Daily briefing: EU alarm over Russia sanctions, Wolves of Wall St ...

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Brussels is preparing to retaliate against the US if Washington pushes ahead with far-reaching new sanctions on Russia that hit European companies. The White House indicated on Sunday that President Donald Trump would accept legislation that would punish Russia for interfering in the 2016 election. This is despite Mr Trump questioning assertions about Moscow’s involvement for months — and as Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were scheduled to appear before Senate committees this week.

Brussels fears that efforts to punish Moscow’s election meddling will hurt energy companies. According to a note prepared for a commission meeting on Wednesday, and seen by the Financial Times, Brussels “should stand ready to act within days” if the US measures were “adopted without EU concerns being taken into account”. (FT, NYT, WSJ)

In the news

IMF leaves forecasts unchanged
The slower-than-expected US economy and Donald Trump’s stalled economic promises have been compensated by better growth in China, the euro zone and Japan. As a result, the International Monetary Fund left its April forecasts for 3.5 per cent global growth this year and 3.6 per cent next year unchanged in its latest update.

Wolves of Wall Street
The men running two of Wall Street’s biggest banks, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, saw the value of their shareholdings rise by a combined $314m in 2016 as stock market prices rocketed in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election. The average gains for the other 18 best-paid chief executives at international banks was $4m. (FT)

Honeymoon over
Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating has fallen 10 percentage points to 54 per cent, the second-biggest decline for a French president so soon after election. French voters were either confused by plans for the tax system, shocked by a dispute with the head of the army or unsettled by upcoming labour laws reform. (Bloomberg)

Poles protest
Protests against the Polish government entered an eighth day on Sunday. Thousands took to the streets to voice anger at the government, which has pushed through a series of bills that give politicians wide-ranging powers over the courts. (FT)

Vanguard closes in on BlackRock
The battle is heating up between the world’s largest asset managers. After pulling in more than $1bn a day of investor money since the start of the year, Vanguard is closing in on BlackRock’s top spot. (FT)

Uber rival raises $2.5bn
Grab has raised $2.5bn from Didi Chuxing and SoftBank Group, the largest investment in a technology start-up in Southeast Asia, as it steps up efforts to fend off rival Uber. (FT)

World’s first floating wind farm
The revolutionary technology, located off the north-east coast of Scotland, is a trial that will bring power to 20,000 homes. It allows wind power to be harvested in waters too deep forconventional bottom-standing turbines. (BBC)

The day ahead

UN Security Council meets on Jerusalem
The meeting comes as the Arab League said Israel was “playing with fire” over the installation of metal detectors at the Noble Sanctuary-Temple Mount. At least three Israelis and three Palestinians have died in violence surrounding the installation. (Reuters)

Turkey trial
The first journalists go on trial in connection with last year’s failed coup attempt. The 17 employees of a Turkish opposition newspaper are on trial for allegedly aiding a terrorist organisation, and their sentence could be up to 43 years in jail. (BBC)

Keep up with the important business, economic and political stories in the coming days with the FT’s Week Ahead.

What we’re reading

Lucy will miss you most of all
After 32 years at the FT, columnist Lucy Kellaway says goodbye — but not farewell: “The FT has been a constant for virtually my entire adult life. It has been part of my existence for longer than any of my children, who are all grown up.” (FT)

Tesla’s moment of truth
Elon Musk hopes his Model 3 will be the first mass-market electric car and will set it on the path to profitability. (FT)

Why is China the only market where tech stocks are not in charge?
On the mainland, investors are fleeing start-ups and pouring into state-backed companies. What explains this divergence? Separately, this piece looks at whether the US tech giants such as Apple, Google and Facebook have become too big and powerful — and whether they should be broken up. (WSJ, Bloomberg)

Tensions boil over in Venice
For years, irate residents have been leaving and tourist numbers have soared in the Italian city. Now Venetians’ contempt towards the 28m visitors who flood the city each year has reached alarming levels. This summer it feels as if a tipping point may not be far away. (Guardian)

Inside the power struggle at Guggenheim Partners
A look at the power struggle between the two most powerful executives at the $240bn asset manager and investment bank, sapping morale, alarming clients and contributing to the departure of several top managers. (FT)

The Americanisms are coming!
Many Britons suspect that British English is losing a war to the US kind. As American influence on global (not just British) English rises, it is right to dread a “linguistic monoculture”. But it is wrong to think that it is likely. (Economist)

Video of the day

The week ahead
Josh de la Mare previews some of the big stories in the week ahead, including earnings figures from US tech giants, Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet, the latest meeting of the US Federal Reserve on interest rates, and the crisis in Venezuela. (FT)

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