Europe is confronting a potential energy crunch as the war in the Middle East disrupts global supplies, driving European gas prices up 70% since last Friday . With the Strait of Hormuz at a standstill and Iranian strikes halting production in Qatar, the world’s second-largest LNG supplier, the continent faces its most significant energy threat since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Supply Squeeze: The crisis is already triggering a global tug-of-war for resources. This week

For the past few years, private credit has been the "golden child" of the investment world. However, new data from Blackstone’s flagship private credit fund, BCRED , suggests the tide may be turning as retail investors begin to pull back. Here is the breakdown of what’s happening with the $82 billion giant and why the rest of Wall Street is watching closely. The Big Number: $1.7 Billion: In the first quarter of this year, BCRED saw a staggering $3.7 billion in redemption requ

In 2023, Google was labelled a laggard. By early 2026, the narrative has shifted to structural dominance. While the AI race isn't a winner-take-all sprint, Alphabet has successfully leveraged its vertical integration to become the foundational infrastructure of the AI economy. 1. The Market Realignment: The era of OpenAI's near-monopoly has ended. Google Gemini’s market share quadrupled in a single year, reaching 21.5% by January 2026, while ChatGPT’s dominance eroded from 86

In the world of global energy, few locations carry as much weight as the Strait of Hormuz . This narrow waterway, separating Iran from the Arabian Peninsula, is the ultimate “choke point.” As of March 1, 2026, it is once again the centre of a geopolitical storm following a wave of strikes and counter-strikes between the U.S., Israel, and Iran. Here is a breakdown of what a blockade, whether formal or practical, means for the global economy. 1. The Numbers: Why It Matters The

The Australian, New Zealand and Norwegian currencies have risen sharply this year as investors expect a shift in global interest rates from cuts to rate increases. The Australian dollar has climbed more than 6% after the Reserve Bank of Australia began raising interest rates to tackle rising inflation. At the same time, the New Zealand dollar and Norwegian krone have also gained as traders anticipate similar moves. Higher interest rates tend to attract investors because they

Donald Trump has introduced a new global US tariff set at 10%, instead of the 15% he had announced earlier. This change came after the US Supreme Court ruled that his earlier tariffs were illegal, forcing the administration to use a different law to impose a temporary tariff for 150 days starting Tuesday. Although Trump said he would raise the tariff to 15% “immediately,” that increase has not yet happened. The White House has said the higher rate could still come later. For

Meta has agreed to a multi-billion-dollar deal with AMD to buy customised AI chips, a move that could eventually give Meta up to a 10% stake in the chipmaker. As part of the deal, AMD issued Meta a performance-based warrant allowing it to buy up to 160 million AMD shares at a very low price, depending on how many chips Meta purchases over time. News of the agreement caused AMD’s share price to jump sharply. The deal is similar to one AMD previously made with OpenAI and reflec

US software stocks fell sharply on Monday as investors grew worried that artificial intelligence could seriously disrupt the software industry. Major companies such as Workday, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Salesforce and Oracle all saw large drops, while IBM suffered its biggest one-day fall since 2000. Investors fear that new AI tools could make many software products cheaper and easier to replace, hurting company profits. These concerns were reinforced by comments from major inves