Global Economy News and Headlines
Global Economy News and Headlines
Global Economy Pulse
EMAIL DIGESTS
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Every morning
Weekly
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EMAIL DIGESTS
Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Industrial production rose 0.7% in January, outpacing the 0.4% forecast, and posted a 2.3% year‑over‑year gain. Utilities output surged 2.1% month‑over‑month, while mining slipped 0.2% and manufacturing climbed 0.6%. The index’s current level is at or below the start‑of‑recession threshold for 10 of the 18 recessions since 1919, underscoring its role as a key recession gauge. This metric is one of the four primary indicators the NBER committee monitors when dating business cycles.
Global equities have surged ahead of the U.S. market in 2026, with the MSCI EAFE up roughly 8% and the MSCI ACWI ex‑U.S. gaining about 8.5% year‑to‑date, while the S&P 500 is down 0.5%. Goldman Sachs notes this is the widest...
BAE Systems announced record 2025 results, with sales rising 10% to £30.7 billion and pre‑tax profit climbing to £2.6 billion. The company highlighted a historic order backlog as global defence budgets surge amid geopolitical tension. Meanwhile, Unite union members at the Lancashire...
Europe is losing bargaining power with China as the continent’s growth stalls while Beijing posts a record trade surplus. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s upcoming China visit underscores the urgency, with Germany’s 2025 GDP expanding only 0.2% versus a $1.19 trillion Chinese surplus....
Australia faces a projected $5.4 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer over the next two decades, prompting concerns about entrenched inequality and reduced productivity. Economists argue that the current progressive income‑tax system is ill‑suited to address wealth that accumulates outside labour markets. Four...
The U.S. dollar edged higher as markets awaited the Fed’s January minutes, looking for signals on the timing of the next rate cut. In the United Kingdom, CPI eased to 3.0% year‑on‑year, reinforcing expectations of a BoE rate reduction in...
India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal said New Delhi will diversify crude oil and coking‑coal supplies, targeting high‑quality U.S. coal to reduce reliance on a few geographies. He highlighted a $100 billion aircraft demand from the United States over the next five...
In a February 2026 lecture, ECB Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel argued that Europe’s narrative of decline is misleading. She highlighted the continent’s high quality of life, strong institutions, and social protections as foundations for future growth. Schnabel emphasized that...
The Pakistan Mineral Investment Forum (PMIF) will gather industry leaders in Islamabad to spotlight the country’s world‑class copper, gold, and critical mineral deposits, most notably the revived Reko Diq project. While the geology is undisputed, the article argues that mining...
The commercial real estate (CRE) sector is pivoting toward integrated digital, wellbeing, resilience, and sustainability strategies in 2026. Owners will shift from reactive management to continuous, data‑driven optimization of HVAC, energy, and space utilization. Tenant experience becomes a core differentiator,...
In 2021 Lithuania permitted a Taiwanese representative office to use the name "Taiwan" rather than "Taipei," directly challenging Beijing's One‑China policy. China answered not with public sanctions but with a silent diplomatic freeze, withdrawing embassy staff and removing Lithuania from...
UAE‑based AD Ports Group has entered a 30‑year concession with Africa Ports Development to design, build and operate a new dry‑bulk terminal at Cameroon’s Port of Douala. The partnership gives AD Ports an effective 51% economic stake and commits roughly...
The episode examines how "trapped cash" has evolved from a balance‑sheet inefficiency into a geopolitical risk as capital controls, ESG mandates, and tax treaty changes fragment global liquidity. It outlines the macro drivers—FX shortages, regulatory black‑lists, and new cross‑border pooling...
Costamare secured nearly $1 bn of fresh contracted revenue by forward‑chartering 12 containerships, generating about $940 m in incremental revenue. The deals lift fleet employment to 96% for 2026 and 92% for 2027, expanding the company’s contracted revenue backlog to roughly $3.4 bn...
Electric‑vehicle sales have surged nearly 700% this decade, driving a rapid rise in spodumene shipments from Australia to China and doubling bulk volumes since 2023. Panamax vessels now carry almost half of the 7 million tonnes of dry bulk moved last...
Glencore has secured a land‑access agreement with Gecamines that extends the Kamoto Copper Company’s mine life into the mid‑2040s and unlocks additional ore zones, enabling the asset to target 300,000 tonnes of copper annually. The deal is a cornerstone of...
South Korea announced it will seek to reinstate the no‑fly zone over the Demilitarized Zone that was established under the 2018 inter‑Korean military agreement. Unification Minister Chung Dong‑young disclosed the plan after earlier apologising for civilian‑operated drones that entered North...
DHT Holdings has secured a one‑year charter for its 2012‑built VLCC DHT Opal at $90,000 per day, starting this month. The rate underscores how tight the market has become for the world’s largest crude carriers, with Gulf‑China spot earnings now...
HM Treasury published its monthly "Forecasts for the UK economy" comparison on 18 February 2026. The 27‑page PDF presents short‑term forecasts for 2026‑27 and financial year 2025‑26/2026‑27, alongside medium‑term projections through 2030 and FY 2029‑30. The data reflect only the views of a selected...
The Zero Emission Port Alliance (ZEPA) introduced a load‑profile explorer, transition guide, and updated voluntary standards to accelerate battery‑electric container‑handling equipment adoption. The standards aim to reduce design fragmentation and improve interoperability, while total‑cost‑of‑ownership data shows electric gear remains pricier...
ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone outlined the digital euro roadmap, confirming that the current preparation phase began in November 2025 and a pilot is slated for mid‑2027. The ECB aims for a first issuance in 2029, contingent on EU legislators...
The European Central Bank has signed a collaboration agreement with Spain’s ONCE Foundation to make the digital euro app universally accessible, especially for people with disabilities, older adults, and those with limited digital skills. The foundation will provide technical advice,...
Alberto Naudon, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Chile, highlighted that 2025 delivered stronger‑than‑expected growth, with non‑mining activity expanding close to 3% and gross fixed capital formation rising about 7% driven by mining and energy projects. Inflation accelerated early...
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the bipartisan No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act, aiming to prevent American taxpayer money from funding the Taliban or affiliated terrorist groups. The legislation follows a SIGAR report indicating that roughly $3.83 billion of...
Joe Studwell’s new book “How Africa Works” asks why the continent remains poor and outlines policies that could accelerate growth, emphasizing agriculture, demographics, and the “enclave effect” of resource extraction. He profiles four early‑movers—Botswana, Mauritius, Ethiopia, and Rwanda—showing how targeted...
Zimbabwe, a landlocked nation without a maritime authority, has reported a false flag registration for the aframax tanker Range Vale to the International Maritime Organization. The vessel, built in 2005, has cycled through bogus registries in Comoros, Zimbabwe and currently...
The RAND report examines systemic supply‑chain risks facing the U.S. economy stemming from trade concentration and geopolitical conflict. It highlights how reliance on a narrow set of foreign suppliers can magnify disruption impacts. The analysis calls for coordinated public‑private strategies...
TankerTrackers.com, a leading open‑source monitor of the maritime shadow fleet, released a massive free dataset covering 1,469 active black‑listed tankers. The platform disclosed daily oil volumes on the four biggest trade lanes, led by Iran‑to‑China at 1.64 million barrels per day,...
UK inflation eased to a near‑year low, with the CPI falling to 3% year‑on‑year in January 2026, down from 3.4% in December. The slowdown, driven by lower petrol, airfares and food prices, has revived expectations that the Bank of England...
2026 opens with heightened supply‑chain volatility as markets grapple with tight capacity, an early Chinese New Year, and the Red Sea’s tentative reopening. Geopolitical fragmentation, lingering trade‑policy uncertainty and economic instability force shippers to rethink tender timing and rate‑locking strategies....
The Trump administration’s Project Vault earmarks about $12 billion to create a U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve, a public‑private partnership that purchases, stores and manages a diversified portfolio of essential raw materials. Japan’s current METI‑JOGMEC approach evaluates projects individually, which could...
The Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s snap election has steadied the government‑bond market, halting a sharp rise in long‑term yields. Foreign institutional investors, who had been offloading JGBs, have paused sales and begun modest buying. Domestic investors are...
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with France’s Port of Marseille Fos to deepen cooperation on trade facilitation, port innovation and energy transition. The pact will create an IMEC Ports Club to coordinate the...
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has condemned the interim India‑US trade agreement, branding it anti‑farmer and urging President Droupadi Murmu to halt its signing. The coalition demanded the removal of the commerce minister and the IAS officer who signed a...
The Seatrade Maritime Club will host an exclusive, closed‑door roundtable at CMA Shipping 2026, gathering senior maritime executives for candid discussions under the Chatham House Rule. The three sessions will address geopolitical trade disruptions, electronic navigation threats such as GPS spoofing,...
Nigeria’s states received a record N33.27 trillion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee between January and November 2025, far exceeding the N25.46 trillion allocated in 2024. Despite the surge, per‑capita spending on health and education remains dismally low, with implementation rates of only...
China and Nigeria celebrated 55 years of diplomatic ties, marking a shift toward deeper economic integration. The partnership, upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September 2024, now emphasizes higher‑value trade and industrial transformation. A new Zero‑Tariff Agreement grants qualifying...
San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly warned that while artificial intelligence could eventually lift productivity, the Federal Reserve must still ensure inflation moves sustainably lower. She highlighted the limited macro evidence of an AI‑driven productivity surge and cautioned that narrow...
India’s alternative investment fund (AIF) sector has crossed the ₹15.05 lakh crore mark, underscoring rapid scale and emerging maturity. Equity‑oriented AIFs have delivered roughly 8.7 % alpha over the BSE Sensex across multiple cycles, highlighting consistent outperformance. Domestic investors now contribute about 55 %...
Infosys unveiled its AI‑first value framework, Topaz, aimed at capturing a $300‑$400 billion services opportunity by 2030. The platform is already embedded in 90 % of its top 200 clients, contributing 5.5 % of revenue, and supports new partnerships such as Infosys‑Cognition and...
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the nation’s largest domestic institutional investor, dramatically re‑balanced its ₹17.83 lakh crore portfolio in the December quarter. It poured roughly ₹5.4 billion into top IT names – TCS, HCL Technologies and Coforge – lifting IT holdings from...
Netweb Technologies India announced its ‘Make in India’ AI supercomputing portfolio, featuring the desktop‑sized Tyrone Camarero Spark and the larger GB200 system built on NVIDIA’s Blackwell‑Grace architecture. The Spark delivers 1 petaflop of AI performance with 128 GB unified memory, while the...
China met its official 5.0% GDP target in 2025, largely on the back of robust export growth to Asia, Europe and Latin America. Manufacturing investment, particularly in electric vehicles and electronics, remained resilient, while overall fixed‑asset investment fell 3.8% and...
The U.S. Coast Guard’s Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System rule took effect in July 2025, imposing mandatory cybersecurity and incident‑response plans for U.S.-flagged vessels, OCS facilities and MTSA‑covered sites. Owners must appoint a Cybersecurity Officer, enforce account lockouts, maintain...
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept its official cash rate unchanged at 2.25%, matching market expectations. While inflation stays above the 2% target, slower wage growth and softened demand reduce immediate pressure for further hikes. The RBNZ modestly raised...
Libya’s National Oil Corporation launched its first post‑Gaddafi licensing round, offering 22 offshore and onshore blocks to meet a 2 million‑barrel‑per‑day production target by 2028. U.S. super‑major Chevron secured Contract Area 106 in the Sirte Basin, marking its return after a 16‑year...
Westpac’s Melbourne‑Institute Leading Index barely moved in January, posting a six‑month annualised gain of just +0.02% versus +0.44% in December. The slowdown reflects weakening consumer sentiment and a dip in dwelling approvals, while modest commodity price gains provided limited support....
Hospitality executives at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit argued that current economic headwinds are cyclical, not structural, and that demand for hotel assets remains robust over the past decade. They highlighted attractive yields and a functioning capital market, urging investors...
Ukraine granted its first defense export permits in February 2026, allowing domestic defense‑tech firms to sell abroad as the government prepares ten export centers across Europe. The sector, proven in combat with rapid development cycles, now faces the need to...
Goldman Sachs reports an 80% plunge in net immigration to the United States, falling from roughly one million annually in the 2010s to an estimated 200,000 arrivals in 2026. The decline is attributed to heightened deportations, a visa processing pause...
