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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

• 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.

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.

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”).

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Three days of mourning were declared in the Indian state of Maharashtra after the death of the state’s deputy chief minister

Three days of mourning have been declared in the Indian state of Maharashtra after the death of the state’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who was killed when his plane went down in flames on Wednesday.

Pawar, who had spent decades in politics in the wealthy and powerful Indian state, was travelling back to campaign in his home constituency when his plane made a failed attempted landing and caught fire as it hit the ground.

Survey by disability charity finds 45% of parents of children with complex needs ‘worried support will be taken away’

• ‘We’ve fought so hard’: family’s worry as England’s Send overhaul looms

Parents of disabled children fear that the government’s reforms to special needs education in England could mean they lose vital support, according to a new survey that highlights the high stakes facing ministers.

The poll of 1,000 parents of children with multiple complex needs including deaf-blind, autism and physical impairment, carried out for the disability charity Sense, found that half of the parents surveyed “feel nervous” about the upcoming reforms, and 45% said they were “worried my child’s support will be taken away” in any changes.

After months of community resistance, the president backed down. Leadership from below succeeded when politics as usual failed

For most politicians and journalists, the answer to nearly every question is to look up. Not at the moon, the stars or even the chimney tops, but at their leaders: the people who sit atop institutions, wield power and set the line that others follow. The top of the totem pole is the sole focal point, and the stories that count usually come from the heights of power.

Bend your neck back far enough and Davos becomes not a talking shop in a Swiss ski resort, but a gathering of world leaders; Keir Starmer flying into Beijing is a summit of great powers; even who should be the MP for Gorton and Denton is really all about the Labour leadership. For this piece, the Guardian’s research librarians counted how many times the words “leader” or “leadership” appeared across the British press. Over the past week alone, the rough total stands at 2,000. A third of those stories concern one man: Donald Trump.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

Light scattering creates the shade we see when we look skyward, and studies show the process varies around the world

On holiday the sky may look a deeper shade of blue than even the clearest summer day at home. Some places, including Cape Town in South Africa and Briançon in France, pride themselves on the blueness of their skies. But is there really any difference?

The blue of the sky is the product of Rayleigh scattering, which affects light more at the blue end of the spectrum. The blue we see is just the blue component of scattered white sunlight.

Exclusive: Union claims some offenders are deliberately breaking probation terms in order to deal drugs in jail

Record numbers of offenders are being recalled to prison in England and Wales with union officials claiming that some are deliberately breaking the terms of their probation in order to deal drugs in prison.

Prison sources said that after the implementation of early release schemes, as many as 5,000 men were recalled in December alone – more than a third of the total number released in the year to June 2025.

Parents, teachers and young people share their views on whether social media restrictions would work in the UK

Pressure is mounting on the UK government to introduce a ban on social media for under-16s, after a decisive vote in House of Lords in favour of Australian-style restrictions.

Peers backed a Tory-led amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill by 261 votes to 150, despite the government opposing the move. Ministers are already considering a ban as part of a consultation due to report by the summer and so the Lords amendment is unlikely to pass in the Commons. Starmer is also understood to want to wait until evidence from Australia’s ban, which came into force in December, has been assessed, though the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has urged him to “just get on with it”.

This crisp and punchy salad is a tribute to the late veg specialist Charlie Hicks and a shared love of the versatile Italian chicory puntarelle

Like many, I remember Charlie Hicks from Veg Talk, a weekly show that ran on Radio 4 from 1998-2005. The show, according to Sheila Dillon, came into being after her interview with Charlie, a fourth-generation fruit and veg supplier at Covent Garden market, for an episode of The Food Programme exploring where chefs bought their produce. Sitting at the kitchen table with her husband the following evening, Sheila recounted her day and Charlie’s enormous knowledge, enthusiasm and ability to communicate both. A few days after that, a similar conversation took place with her colleagues at Radio 4, which resulted in Veg Talk – what’s in and what’s out in the world of fresh produce. As well as Charlie’s market report, each episode included a feature called “vegetable of the week” and the participation of studio guests – Angela Hartnett, Alastair Little, Rose Gray, Darina Allen and Mitch Tonks, to name just a few – and took calls from listeners.

The show had its critics – in a 2005 interview with the Independent, broadcaster Andy Kershaw is quoted as saying, “This show should have been strangled at birth” – but it also had legions of fans (myself included), who tuned in mostly for Charlie’s expertise accumulated over a lifetime of working the markets, cooking with his wife, Anna, talking to growers and reading, so it was both practical and scholarly. Add to this his sharp humour, easy bantering relationships and warm voice.

At Beijing talks, British prime minister Keir Starmer tells Xi he wants a ‘more sophisticated’ relationship with China

• Starmer-Xi meeting – live updates

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said the UK’s relationship with his country had gone through “twists and turns” over the years but that a more “consistent” approach was in both their interests.

Ahead of talks with Keir Starmer during the first visit to China by a British prime minister in eight years, Xi said the two men would “stand the test of history” if they could “rise above differences”.

US state department calls for the release of all detained healthcare workers as at least one arrested surgeon reported to be at risk of execution

Doctors are being arrested in Iran for helping save the lives of some of the tens of thousands injured during Iran’s brutal crackdown on anti-regime protests, with at least one surgeon now at risk of being sentenced to death.

The arrests and death sentence are part of a campaign of “revenge”, say human rights groups, after healthcare workers and doctors refused to ignore the plight of badly injured protesters shot or stabbed at close range, and in some cases set up makeshift treatment centres.