Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti described the country’s populist parties as having lost some of their teeth. “It will be a very relevant force, but not necessarily a very dominant force,” he told CNBC Friday regarding the country’s Five Star Movement, Italy’s premier populist and Euroskeptic group. “Concerning the two populist movements in Italy, […]

Deutsche Bank spends most of its time thinking about how it can be competitive with companies that are not banks, such as coffee chain Starbucks, its chief executive has said. John Cryan said Friday that the bank was not just thinking about competition with other financial institutions but other sectors like technology. Speaking at a […]

European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi said Friday that there is little evidence that e-commerce is holding back inflation in the euro zone. There has been a debate waging among economists as to whether e-commerce giants like Amazon have had an impact on inflation in major economies in Europe and in the U.S. because […]

U.S. department stores have struggled to attract shoppers in recent years because they have failed to introduce new ideas and products, the managing director of Harrods told CNBC Friday. “I think the American graveyard is really them self-committing suicide,” Michael Ward from the world-renowned luxury store told CNBC about decreasing sales in U.S. stores over […]

Saudi authorities are negotiating a price for the freedom of princes and businessmen held over allegations of corruption, the Financial Times reported. The Saudi government is looking to appropriate as much as 70 percent of a suspect’s wealth in some cases, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing sources which could not be verified by CNBC. […]

British builder Carillion issued its third profit warning of the year on Friday, saying it was at risk of breaching year-end financial covenants and would need to recapitalise. The construction and support services provider said it needed to delay its financial covenants dates until April 30 and was talking to stakeholders. “This will require some […]

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said Friday that the environment of low rates in the euro zone has not hurt the profits of European banks. “As regards bank profitability, ECB research finds little evidence that our monetary policy is currently doing harm,” Draghi told an audience in Frankfurt. The central bank has been […]

Mafia ‘boss of bosses’ Salvatore ‘Toto’ Riina has died in the hospital while serving multiple life sentences as the mastermind of a bloody strategy to assassinate Italian prosecutors and law enforcement trying to bring down the Cosa Nostra, Italian media reported Friday. He was 87. Riina died hours after the Justice Minister had allowed his […]

Markets in Europe are expected to open mixed on Friday morning as investors digest further earnings and data. The FTSE 100 is seen down by 16 points at 7,370; the DAX is expected to open higher by 24 points at 13,067; and the CAC 40 is set to start up by 2 points at 5,335, […]

Talks about forming a new three-way German ruling coalition have been delayed until noon on Friday amid continuing differences over climate, migration and finances, sources familiar with the discussions said. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the environmentalist Greens decided to halt the talks for several hours after failing to make progress […]