March 23, 2026March 23, 2026 Germany is running short of workers—and it’s now looking beyond its borders to fix that. With fewer young people entering traditional trades and a large section of the population nearing retirement, businesses are struggling to find replacements. As a result, this gap has pushed…
Markets The Brent crude price shows no sings of cooling off today with the $100/b mark nearby. Hostile comments from both sides suggest no near-term end to the Middle East conflict with Iran’s Khamenei for example warning of potentially opening new fronts. The Internation Energy Agency said that the war is causing the largest supply…
February 24, 2026February 24, 2026 India is stepping up its push to secure key raw materials for the future. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to approve separate cooperation pacts with Germany and Canada in the critical minerals sector on…
In focus today In Germany, the February Ifo index is released. We expect an improvement as the PMI report last Friday was surprisingly strong on all parameters, particularly the manufacturing sector which recorded growth for the first time since ECB started hiking rates in 2022. Overnight in China, Loan Prime Rates are expected to remain…
US GDP and PCE inflation are main highlights, plus the Fed minutes. UK and Japan have busy calendars too with focus on CPI. Flash PMIs for February will also be doing the rounds. RBNZ meets, is unlikely to follow RBA’s hawkish path. Dovish Fed bets suffer a fresh blow The US jobs report for January,…
In the US, we received more of the delayed data following the end of the government shutdown last week. September retail sales disappointed with retail sales growing only 0.2% m/m below expectations of a 0.4% m/m rise and the control group saw spending decline by 0.1% m/m against an expected rise of 0.3% m/m. Hence,…
Markets Natural gas prices showed some of the larger daily moves today. They dropped below €30/MWh (Dutch TTF) for the first time since May 2024. Prices have been slowly grinding lower over the last couple of months on a combination of amongst others strong LNG imports and mild weather so far. But the trigger for…
Global markets closed last week on an uncertain footing. While bears appeared to have an upper hand, the control was never firmly gripped. Conviction was relatively thin as traders were reluctant to commit decisively. The overall impression was of markets still searching for a coherent theme to latch onto. Equities in major centers reflected the…
Global markets ended the week with an uneasy calm, masking what appears to be growing stress beneath the surface. Wall Street showed resilience — the major indexes finished higher after mid-week volatility sparked by renewed concerns over regional bank stability. Yet in Europe, sentiment was more fragile, as bank-led declines weighed on both the FTSE…
August 25, 2025August 25, 2025 Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated on 24th August that Germany should look beyond the recently agreed trade deal between the United States and the European Union. This deal imposes 15% tariffs on EU goods. Merz suggested finding new trade partners in the coming years. Speaking…