photograph: Angelika Warmuth/Reuters

© Photograph: Angelika Warmuth/Reuters

This period drama’s puddingy mix of clunking soap and fairytale wish-fulfilment is hard to resist. It is, however, utterly bananas

‘I am charting a more venturesome course outside this society and in doing so I am being true to myself!” snorts Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), flaring his philandering nostrils as Lady Violet (Ruth Gemmell) looks on aghast. “But you still have two sisters who must marry and their fate depends on the family reputation,” she snaps, bustle crackling with maternal indignation. “This requires you to be a gentleman and not … a rake!”

At this point, when faced with such period-specific umbrage, it is customary for the casual viewer to insert her monocle and refer to her dog-eared copy of The Crashingly Inevitable Downton Abbey Comparisons Companion. And in many ways Bridgerton, bless its ridiculous socks, continues to invite such comparisons with open arms. There are costumes. There is a house. There are scones (pronounced “scones”, of course, not – heaven forfend – “scones”) and scrunch-faced toffs clearing their throats at news from the shires. There are scullery maids a-titterin’ an’ a-gossipin’ and footmen with calves like bowling balls plotting to relieve dignitaries of their britches. There is a string-heavy score that becomes aroused at times of narrative tension and actively tumescent at the sight of a poorly secured cravat.

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© Photograph: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX

© Photograph: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX

© Photograph: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX

That said, the "Lake Scene" is a banger.

Today’s rumours embrace chaos

There is plenty of plotting to be done at Old Trafford and they are keen to bring in some young talent. One man on the Manchester United shortlist is Chelsea’s 19-year-old Tyrique George, who has become something of a fringe figure at Stamford Bridge in recent times. Other options for the recruitment bods are Milan’s Rafael Leão and Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye.

Randal Kolo Muani might have scored in the win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night but his Tottenham future looks uncertain. That was his only his third goal for the club in an underwhelming loan. Juventus are in search of a striker and could bring him back to Turin for a second spell. Another option for i bianconeri is Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee, who does not look he will be prolific in the Premier League and is available this month.

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© Photograph: Gary Oakley/Every Second Media/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Gary Oakley/Every Second Media/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Gary Oakley/Every Second Media/Shutterstock

As the musical version of the notoriously gory book returns to the stage, its tale of 80s yuppie nihilism feels more relevant than ever in the era of Andrew Tate, Trump and tech bros

I have just witnessed a murder. Spattered against the white walls of the Almeida theatre are several thin streaks of blood. Underneath them a particularly gruesome-looking hand axe rests on a table. And on the other side of the room, a clue to who the perpetrator might be. Discarded next to someone’s laptop is a business card – bone-coloured, raised black lettering – bearing a familiar name: Patrick Bateman.

Him again.

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© Photograph: Universal Pictures/Allstar

© Photograph: Universal Pictures/Allstar

© Photograph: Universal Pictures/Allstar

Edwin wants Chloe to join him at all of his large family’s events, but she values her independence. You decide who is playing happy families
• Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a juror

It’s thoughtless to wheel me out to his family as a formality. I need my own space sometimes

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© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

© Illustration: Igor Bastidas/The Guardian

The Afghanistan coach discusses the Ashes, T20 World Cup and annoying pundits who snipe from the sidelines

Think back to that team and Jonathan Trott was always the relatable one. Get past the gnarly ones, the Type A personalities and the one-offs, and you’d arrive at him, the everyman stumbling in a little late, sporting a dual passport and a receding hairline, who became an integral part of an almost-conquering Test side and briefly one of the best players in the world, before the team, and the man, fell apart.

For four blissful years Trott was there for all the big moments. The dreamlike debut at The Oval in 2009, only the seventh English batter to make an Ashes ton on debut, sealing a 2-1 win. The overseas wins in Australia and India. The ascension to No 1 team in the world. It couldn’t last and it didn’t. But what a ride.

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© Photograph: Darrian Traynor-ICC/ICC/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darrian Traynor-ICC/ICC/Getty Images

© Photograph: Darrian Traynor-ICC/ICC/Getty Images

The ‘mother of all deals’ is as much about the tariff-heavy geopolitics of the Trump era as it is about bilateral trade

The year was 2007. Steve Jobs had announced the launch of the first iPhone, the sub-prime mortgage crisis was bubbling up in the US, the EU had enlarged to include Romania and Bulgaria, and India had for the first time become a trillion-dollar economy. This was when trade talks between Delhi and Brussels were initiated for the first time. But it wouldn’t be until this very week, almost 20 years later, that a deal was signed after a few final months of unusually accelerated negotiations.

On Tuesday, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Council António Costa and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced the “mother of all deals”, which promises to bring together about 2 billion consumers and a quarter of the world’s GDP. The agreement opens parts of India’s famously protectionist domestic market with a focus on exporting manufacturing and services; in return, middle-class Indian consumers will find it cheaper to buy European cars and wine. The overarching EU-India comprehensive strategic agenda is really much larger in scope, taking in defence and security, commitments to multilateralism, mobility and cooperation in a range of areas.

Ravinder Kaur is professor of Asian studies at the University of Copenhagen and is writing a book about the history of the global south

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© Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

Dear Abby advises Pennsylvania residents whose neighbors use mothballs in excess.

Frank Boulton, who founded the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and has served as league chairman since the first season in 1998, will remain with the Ducks in an advisory role to REV Entertainment. 

Bo Nix wants to make one thing abundantly clear about his ankle injury — it was not inevitable.

During the long-winded scandal, the disgraced pair denied allegations, filed criminal complaints — and a threat was even made from a landline inside the president's office.

Investigators said Shaw used a “stacking” method at self-checkout kiosks, placing multiple items on top of one another and scanning only one before leaving the store.

• Davis arrested after US Marshals surveillance operation

• Warrant alleges battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping

• Arrest follows lawsuit and cancelled Jake Paul bout

Gervonta Davis, a three-division world champion and one of boxing’s biggest stars, was taken into custody in Miami on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after police issued an arrest warrant accusing the fighter of battery, false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident last fall.

Miami Gardens police said Davis was apprehended following a multi-day surveillance operation conducted across three counties in coordination with the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Authorities said he was arrested without incident in Miami’s Design District and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center late Wednesday night.

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© Photograph: Premier Boxing Champions

© Photograph: Premier Boxing Champions

© Photograph: Premier Boxing Champions

LeBron James remains uncertain about his future as he plays alongside his son Bronny James in his hometown of Cleveland.

Yet another person has died from eating a toxic variety of mushroom that has been blooming recently in California -- bringing the state's death toll to four.

Of those affected by midlife challenges such as menopause, nine in 10 do not seek help, therapists’ organisation says

Almost two in three women over 50 in the UK struggle with their mental health as they deal with menopause, relationship breakdowns and changes to their appearance, a survey has found.

Brain fog, parents dying, children leaving home and financial pressures can also trigger difficulties such as sleeping problems, feeling anxious or overwhelmed, and a loss of zest for life.

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© Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

© Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

© Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

This tender satire of a dysfunctional American family’s search for moral guidance is precisely what our times need

Making the comic novel succeed is a rich, tricky project in our age of desperate, sometimes weirdly eager apocalypticism. Madeline Cash has spotted that a combination of tenderness and satire may be precisely what our times require. Lost Lambs, her debut novel about the Flynn family, is a witty, quickfire book set in a small American town, punch-drunk on clever, skewering lists and infested typographically by the gnats that plague the local church the family attends (“explagnation”, “extermignation”).

The Flynns are in a mess. It was easy for Catherine and Bud to be passionate when he was a young rock star and she was an aspiring artist. But since then they’ve acquired three daughters and a lot of Tupperware. Catherine succumbs to the advances of Jim, an amateur artist who gives her “the youthful comfort of being understood”. He’s rekindled her artistic ambitions, prompting her to decorate the Flynn house with nude self-portraits and proclaim an open marriage. She doesn’t yet know that Jim has a collection of pottery vaginas in his basement (“each of these pussies has touched my life”).

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© Photograph: David Spector

© Photograph: David Spector

© Photograph: David Spector

Sibylle Fendt’s intimate photographs of terminally ill patients and their carers were inspired by the death of her own husband – a period in which she experienced pain, tenderness and love

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© Photograph: Sibylle Fendt/Sibylle Fendt/Ostkreuz

© Photograph: Sibylle Fendt/Sibylle Fendt/Ostkreuz

© Photograph: Sibylle Fendt/Sibylle Fendt/Ostkreuz

Cooper directs Will Arnett in this likable, semi-believable story about a man heading for a divorce who discovers a cathartic outlet in comedy

Comic actor Will Arnett finally gets a straight dramatic role and he’s playing … a comedian. Well, a would-be comedian. But he’s not an outrageously awful or failing one; the point of this film is not the delicious ironic cringe of delusional loserdom, as it is with Arnett’s small-screen roles such as the hopeless magician Gob Bluth in Arrested Development, or the washed-up equine star in the animation BoJack Horseman, or even his scheming figure skater Stranz Van Waldenberg in the movie Blades of Glory.

Arnett plays Alex, a regular guy with a regular job, married with two young kids but unhappily heading for divorce. He discovers standup comedy by performing in an open mic slot one night on a weed-fuelled whim, and finds that audiences love his unfunny but sweetly honest confessional ramblings. And then he kind of improves – but are we supposed to think by the end that he is, in fact, genuinely funny? It’s not entirely clear. And the film, though likable and spirited and nicely acted, isn’t completely convincing on its own terms. It is, after all, intended to be funny on its own account.

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© Photograph: Searchlight Pictures/PA

© Photograph: Searchlight Pictures/PA

© Photograph: Searchlight Pictures/PA

Forget flashy St Moritz or Zermatt, the unsung village of Arosa has childlike charm, with animal sanctuaries, cool accommodation and kid-friendly tobogganing

On the approach to Arosa in the Graubünden Alps, the road is lined with mountain chapels, their stark spires soaring heavenwards; a portent, perhaps, of the ominous route ahead. The sheer-sided valley is skirted with rugged farmhouses and the road twists, over ravines and round hairpin curves, to a holiday destination that feels like a well-kept secret.

On the village’s frozen lake, young families ice skate, hand in hand. A little farther along, on the snow-covered main street, children sled rapidly downhill, overtaking cars. The resort’s mascots are a happy gang of brown bears. And there are Narnia lamp-posts, which turn the falling snow almost gold every evening. Switzerland is replete with ski towns but none feel quite this innocent and childlike, like stepping into a fairytale.

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© Photograph: Mike Maceacheran

© Photograph: Mike Maceacheran

© Photograph: Mike Maceacheran

Waymo cars have been earning their stripes by getting used to zebra crossings while awaiting a government green light

American robotaxis due to be unleashed on London’s streets before the end of the year have been quietly undergoing training to understand the city’s quirks, not least the zebra crossings, their promoters said on Thursday as they showed off one of the UK-specific driverless cars for the first time.

The US self-driving ride-hailing company Waymo has a fleet of about 24 cars in London, each rigged with cameras, radar and lidar (light detection and ranging) censors.

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© Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

© Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

© Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

Tiffany Cross also claimed Proud Boys members were made into ICE officers during confrontation with Kevin O'Leary on 'Newsnight.'

Test yourself on topical news trivia, pop culture and general knowledge every Thursday. How will you fare?

Thanks to Anaïs Mims’s whimsical illustrations, this week’s quiz invites you to consider an important question: are you the moustache of misplaced confidence, or the question mark of honest uncertainty? Fifteen questions on the week’s headlines, pop culture and general knowledge await. There are no prizes, but we enjoy hearing how you got on in the comments. Allons-y!

The Thursday news quiz, No 232

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© Illustration: Anaïs Mims/The Guardian

© Illustration: Anaïs Mims/The Guardian

© Illustration: Anaïs Mims/The Guardian