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Every morning
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UK fintech funding plunges 21% as rates hit 5.25%
Fintech investment in the UK fell 21% in 2025, driven by the Bank of England’s base rate climbing to 5.25%. Higher rates made government bonds more attractive, pulling capital from venture funds and limiting contributions from pension schemes, while softer consumer spending and loan demand pressured fintech valuations.
U.S. equipment manufacturers shipped $5.1 billion of machinery to Canada in 2025, keeping the neighbor as the largest single market for American gear despite a 13.2% year‑over‑year decline. Overall U.S. equipment exports fell 9.7% to $20.8 billion, with Australia a distant second at $1.447 billion. The sector generated $902 billion in sales, supported 2.2 million jobs and contributed $415 billion to GDP, while average worker pay rose to $105,000. Trade tensions and tariff retaliation were cited as key headwinds.
Senior DHL Global Forwarding executive Tobias Maier warned that a return to normal ocean shipping through the Strait of Hormuz may take four to six months, even if the US‑Iran cease‑fire holds. Approximately 40 vessels remain trapped in the Arabian...
S&P Global Energy warns that the United States may formally challenge elements of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The potential rebuttal would likely be framed under World Trade Organization rules, arguing that the EU’s carbon levy discriminates...
Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz shut even after the United States and Tehran agreed to a two‑week ceasefire, leaving oil tankers and other vessels stranded. The impasse is feeding uncertainty in global oil markets and prompting renewed diplomatic...
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest Survey of Consumer Expectations shows the probability workers assign to finding a new job within three months fell to 44%, a pandemic‑era low. The dip comes as the labor market adds 178,000...
Mexico’s National Association of Transporters (ANTAC) and the National Front for the Rescue of the Mexican Countryside (FNRCM) launched a nationwide strike on Monday, blocking major highways and U.S.–Mexico border crossings. The protest, driven by cargo‑theft, fuel costs and extortion,...
The protracted conflict in Iran is losing momentum, yet the Islamic Republic endures in a weakened, internally volatile state. While a decisive victory remains elusive, Tehran faces mounting domestic dissent and heightened external pressure from regional rivals and global powers....
Pakistan is set to host U.S. and Iranian delegations in Islamabad on April 11 for face‑to‑face talks aimed at ending the 39‑day war. The meeting follows a fragile two‑week cease‑fire that Pakistan secured through intense diplomatic effort. A Strategic Mutual Defense...
President Donald Trump announced a two‑week ceasefire with Iran hours before his 8 p.m. ET deadline, averting a threatened bombing campaign. The deal, brokered by Pakistan and contingent on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, sent Brent crude down more than 13%...
China's electric‑vehicle and hybrid exports surged 140% year‑over‑year in March, reaching a record 349,000 units, according to the China Passenger Car Association. The jump reflects renewed global interest in EVs after the Iran‑related oil shock disrupted energy markets. BYD accounted...
The rupee lingered at 92.65 per dollar on Thursday, squeezed by volatility from a fragile US‑Iran cease‑fire and the Reserve Bank of India’s suggestion that policy rates could remain low for the next year. Traders unwound roughly $40 billion of arbitrage...
The U.S. Treasury auctioned $39 bn of ten‑year notes on April 8, 2026, achieving a high yield of 4.282% and a bid‑to‑cover ratio of 2.43, below the ten‑auction average of 2.50. Direct domestic demand rebounded, but softer indirect (foreign) participation points to...
South Korea is confronting a new Middle‑Eastern oil shock while pushing an aggressive artificial‑intelligence industrial strategy first outlined in the mid‑1970s. President Park Chung‑hee’s historic pledge to modernise heavy‑machinery and chemicals sectors now intersects with today’s AI ambitions, creating a...
Warren Buffett doesn't believe in the Fed's 2% inflation target. Neither do I. If the goal is "price stability," - why ANY inflation? That 2% compounded is robbing your purchasing power. Here's a thought: What if prices should actually go DOWN? Everyone...
The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is widening its oversight beyond U.S. shores to safeguard American cargo wherever it travels. Chairman Laura DiBella highlighted the agency’s use of the 1988 Foreign Shipping Practices Act to probe restrictive foreign laws, global chokepoints,...
China reduced its scheduled domestic fuel‑price increase for the second time, limiting gasoline to a 3.85% rise (about $1.23 per litre) and diesel to 4.2% (around $1.20 per litre), a move aimed at tempering inflation amid volatile Middle‑East oil markets....
BYD says the Strait of Hormuz closure and soaring oil prices are driving a rapid surge in its overseas electric‑vehicle sales, prompting the company to raise its 2026 export target to 1.5 million units. While domestic profit fell 19 % amid a...
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is set to call for toll‑free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, countering Iran’s push to levy fees on one of the world’s key oil chokepoints. In the same speech she will press for Lebanon’s...
An oil‑price surge linked to the Iran conflict has pushed the European Central Bank out of its previously comfortable stance, reviving expectations of up to three rate hikes this year. Short‑end money‑market rates have fallen, yet no systemic stress is...
Yicai: "Chief economists surveyed by Yicai predicted China’s gross domestic product to have expanded 4.8 percent in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier, higher than the 4.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter of last year....
Spoke to @trtworld last night on the Hormuz crisis. Relief ≠ resolution. Oil and gas still much above pre-war levels, 172M barrels stranded, and Iran cementing control of the Strait. The clearest lesson: energy security = clean energy. https://t.co/rbUxk8iIdl
The Iran conflict has pushed short‑term inflation expectations higher, leaving the 2‑year break‑even rate near 3.1% and raising the risk of actual inflation hitting 4%. The Federal Reserve is expected to keep the policy rate steady for the next few...
France to keep 5% 2026 deficit goal for now, budget chief says https://t.co/x2JgmrJesT via @WHorobin https://t.co/oEinKGqCzm
France’s Lescure says the economic impact from the Iran war is moderate for now https://t.co/hUDRHnjPtG via @WHorobin https://t.co/fRjzKgdDjb
China’s passenger‑car exports surged 73.7% year‑over‑year in March, reaching almost 700,000 units, outpacing the 54.1% growth recorded in the first two months. The jump occurred despite shipment disruptions linked to the Middle‑East crisis, a key overseas market for Chinese automakers....
UAE senior oil official Sultan Al Jaber denounces the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. “Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled,” “Conditional passage is not passage. It is control by another name,” he says. https://t.co/TFczKBO4kk
India's oil minister is heading to Qatar to ask the nation to accelerate the restart of LNG exports and for priority delivery 🇮🇳🤝🇶🇦 Qatar is India’s top LNG supplier (providing 45%). But those deliveries have halted since the Iran war started https://t.co/B7JwVxFnF3
President Trump announced a tentative two‑week cease‑fire with Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, sparking the Dow's strongest trading day since Liberation Day. All major U.S. indexes rose over 2 percent while oil prices tumbled, erasing the geopolitical...
Global Bond Markets were fading stock markets yesterday They "see" #Quad3 Stagflation at Oil > $75 never mind > $95 https://t.co/LTC41IObnK
GERMANY: stocks drop -1.3% on the open as the probability of re-entering a #Quad3 Recession continues to rise https://t.co/NDmWqlhYDz
Rising oil prices triggered by the Iran conflict have pushed up GBP money‑market curves, but the widening has been modest. The 3‑month spread between SONIA OIS and bank deposits rose only a few basis points and remains tighter than levels...
The good news: attacks have come down markedly (ex Lebanon), and the fragile ceasefire seems to be holding. The bad news: so far, almost no movement of ships in-and-out of the Strait of Hormuz. Several Chinese oil tankers have pre-positioned to...
SCMP: "Several major Chinese banks have clawed back staff bonuses or cut salaries amid a sluggish economic recovery and Beijing’s ongoing scrutiny of the financial sector." https://t.co/7HaKaMzkVD via @scmpnews
Denis Beau, senior official at Banque de France, outlined the EU’s strategic response to the rise of USD‑denominated stablecoins. He warned that unchecked “stablecoinisation” and “dollarisation” could threaten Europe’s monetary sovereignty and advocated preserving the two‑tier system of central‑bank money...
The Sensex plunged over 1,000 points (1.3%) to 76,557, and the Nifty 50 fell 257 points (1.07%) on April 9, following a brief rally sparked by a US‑Iran ceasefire. Renewed geopolitical tension, including a blocked Strait of Hormuz and Israeli strikes...
UK farmers warn that a two‑week Iran ceasefire arrives too late to curb soaring input costs that are already baked into this planting season. Independent data from the Andersons Centre shows farm‑running expenses are over 7% higher year‑on‑year, with fertiliser...
Two Cosco‑linked VLCCs and a smaller Chinese tanker are positioned at the Strait of Hormuz, ready to become the first vessels to exit the Persian Gulf under the newly announced US‑Iran cease‑fire. The ships – Cospearl Lake, Yuan Hua Hu...
Government trade data shows Heathrow processed £293 billion (≈ $372 billion) of goods in 2025, representing over 25 % of the United Kingdom’s total trade by value. The airport handled more than 1.59 million tonnes of cargo – the weight of about 265,000 elephants –...
As @OSullivanMeghan and I wrote @ForeignAffairs, with energy being weaponized, countries will seek to curb imports & boost domestic supply. If US gas prices soar, there's a risk pipeline gas to Mexico would be a prime target to restrict exports...
Zimbabwe’s export profile is heavily skewed toward the United Arab Emirates, with 51.6% of merchandise exports—valued at $969.4 million in February—passing through Dubai. The ongoing US‑Iran war has disrupted Gulf shipping lanes and airspace, raising freight costs and threatening gold shipments...
South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced the selection of 145 leading and emerging companies for the Global Next K‑food Project, aimed at accelerating food exports. The initiative encourages large corporations to collaborate with SMEs to develop...
Indian government bond yields rose after the Reserve Bank of India left the repo rate unchanged, while crude oil rebounded toward $98 per barrel amid renewed doubts over the US‑Iran ceasefire. The benchmark 2035 bond yield climbed 4 basis points...
China’s light‑vehicle market contracted sharply in February 2026, with total sales slipping 33% year‑on‑year to 1.1 million units. A shift to percentage‑based trade‑in subsidies, delayed local matching funds and the longest‑ever Spring Festival holiday suppressed domestic replacement demand, while the seasonally‑adjusted...
In a recent BIS speech, Philip R. Lane described artificial intelligence as a new general‑purpose technology poised to reshape production, business models, and the euro‑area economy. He traced AI’s rapid evolution from narrow machine‑learning tools to large language models and...
Zimbabwe’s coal exports generated US$16.5 million in February 2026, representing just 1.7 percent of the country’s US$969.4 million total merchandise exports. While gold, tobacco and platinum‑group metals dominate the export basket, coal is primarily consumed domestically for power generation at the Hwange Thermal...
Eurozone leaders reaffirmed the strategic importance of a digital euro, linking it to monetary sovereignty, reduced retail‑payment fragmentation, and Single Market resilience. The Eurosystem is advancing technical preparations but will only issue the token‑based currency after a dedicated legal framework...
By the end of Q1 2026 the global shipping orderbook hit a 17‑year high of 191 million compensated gross tonnes, representing 17% of the world fleet. Newbuilding contracting rose 40% YoY to 17.6 million CGT, driven by a tripling of tanker orders and...
The US‑Israel war on Iran has choked Gulf energy and fertilizer supply chains, locking up roughly 20‑30% of global oil and LNG and a third of traded fertilizers. Prices for nitrogenous fertilizers have surged over 50% since the start of...
Glencore and Taiwan’s state refiner CPC each chartered a VLCC to load Middle Eastern crude for Asia after a cease‑fire halted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The vessels, including Glencore’s Asian Lion, were booked at a Worldscale rate of...
The Strait of Hormuz, handling roughly a fifth of global oil trade, saw traffic collapse after the U.S.–Iran ceasefire, despite political claims it remained open. Early AIS data recorded only four bulk carriers on the first day, with no crude...
