Finance news

Australia roiled by mounting scandal at KPMG

‘We’re Nothing At All’: why Hongkongers must avoid collective apathy

Through the invitation of a good friend, I had the privilege last Saturday of attending a charity movie screening held by SideBySide, a non-profit social service organisation. The film chosen for the event was We’re Nothing At All, a recently released social drama by veteran director and screenwriter Herman Yau Lai-to. While widely known for his more commercial titles, Yau is never afraid of tackling societal issues in his films. Local cinephiles will no doubt remember his previous works, such..

Interest rate decision: Oil price shock with consequences: Is the ECB ushering in the next phase of high interest rates today?

Key interest rates are likely to rise in the euro zone - but what happens next? New forecasts and nuances in ECB boss Lagarde's communication will become relevant.

Oil Prices Spike as Iran Declares Strait of Hormuz Closed

Oil prices surged again in early Asian trade on Thursday after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed following a fresh round of U.S. strikes on the country. At the time of writing, Brent crude had climbed 2.26% to trade at $95.20 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate had risen 2.5% to $92.30 per barrel. Both benchmarks have seen extreme volatility this week as outbreaks of attacks are quickly followed by claims of an imminent deal being signed. The latest escalation started with the down

As Japanese and Korean giants move upmarket, China’s MLCC firms see their chance

As demand for AI servers soars, leading Japanese and South Korean multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) makers are shifting further upmarket, opening the door for Chinese competitors to gain share in lower-end segments despite lagging their rivals in advanced technology. MLCCs – often referred to as the “rice of the electronics industry” because of their ubiquity – are tiny electronic components that regulate and stabilise electrical currents in devices ranging from smartphones and electric...

Criticism from the Böckler Foundation: Little collective bargaining coverage: Germany is lagging behind EU requirements

Wages, special payments, vacation: collective agreements bring advantages for employees. But Germany does poorly when it comes to collective bargaining - and the federal government still lacks an action plan.

Musk's mega stock sale: What makes the SpaceX IPO special

Elon Musk invites you to make a big stock market bet. His space company SpaceX may have little business and high losses - but they are said to accept a huge valuation in anticipation of future success.

Baby-sized Chinese man, 25, goes viral online after younger sister shares caregiving journey

Wang Junming from central China’s Hunan province may be 25 years old, but he is still the size of a baby. Standing at 66cm tall, Wang has the IQ of a child. He is spoiled by his family, including his 21-year-old sister, who all call him “baby”. He need not worry about graduation and jobs as his peers do and he sleeps before 8pm every day. The eye pouches and wrinkles on his face and the characters that pop out from his mouth make it is hard to believe that Wang is a baby. He went viral after...

Inside India newsletter: Hollywood is debating AI. India's filmmakers are embracing it

Even as Hollywood remains the world's most influential storyteller, experiments in AI filmmaking are increasingly happening in India.

Oil jumps as U.S. fresh strikes on Iran raise worries of extended disruption to energy flows

Oil prices jumped on Thursday after the United States launched a fresh round of military strikes against targets in Iran.

How Fake News Became the Most Dangerous Force in Energy Markets

We live in a dangerously synthetic world. Scalper-style traders reportedly generated significant profits on suspiciously timed oil trades surrounding Iran war developments in Q2. AI-generated content is creating new verification challenges. Fake news about an attack on Saudi oil facilities, for instance, could contribute to crude price volatility. It’s a dangerous, unsustainable, AI-generated environment that rewards whoever gets information first, whether it’s real or not. Now, it’s time to lev

BYD powers past Geely as oil shock charges up global EV demand

The global energy crisis has helped propel BYD back into pole position in China’s automotive sector, allowing it to regain ground on Geely Auto as demand for battery-powered vehicles accelerates worldwide. The Shenzhen-based electric vehicle (EV) maker, which lost its title as mainland China’s largest carmaker in the first quarter of 2026, rebounded strongly in the following two months as the US-Israel war with Iran drove up oil prices. Its overseas deliveries surged 76 per cent year on year to.

Philippine military chief assures no political intervention amid Senate turmoil

The Philippines’ armed forces chief has moved to quell fears of political intervention after a bitter Senate leadership crisis triggered tighter security, stalled military promotions and fuelled concern that partisan groups could exploit “rumblings” inside the ranks. Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jnr acknowledged unease among some personnel but told This Week in Asia that the military would remain out of politics. “Political intervention is far from our mandate,” Brawner said

Scientists Create Giant Fire Tornadoes To Clean Up Oil Spills

Oil spills are some of the most destructive forms of marine pollution known to man, thanks to their acute toxicity and ability to devastate marine habitats. The BP Plc. (NYSE:BP) Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 ranks as one of the worst accidental oil spills in history, having released over 134 million gallons (~4.9 million barrels) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of 87 days. The spill is estimated to have caused $17.2 billion in natural resource damages; killed ~1 million birds, hu

Algeria’s Gas Advantage Is Real. So Are Its Production Problems.

Algeria’s 2026 hydrocarbon bidding round is arriving at a moment when timing may matter as much as geology. Oil and gas prices have been lifted by the prolonged Middle Eastern crisis, Europe is still trying to hardwire non-Russian gas into its supply system, and former Middle Eastern investors are reassessing where long-cycle upstream capital can be redirected without excessive security risk. For Algiers, this creates a sudden opening to cement its position as Europe’s second-largest natural gas

As de-dollarisation trends persist, can the yuan take the euro’s place?

In early April, hours after US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” in a prime-time address, China’s yuan-denominated cross-border payment system set a record for transaction volume in a single day. The Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) skyrocketed to 1.22 trillion yuan (US$180.3 billion) on April 2, almost doubling the daily average volume in February. The spike occurred as more oil-producing nations rapidly scaled up their share of yuan settlements

Traders Are Shorting Oil As If The Hormuz Crisis Is Over

In yet another sign that the paper oil market may be too complacent about the magnitude of the supply disruption in the Middle East, trades have been boosting their short positions in oil futures for most of the past two months. Since the beginning of April, portfolio managers have been increasingly betting that oil prices would fall, according to the latest available commitment of traders (COT) data from exchanges as of June 2. Shorts on Brent Crude tripled between the end of March and the begi

The World's Biggest Battery Maker Is Turning Away From EVs

As global energy markets change, companies along the electric vehicles manufacturing supply chain are rushing to expand and diversify. The Trump administration’s stance on clean energy and aggression in Iran, among other energy-related bombshells, have made waves through global energy markets and created a general air of uncertainty that is leading many energy firms to put their eggs in more baskets. As a result, many EV companies and battery makers are turning to the next obvious market for the

Oil Prices Are Up. Investment Isn't Following

When the International Energy Agency issued its 2026 outlook on energy investment, it had a surprise for its audience, predicting a decline in oil investment, instead of an increase, as the current price environment would suggest. The IEA is not the only one making counterintuitive predictions. BMI just published a forecast on oil and gas spending this year, and it says the total will decline from 2025. Oil prices and investment trends are no longer in sync. Spending on oil and gas globally is s

Oil Climbs as Trump Warns Iran

Oil prices rose after Trump warned Iran of further US attacks.

Places in Europe where I could match my monthly savings

I live and work in Switzerland atm, I earn 113k EUR a year at my first job after graduation (2 years internship previously). I have a MSc in quant finance from a top 5 uni, work in a somewhat related field. I am not the most fond of my job, and the current job market here is not the best, so I am just thinking of looking elsewhere IF I could achieve a similar monthly savings of 4.5k EUR a month. My spending is relatively low, my net monthly salary is 7350 EUR. So my total monthly expenses are ar

Trump says U.S. secretly moved more than 100 million barrels of oil through Strait of Hormuz

Trump's comments come after Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Tuesday that oil exports through Hormuz are "rising very meaningfully."

US tightens pressure on Iran with new sanctions and threats of more strikes

The United States ramped up pressure on Iran on Wednesday, with President Donald Trump threatening more strikes and the Treasury Department slapping fresh sanctions on entities that it says “have supported weapons procurement” on behalf of Tehran, including some in China and Hong Kong. “We hit them hard yesterday and we’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “We’ll see what happens with the deal. We’re really close to a deal but they keep...

Germany's Big LNG Deal With Canada May Never Deliver a Single Cargo

The Iran war has made supplies of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, the most strategic since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Suddenly, countries are scrambling to get their hands on molecules that provide reliable baseload power to industries and homes. That explains why Germany is buying LNG from Canada. It’s to ensure long-term energy security, reduce reliance on volatile global supplies, and diversify away from Middle Eastern and Russian energy markets. At the end of May, the Canadian gove

US Army astronaut tapped for NASA’s Artemis III mission

The U.S. Army is launching into space again by way of Col. Frank Rubio, who will be part of the 2027 Artemis III mission, NASA announced Tuesday.

Central Asia Emerges as a New Front in the Minerals Supply Chain Battle

US and Central Asian officials will meet June 11-12 in the Kazakh capital Astana to explore deals concerning the mining and processing of critical minerals. The gathering marks a step forward for the C5+1 Dialogue, which strives to expand economic, educational, and political ties linking the United States and Central Asia. The meeting, officially titled the Astana Mining & Metallurgy Congress (AMM-2026), seeks to catalyze “the transition from the framework agreements reached at the November [C5+

USA-Cuba conflict: Hegseth increases pressure on Cuba: They are prepared for anything

Sanctions and an oil blockade are just two examples of Washington's pressure on Havana. Now the Pentagon chief visits a US base in Cuba - and follows up verbally.

Energy Prices Drive U.S. Inflation To Three-Year High

U.S. inflation climbed above 4% for the first time in three years in May as rising energy costs tied to the Iran war pushed consumer costs sharply higher, with the Consumer Price Index rising 0.5% from April and 4.2% from a year earlier, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The annual rate matched economists’ expectations but marked the highest inflation reading since April 2023 and an acceleration from the 3.8% rate recorded in April. Energy was by far the lar

Car manufacturer: Mercedes wants to cooperate with drone start-up Tytan

How Mercedes-Benz and the start-up Tytan Technologies want to work together on a drone defense system - and what Mercedes boss Ola Källenius says about the group's direction.

Trump says 'I love the inflation' after consumer price index hits 3-year high

President Trump suggested that inflation would drop when the U.S. war against Iran ends, and said, "we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil."