Europe Losing Investment Attractiveness for Food, Drink Producers, Says Survey
A FoodDrinkEurope survey shows Europe has slipped to third place as a preferred location for food and drink manufacturing investment, behind Asia and North America. Only 31% of CEOs view Europe as attractive, yet 51% still plan to increase spending in the region, a modest rise from last year. Confidence is waning, especially among SMEs, with 61% expressing low growth expectations. Executives blame cost‑inflation, weaker consumer purchasing power and a heavy regulatory load for the downturn.
The ‘Resting’ Generation and South Korea’s Youth Recession
South Korea’s headline unemployment rate hovers around 4%, but a hidden youth recession is emerging as roughly 470,000 young adults are “resting” – neither employed nor job‑searching. Hiring for entry‑level positions has fallen for three consecutive years, with large firms...
Is Your ETF Habit Hiding a Systemic Risk?
Passive and thematic ETFs are funneling large inflows into market‑cap‑weighted indices, disproportionately boosting the biggest and most volatile stocks and creating a systemic risk that may outpace liquidity. In Canada, strategist Michael Green warns that this distortion decouples prices from...
Britain Targets Russia’s Oil Revenues with Nearly 300 New Sanctions
Britain announced its largest sanctions package to date, targeting Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft and adding nearly 300 new measures. The package, timed with the fourth anniversary of the invasion, also sanctions 48 oil tankers linked to Russia’s shadow fleet...
Why Companies Are Hiring Abroad Instead of Fixing Talent Pipelines at Home
The global labor market is split, with layoffs in some sectors while major firms aggressively recruit abroad. Visa restrictions and talent shortages at home are driving companies to expand overseas hiring hubs. Google announced a 20,000‑employee campus in Bangalore, effectively...
Ukrainian Bitumen Imports to Remain Steady in 2026
Ukrainian bitumen imports held steady in 2026, following a record‑high 190,000 tonnes in 2025 after a 111,700‑tonne year‑on‑year jump. Major suppliers from Poland and Lithuania, led by Orlen, plan to ship roughly 100,000 tonnes this year, while Orlen Lietuva targets about 550,000 tonnes...
Chinese Ports Are the Next Geoeconomic Battleground
China’s state‑owned and private firms have built a maritime logistics empire spanning 133 ports in 67 countries, turning the global ports network into a new geoeconomic battleground. The United States, European Union and Australia are mounting legal, regulatory and acquisition‑based...
Egypt’s NCIC Awards Fertilizers Sales Tender: Update
Egyptian state‑owned NCIC announced the award of its latest fertilizer sales tender on 19 February, covering March loading. The tender granted 20,000 t of DAP at $750/t FOB, 25,000 t of TSP at $560/t FOB, 20,000 t of granular urea at $492/t FOB, 20,000 t...
Europe Is Helping Ukraine Resist a US Push for Peace at Any Price
European governments are stepping up to shield Ukraine from a U.S. push for a rapid peace settlement that would require territorial concessions. While Washington seeks a quick ceasefire, the EU has increased military aid by 67 percent in 2025 and approved...
Acceleration in India’s per Capita Income Growth Has Been Faster than in GDP Growth: Poonam Gupta
RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said India’s per‑capita income growth has outpaced overall GDP growth, driven by a sharp slowdown in population growth. From $274 in 1981, per‑capita income reached about $2,700 in 2024 and is projected to hit $4,346...
Fashion Players Issued Warning as Trump’s 10% Global Tariffs Go Live
The United States has activated a 10% tariff on all imported fashion goods, marking the first phase of former President Trump’s global levy program. Industry analysts warn that a further increase to 15% is possible, intensifying cost pressures across the...
Slovakia Halts Emergency Electricity Supplies to Ukraine over Russian Oil Dispute
Slovakia announced it will halt emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine until Kyiv restores Russian oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline. The move follows a dispute over the pipeline’s shutdown after a Russian drone strike and accusations that Ukraine is delaying...
Gemini Shines as Container Line Punctuality Plummets in 2026
The Gemini alliance of Hapag‑Lloyd and Maersk has lifted its on‑time delivery rates well above industry averages, though it still falls short of its 90% target for most services. Xeneta data shows global carrier punctuality plunged to 30% in January,...
The Port of Koper Records a Highly Successful 2025 with Greater Rail Throughput
The Slovenian Port of Koper reported a robust 2025, handling 23.0 million tonnes of cargo while rail’s share of total throughput rose to 51%. Net sales reached €380.3 million, up 13% versus the plan and 15% year‑on‑year, and EBIT surged 44% to...
Fed's Goolsbee Says Tariff Ruling Could Help Cool Inflation
Unicapital Trims PSEi Outlook to 6,800 Amid Corruption Scandal, Policy Risks but Sees 2026 Recovery
Unicapital Securities cut its PSEi year‑end target to 6,800, down from 7,100, after re‑rating the index at a 10.5‑times price‑to‑earnings multiple. The downgrade reflects a lingering corruption scandal that has stalled government infrastructure projects and heightened policy uncertainty, including a...
India Overhauls GDP Data to Improve Accuracy, Official Says
India will revamp its real‑GDP calculation by adopting a double‑deflation approach that blends 500‑600 price items from the consumer‑price index and the wholesale‑price index, replacing the earlier 180‑item basket. The new methodology, slated for release on 27 February with a...
Japan Conveys Concerns to US over Trade Terms in New 150-Day Tariffs
Japan’s economy minister Ryosei Akazawa asked U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to ensure Japan is not treated less favorably under the new 150‑day tariff regime that replaces the invalidated reciprocal levies. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s global...
Bangladesh Seeks to Keep Least Developed Status Amid Economic Stress
Bangladesh’s new government has formally asked the United Nations to delay its graduation from least‑developed country (LDC) status. The request cites mounting macroeconomic stress, trade uncertainty and institutional weaknesses. Deferring graduation would preserve preferential trade benefits that shield Bangladeshi exports...
Trump’s 10% Global Tariffs Take Effect After Supreme Court Ruling; 15% Hike Under Consideration
President Donald Trump enacted a 10% global tariff on Tuesday, following a Supreme Court ruling that invalidated his earlier sweeping duties. The administration is preparing a formal order to lift the levy to 15%, though a timeline remains unclear. The...
China to Lead Global Outbound Growth by 2030
Chinese outbound travelers, the world’s third‑largest source of visitors and top spender in 2019, are forecast to recover to roughly 50% of pre‑pandemic volumes by 2027 and become the leading outbound market by 2030. Michael Shoory of Tourism Economics notes...
GRDC Update: Growth Seen in Asian Feedgrain Demand
Grains Australia CEO Richard Simonaitis told the GRDC Perth Update that bio‑fuel policies are reshaping Australian grain exports, with EU canola demand driving Western Australia’s highest‑value market. At the same time, feedgrain demand in Southeast Asia is accelerating faster than...
India’s Refund Rollback Lands Exporters with a Bigger Bill
India’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade has slashed RoDTEP export rebates by 50%, cutting both rates and value caps across all eligible categories. The move raises the effective cost of exporting, especially for price‑sensitive goods such as textiles and raw...
Stripe, PayPal Ventures Bet on India’s Xflow to Fix Cross-Border B2B Payments
Xflow, a Bengaluru‑based fintech, closed a $16.6 million Series A round led by General Catalyst with participation from Stripe and PayPal Ventures, valuing the company at $85 million post‑money. The startup now has over $32 million in total funding and processes roughly $1 billion in...
From Nausea to Relief, How Beauty Founders and Execs Are Reacting to the Supreme Court’s Tariff Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to block the Trump‑era tariffs on Chinese beauty products, ending weeks of uncertainty for the industry. Beauty founders and executives, who had been bracing for higher import costs, described the decision as a “relief” after...
Cautious Holiday Spending Softens Typical January Credit Card Delinquency Spike: Equifax Canada
Equifax Canada’s Q4 2025 credit report shows total consumer debt rose to $2.65 trillion, up 3.1% year‑over‑year, driven by higher mortgage balances and a 4.5% jump in non‑mortgage debt. Non‑mortgage delinquency peaked at 1.73%, with the 26‑35 age group posting the highest...
The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored
China’s growing threat to seize Taiwan has reignited U.S. fears over semiconductor supply chains. Taiwan manufactures roughly 90% of the world’s high‑end chips, feeding Apple, AMD, Qualcomm and AI data centers. Despite billions in Biden‑era grants and Trump‑era tariff threats,...
Japan’s National Security Reckoning
Japan is overhauling its national security strategy as U.S. “America First” policies erode traditional defense guarantees. Rising Chinese assertiveness, the spillover of the Ukraine war, and rapid advances in drone and AI warfare have forced Tokyo to prioritize strategic autonomy....
Jemmia Diamond Hosts Vietnam UAE Trade Dialogue with Ambassador
On February 9, Jemmia Joint Stock Company welcomed UAE Ambassador Dr. Bader Almatrooshi to its Ho Chi Minh City headquarters for a Vietnam‑UAE trade dialogue. The session gathered Vietnamese firms from real estate, agriculture, robotics, renewable energy and other sectors to discuss cooperation...
India Aims to Raise $19.7 Billion From IPOs of State-Run Firms by 2030
India plans to raise 1.79 trillion rupees (about $19.7 billion) by selling stakes in state‑run firms through IPOs by the 2029/30 fiscal year. The effort is part of a broader $183.7 billion asset‑monetisation drive announced by NITI Aayog, following an earlier phase that fell...
Japan Mulls Revising Liquidity-Support JGB Auctions to Ease Market Pressure - Report
Japan's Ministry of Finance is weighing changes to its liquidity‑enhancement auction framework for government bonds, aiming to ease supply pressure on the super‑long end of the curve. From April, the mid‑term bucket could be narrowed from a 5‑15.5‑year range to...
Swiss Franc to Stay Favourable Amid Safe Haven Allure
The Swiss franc is consolidating its role as the premier safe‑haven currency, with EUR/CHF breaking below the 0.92 support level early this year. Analysts from RBC, Morgan Stanley and Credit Agricole argue that ongoing geopolitical tensions and weak economic data...
China’s New Export: Aircraft Debt
China’s state‑owned COMAC is exporting its C909 and C919 aircraft alongside tailored financing, leasing and equity deals, turning planes into long‑term financial levers. The most visible case is Laos, where COMAC holds a 49% stake in Lao Airlines after a lease‑to‑equity...
Raising Thailand’s Productivity Through Regulatory Reform
Thailand’s labour productivity has stalled, averaging just 2.1% growth from 2015 to 2023, down from 3.7% in the 1990s‑2010 period. OECD product‑market regulation (PMR) scores rank the country among the most restrictive economies, with a 2.4 rating – the fourth...
What I Told Israeli Lawmakers About Reviving Regional Integration
Five and a half years after the Abraham Accords, U.S. and Israeli officials argue that regional integration remains viable despite the Gaza war and a Saudi‑UAE rift. The article stresses that advancing phase two of Trump’s Gaza reconstruction plan—contingent on...
Apple to Shift some Mac Mini Production to Houston From Asia, WSJ Reports
Apple announced it will begin assembling a portion of its Mac Mini desktop computers at Foxconn’s new plant in north Houston later this year, while maintaining Asian production lines. The move aligns with the company’s broader $600 billion U.S. investment commitment...
USD/CNY Drops to 2½-Year Low as Onshore Yuan Surges
The on‑shore yuan surged to a 2½‑year high as USD/CNY slipped below 6.90, reaching 6.8954. The People’s Bank of China posted a slightly firmer daily midpoint of 6.9414 and reduced the usual damping in the fixing process. This narrower gap...
Trump’s ‘Pro-Israel’ Policies Are Israel’s Biggest Liability
Donald Trump’s tenure produced headline‑grabbing pro‑Israel actions, including the Abraham Accords, the Jerusalem embassy move, and the killing of Qasem Soleimani, which were celebrated as diplomatic victories. Yet the article argues that his maximalist, transaction‑focused style has created strategic liabilities for...
Piyush Goyal Virtually Interacts with Canada Minister Maninder Sidhu, Discusses Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal held a virtual meeting with Canada’s International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu to revive the stalled India‑Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The dialogue coincides with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s upcoming visit to India and...
PBOC Sets USD/ CNY Reference Rate for Today at 6.9414 (Vs. Estimate at 6.9249)
The People’s Bank of China set today’s USD/CNY reference rate at 6.9414, slightly above the 6.9249 market estimate. The central bank maintains a +/-2% trading band around this midpoint, allowing modest yuan fluctuations. In parallel, the PBOC injected 526 billion yuan...
People's Bank of China Sets 1 and 5 Year Loan Prime Rates (LPRs) Unchanged
China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, announced that both the 1‑year and 5‑year Loan Prime Rates (LPR) remain unchanged for the ninth consecutive month. The 1‑year LPR held at 3.45% while the 5‑year LPR stayed at 4.20%, reflecting...
Bangladesh’s Food Grain Imports Surge
Bangladesh’s food‑grain imports surged 42 percent in the first half of the 2025‑26 marketing year, reaching 4.2 million tonnes, driven primarily by a sharp rise in wheat purchases. Private‑sector wheat imports jumped 31 percent while government imports fell, and rice imports exploded 380 percent,...
Export Bans that Weren't Really Bans: How Russia Kept Importing Military Goods
EU export bans targeting military‑relevant goods after Russia’s invasion were initially narrow, covering only specific product variants. Transaction‑level customs data show three evasion channels: partially sanctioned variants, transit shipments declared en route, and rerouting through third‑country hubs such as Turkey....
U.S. Energy Dominance Push Collides with EU Methane Rules
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright urged the IEA to refocus on energy security, coinciding with a federal push to boost oil and gas exports, especially LNG to Europe. The EU, facing record LNG imports and only 30% gas reserves, has...
Kazakhstan Managing Uncertainty over Oil Exports
Kazakhstan’s oil export pathway is under heightened risk as Ukrainian drone attacks cripple the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) loading facilities in Novorossiysk, cutting December shipments by roughly 22 percent. The CPC pipeline, which moves over 80 percent of Kazakhstan’s oil,...
World Markets Watchlist: February 23, 2026
Global equity indexes show mixed year‑to‑date performance as of February 23 2026. Japan’s Nikkei 225 leads with a 12.9% rise, followed by the UK’s FTSE 100 (+7.6%) and Canada’s TSX (+6.5%). In contrast, India’s BSE SENSEX records the largest decline at –2.3%. The watchlist also...
Anthropic Says DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax Used 24,000 Fake Accounts to Rip Off Claude
Anthropic disclosed that three Chinese AI labs—DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax—used roughly 24,000 fraudulent accounts to conduct over 16 million interactions with its Claude models, targeting reasoning, coding and tool‑use capabilities. The coordinated distillation attacks extracted large‑scale training data, effectively stealing...
Trump Denies Top US Officer Warned of Iran Strike Risks
President Donald Trump dismissed reports that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine warned against a war with Iran, insisting any conflict would be easily won. Trump posted on Truth Social that Caine never opposed military action and would...
India’s Carbon Capture Moment Has Arrived
India’s 2026‑27 Union Budget earmarked roughly $2.4 billion (₹20,000 crore) for a national carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) programme targeting steel, cement and other heavy‑industry emitters. The funding marks a shift from research‑only projects to a full‑scale industrial strategy, driven by...
Are the US and Iran Moving Closer to War?
U.S. forces are assembling their largest deployment since the 2003 Iraq invasion as diplomatic overtures continue with Iran. Both sides have scheduled talks for Thursday, while Tehran declares openness to dialogue but also readiness for war. President Donald Trump's mixed...