FirstFT: Defence groups rush to hire new staff

Good morning. We start the week with a defence industry survey that has found companies are recruiting workers at the fastest rate since the end of the cold war as they seek to deliver on order books that are near record highs.

The Financial Times survey of the hiring plans of 20 large and medium-sized US and European defence and aerospace companies has found they are looking to recruit tens of thousands of people this year.

Companies said they wanted to fill positions across the board, from apprentices to late-stage career executives. Engineers, software developers and cyber security analysts as well as welders and mechanics are in demand. 

Three of the largest US contractors — Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics — currently have close to 6,000 job openings they need to fill, while 10 companies surveyed are seeking to increase positions by almost 37,000 in total, or almost 10 per cent of their aggregate workforce. Read more on the factors driving the industry-wide hiring spree.

Here’s what I will be keeping an eye on today:

• Monetary policy: Federal Reserve Bank of New York president John Williams appears at an event hosted by The Economic Club of New York while Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia president Patrick Harker speaks at the Global Interdependence Center 42nd Annual Monetary and Trade Conference, in Philadelphia, Pa.

• China-Australia relations: Canberra and Beijing agreed to take steps to improve military communication at a meeting of Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and China’s Premier Li Qiang.

• EU: Leaders from the bloc’s 27 member states will use a private dinner in Brussels to back Ursula von der Leyen for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission.

• French election: Campaigning officially begins with the left looking to shore up an alliance rocked by a purge of moderates in the far-left France Insoumise party.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: The Biden administration is ready to release more oil from its strategic stockpile to halt any jump in petrol prices this summer, President Joe Biden’s closest adviser on energy has told the Financial Times. “We will do everything we can to make sure that the market is supplied well enough to ensure as low price as possible for American consumers,” said Amos Hochstein. Read the full interview.

• More energy news: Europe’s gas imports from Russia overtook supplies from the US for the first time in almost two years last month, despite the region’s efforts to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels.  

2. Apple supplier TDK has claimed a breakthrough in producing solid-state batteries, predicting that its new material will create significant performance increases for devices. The new material can squeeze about 100 times more energy into the same space than the Japanese group’s current battery in mass production. David Keohane and Harry Dempsey have more details.

3. Ukraine urged international bondholders to accept deep cuts on the value of more than $20bn in debt in order to help finance the nation’s war effort. Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government is facing a tight deadline to secure the debt restructuring, which it needs in order to continue receiving a bailout from the IMF and to restore flows of private funding for reconstruction. Read more on the differences between international bondholders and the government in Kyiv.

• More Ukraine news: Major countries, including Brazil, South Africa and India, failed to sign an agreement recognising Ukraine’s territorial integrity at a summit over the weekend.

4. Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced the Israeli military’s plan for a “tactical pause” near a crossing into Gaza that was intended to help aid distribution. The prime minister called the proposal “unacceptable” yesterday, as domestic criticism of his handling of the nine-month war against Hamas grew after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in Rafah. Read the full story.

5. Deutsche Bank is counting on an aggressive hiring spree to start powering revenues and cut its reliance on bond trading. Since the start of 2023, Germany’s largest lender has recruited 125 investment bankers, including from Credit Suisse, with 75 joining at managing director or director level. Deutsche’s purchase of UK broker Numis, completed in October, brought in a further 300 staff. Here’s more on Deutsche’s strategy.

The Big Read

Joe Biden came to office threatening to make Saudi Arabia a pariah state. In 2022, the US president was furious, threatening “consequences” after the kingdom’s deep oil production cuts blindsided American officials ahead of midterm elections. But in the months since then, relations between both countries have blossomed amid a volatile Middle East. Officials now describe Riyadh as one of Washington’s most important global partners. The dramatic shift in tone is a reflection of how Biden’s foreign policy has been driven by events rather than ideology.

We’re also reading . . . 

• US regulation: Bureaucracy is burgeoning in both public and private sectors. More staff would help, but so would fewer rules, writes Rana Foroohar.

• Polls and markets: Neither strong majorities nor political labels matter much to economies and financial markets, writes Ruchir Sharma, just new faces.

• ‘You’ve just got to roll with the punches’: The chief executive of asset manager Janus Henderson talks to the FT.

• Making sense of Gen Z: Advisers from social media influencers to big consultants offer guidance on how to recruit and retain 20-somethings.

Chart of the day

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Salaries for graduates of leading masters in finance programmes have grown much faster for those working in financial services compared with other sectors, according to the latest FT ranking. The average salary of female graduates working in finance jumped to $91,000, slightly narrowing the gap to men’s pay to 8 per cent, highlighting the still considerable disparity in what is traditionally a male-dominated career.

Take a break from the news

Senior business writer Andrew Hill selects his best business books of the year, including a title that rails against change for change’s sake, an optimistic account of the potential for generative AI and a guide to creating “good friction” within business to ensure better outcomes.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Sophie Spiegelberger