Macroeconomic data, trends, and policy developments.
Coverage of key economic indicators, central bank policy decisions, inflation trends, labor data, and growth signals. This category focuses on the macroeconomic forces that shape markets, interest rates, and long-term capital allocation.
7,187 total articles
U.S. equity futures slipped as a worldwide rise in bond yields and firmer oil prices fueled expectations of further monetary tightening. Attention is also on the face-to-face meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, where trade and artificial intelligence are set to dominate discussions. Strong preliminary U.S. business activity data…
Portugal's National Statistics Institute (INE) submitted its semiannual fiscal figures to Eurostat on Wednesday and reiterated its forecast that the country will close 2026 with neither a deficit nor a surplus. The confirmation comes after INE recorded a budget surplus equal to 0.5% of GDP in the first half of the year and follows recent government…
The OECD says heavy investment in AI infrastructure is partially offsetting weaker demand this year, lifting growth prospects for 2026 slightly above earlier projections. However, a persistent commodity price shock from the Middle East conflict, together with other macro risks, is expected to constrain momentum in 2027 and push inflation higher in …
India’s preliminary composite PMI improved in September to its strongest reading since June, supported by faster output and orders in manufacturing and continued expansion in services. However, soft export growth and cooling hiring in services tempered the broader recovery, and the quarterly average points to a slowdown from the prior quarter.
The European Commission on Monday proposed a mandatory labeling regime that would require data centres with at least 500 kilowatts of capacity to disclose energy and water efficiency metrics, water stress considerations, and links to local energy systems. The scheme is intended to make performance data public as EU data centre capacity scales up to…
Britain’s Electoral Commission has opened a review of political campaign spending rules and reporting requirements that could constrain the sizeable donations recently received by Reform UK. The party accepted two donations of £36 million this month, totaling £72 million, from Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo. Proposed amendments to legislation wo…
The Bank of Japan raised interest rates to a 31-year high and indicated a willingness to continue increasing borrowing costs, while Governor Kazuo Ueda underscored uncertainty about the neutral rate, rejected any preset schedule for future hikes, and emphasized the need to avoid abrupt tightening that could trigger large asset-price adjustments. Th…
Moody's Ratings upgraded its projection for India's economic expansion in fiscal 2026-27 to 7% from 6%, pointing to robust private consumption, continued infrastructure spending and steady services activity. The agency left India's Baa3 long-term issuer rating and stable outlook unchanged, while flagging elevated debt metrics and potential inflatio…
Berlin’s acute housing shortage and rapidly rising rents have become the dominant issues in the city’s election, overshadowing immigration debates elsewhere in Germany. With a rental market that serves 85% of households, a projected shortfall of 211,000 homes by 2040, and advertised rents almost doubling since 2014, parties clash over whether to bu…
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates, removing a persistent source of uncertainty for investors and prompting a rally in U.S. equity futures. Tech names led gains in premarket trading while Treasury yields eased and oil prices fell. The Fed indicated further rate increases remain possible, a point that may drive market volatility in the weeks …
U.S. equity futures rose after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points and delivered projections that suggest additional tightening later this year. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's post-decision remarks were read by some strategists as hawkish, supporting the view of further hikes. Energy prices cooled modestly as supply concerns in th…
The United States submitted $725 million to the United Nations for the regular budget and had earlier provided $102 million for peacekeeping, U.N. officials said. The payments cut Washington’s outstanding regular budget arrears but leave a remaining balance of $1.312 billion. With the recent remittances, the U.S. is no longer at immediate risk of l…
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday dismissed suggestions she would call an early election before next autumn, saying she intends to remain in office until the current legislature ends. Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Meloni said she is proud of her government's stability, even as polling shows support shifting toward a new far-rig…
On Sept 16 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed ending its oversight of shareholder voting on matters such as climate change and executive compensation, and suggested eliminating a rule that requires companies to publish glossy annual reports. The change - framed by the SEC chair as a statutory limit and a matter for state law - is …
Saudi Aramco is attempting to route around a damaged section of its 1,200-km East-West Pipeline and expects to restore roughly half of the line's throughput within days, with full restoration targeted in about six weeks, according to a person familiar with the matter. The pipeline had been transporting 4 to 5 million barrels per day before a recent…
Álvaro Santos Pereira, a member of the ECB Governing Council, said euro area inflation is not broadening as quickly as during the 2022 episode but warned policymakers are closely monitoring developments - notably a recent jump in natural gas prices and the inflationary implications of the AI boom - after the ECB delivered a second rate rise this ye…
Álvaro Santos Pereira, head of Portugal's central bank and a member of the ECB's Governing Council, told an event in London that euro zone inflation is not broadening at the same speed seen in 2022. He said policymakers are watching recent rises in natural gas prices and the economic effects of the AI boom, and noted that the ECB raised interest ra…
Huawei's new report predicts autonomous agents will generate more than 90% of global AI token traffic by 2035, and reiterates an earlier projection of up to 900 billion active agents worldwide. The company urges development of security and privacy protections and warns that massive expansions in computing capacity will be required as agents continu…
Brazil's central bank activity index fell 0.2% month-on-month in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, the second consecutive monthly contraction after a revised 0.9% decline in June. Agricultural output led the weakness with a 1.2% decline, industry slipped 0.4% and services were flat. The central bank has cut its policy rate by 25 basis points at …
U.S. retail sales climbed 1.2% in August, reversing a revised 0.5% decline in July as households increased motor vehicle purchases and back-to-school spending. Core retail sales - excluding autos, gasoline, building materials and food services - jumped 1.4% in August after a 0.4% drop in July. The strength in spending, together with persistent pric…
The World Bank Group has named Michael Kremer, a 2019 Nobel Prize winner and director of the Development Innovation Lab at the University of Chicago, as its next Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. The appointment, announced by World Bank Group President Ajay Banga, becomes effective October 1, 2026. Kremer's resear…
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise its policy rate by 25 basis points to a 3.75%-4.00% range. Because inflation remains comfortably above the Fed’s 2% goal and global borrowing costs have edged higher, attention is focused on how Chair Kevin Warsh presents the decision and his outlook for future policy. Investors will judge whether the…
Global brokerage firms broadly expect the S&P 500 to continue its advance into 2026, citing AI-driven earnings growth and robust corporate results as the primary catalysts. Strategists acknowledge that the conflict in Iran is weighing on investor sentiment, but believe AI-led earnings strength can counterbalance the shorter-term economic effects. F…
A central bank-commissioned quarterly survey found that South African inflation expectations stabilised in the third quarter after a sharp increase in the prior period linked to an oil price shock. Forecasters left the near-term projection for this year unchanged, trimmed expectations for 2027 and 2028, and highlighted the lagged transmission of in…
New Zealand’s parliament has officially approved legislation to enact a bilateral free trade agreement with India, clearing the final domestic hurdle before implementation. The accord eliminates or substantially lowers duties on approximately 95 percent of New Zealand exports to India, positioning the arrangement as a structural shift in bilateral …
