BlackRock, one of the world’s largest investors in banks and fossil fuel companies, has been hired by the EU to work on potential new environmental rules for banks. Campaigners raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest, given BlackRock’s widespread financial interests in sectors that could be directly impacted by new environmental rules. The European commission, the EU’s executive arm, said this week that BlackRock had beaten eight other bidders on a contract to study how the EU...

Aston Martin Lagonda plans to stop production at its two factories on Wednesday because of the coronavirus lockdown, bringing the struggling luxury carmaker in line with other British automotive brands. The factories will close from 25 March until at least 20 April, the carmaker said in a statement on Tuesday. The manufacturer, famously the maker of the cars driven by James Bond, had been an outlier among British and EU carmakers, after every high-volume manufacturer across Europe closed...

The hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has claimed his firm made $2.6bn (£2.2bn) betting that the coronavirus outbreak would cause a market crash, barely a week after warning that “hell is coming” for US companies. Ackman took advantage of bond market turmoil to make almost 100 times his original outlay of $27m on bets on market movements, he said on Wednesday in a post on the website of Pershing Square Capital Management. The returns were made by buying “credit protection on various global...

Europe’s airlines are expected to lose $76bn (£63bn) in passenger revenues over the course of 2020 because of travel bans combating the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, the industry body has warned. The figures from the International Air Transport Association (Iata) suggest European airlines will bear a significant part of the global hit caused by the pandemic, which has resulted in an unprecedented decline in the number of passengers. Quick guide Flight cancellations on back of...

Stock markets around the worldfell sharply on Friday as concerns mount over the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. As the infection rate steadily climbs worldwide and rising numbers of companies sound the alarm on the hit to profits, impose travel bans and put in place contingency plans to protect staff, the FTSE 100 plunged by about 4% to the lowest level since straight after the Brexit vote in 2016. Quick guide What is the coronavirus and should we be worried? Show Hide What is...