FirstFT: Today’s top stories | Financial Times

Britain’s rapid Covid-19 vaccine rollout will foster a faster economic recovery and require fewer tax rises than feared, official Budget forecasts will show this week, as the number of people receiving their first jab passed 20m.

“The successful rollout of the vaccine is a material change in the last few months,” said one person close to the Budget process.

Rishi Sunak is still concerned about “enormous strains” in public finances and has paved the way for tax rises in Wednesday’s Budget. He told the Financial Times on Friday he wanted to “level” with people about the need to rein in borrowing.

Sunak is on March 3 set to announce a £5bn “restart” grant scheme to help the British high street recover from Covid-19. Here are five things to watch out for in the chancellor’s announcement.

Some Treasury insiders have talked of a £40bn fiscal hole by the end of the current parliament in 2024. In November, the OBR thought the fiscal hole was £29bn. But the figure has fluctuated during the forecast process, according to those close to the process.

MPs have warned that raising taxes would risk undermining the UK’s economic recovery; however, “significant” fiscal and revenue raising measures would probably be needed. (FT)

Coronavirus digest

• Six people in the UK have been infected with the coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil. Some of Britain’s largest companies are launching root-and-branch reviews of hybrid working practices after the pandemic.

• The US drug regulator has authorised Johnson & Johnson’s single-jab Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. The country’s House of Representatives passed a $1.9tn relief package after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the proposed federal minimum wage increase could not be pushed through using budget reconciliation.

• The road to success has been long for Novavax. Here is how the pharmaceutical company proved the naysayers wrong.

• Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has warned that Europe must prepare its medical sector to cope with an “era of pandemics”.

• Hungary is the only EU member to have approved both the Chinese-made Sinopharm and Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines.

• China’s domestic rollout of inoculations has been slow, raising concerns that restrictions on international travel will remain until at least next year. (FT)

Establish whether vaccination certification would work before tackling its ethical issues, writes David Allen Green. Follow the latest with our live blog.

In the news

Iran rejects offer of US talks on nuclear deal Iran has rejected a European invitation to attend direct talks with the US over a return to the nuclear deal that Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, but said it would continue “consultations” through other channels. (FT)

• The Biden administration defended itself against criticism it failed to punish Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his role in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The FT View is that the US intelligence report into the murder leaves little doubt that Riyadh’s claims that it was a rouge operation were spurious. (FT)

Deutsche under pressure over Spain derivatives sales Deutsche Bank has been accused of potentially mis-selling complex currency products in Spain as regulators await the results of an internal probe into contracts that pushed some small companies into financial distress and led to a series of out-of-court settlements. (FT)

Trump hints at new presidential run Donald Trump said he might run for president again, delighting his supporters at a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida — his first public appearance since leaving the White House last month. (FT)

Buffett warns of ‘bleak future’ for debt investors The 90-year-old chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway told shareholders in his annual letter that it was best to eschew the fixed-income market, in which the company is itself a large participant. US Treasuries rallied on Friday, following the most turbulent day for the world’s biggest bond market since March 2020. Rising interest rates owing to the rout should boost the profitability for financials, writes Michael Mackenzie. (FT)

Myanmar crackdown deepens The country’s junta has ordered foreign embassies, UN agencies and other international organisations in the country not to talk to “illegal entities” representing Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, which was forced out of power in February. At least 18 people died over the weekend, in the worst violence since the coup. (FT)

Carmakers braced for prolonged chip shortage The auto industry is preparing to weather months of microchip shortages as the supply chain struggles to keep pace with the lockdown boom in consumer electrics. Executives have warned that supply is unlikely to meet demand until at least the second half of the year. (FT)

FT’s Tech Tonic podcast is back

Every minute we collectively send 190m emails, 59m messages and 19m texts. We conduct 4.1m Google searches and swipe 1.6m times on Tinder. In the first episode of FT’s new Tech Tonic podcast, innovation editor John Thornhill examines the promises and dangers of our accelerated online world. Click here to listen.

“Technology as the saying goes, is neither positive nor negative. But nor is it neutral. We must guard against the risks of the data economy running out of control, and we should become wise enough to direct it to our ends.” — John Thornhill

The day ahead

Vaccine rollout From Monday, the UK will allow over 60s to get their jabs and Austria will make 3.5m Covid-19 tests available free to its citizens each week. (LBC, FT)

Sarkozy verdict A verdict is expected in the trial of Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s former president, over accusations of influence-peddling and trying to bribe a judge. (France24)

Zoom earnings The video conferencing company is expected to deliver a year-on-year increase in earnings on higher revenues when it announces results for the quarter that ended in January. (Nasdaq)

UN Navalny report The international body will release its report on Russia’s treatment of Kremlin critic Alexi Navalny. (Reuters)

Economic data US manufacturing activity is expected to continue to show robust growth with the release of the ISM’s February manufacturing index. (WSJ)

What else we’re reading

Murdoch at 90 By his own reckoning, Rupert Murdoch was supposed to die a fortnight ago. But the media mogul, perhaps the last of the continent-straddling press barons, is steaming towards his 90th birthday on March 11. In his twilight years, the question of what happens to the Murdoch media dynasty still seems as vexed as ever.

The booming market for start-up shares The global market for shares in private start-ups such as TikTok owner ByteDance, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and payments company Stripe has become an opaque but fast-growing corner of finance. Often, investors receive scant rights to information on financial performance. (FT)

The scourge of work email Email and its more fevered cousin, Slack, no longer simply interrupt important tasks, writes Pilita Clark. They fuel an endless, attention-draining digital discussion about those tasks that we have come to regard as both normal and unavoidable. (FT)

Lunch with the FT: Chef Ruth Rogers The River Cafe co-founder spoke virtually with the FT’s Jo Ellison on adapting in a crisis, changing food culture — and why collaborating is crucial in a kitchen. During the pandemic, the River Cafe’s story has been one of triumph against adversity. (FT)

Joanna Coles: a media star scores with Spacs The former Cosmopolitan editor’s deal to buy and list a fintech group is the latest example of a Wall Street craze. Coles and her new business partner Jonathan Ledecky have founded several special purpose acquisition companies to target opportunities in emerging markets and among younger consumers. (FT)

Video of the day

GameStop to Tesla: investor Jeremy Grantham on ‘crazy’ markets The founder of GMO, known for calling several of the largest market turns of recent decades, talks to the FT’s US finance editor Robert Armstrong about his fears for a stock market crash in 2021. (FT)