Business
Europe News
5 things to know ahead of crunch EU-China talks
The next ten days will be critical for EU-China relations. EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will travel to Beijing later this week for high-level talks aimed at rebalancing the trade relationship and securing “tangible” results ahead of next week’s meeting of EU leaders.
Economy
Trump defers tax on red-dyed diesel for truckers as fuel costs bite
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order deferring tax payments on red-dyed diesel used on public roads, as near-record fuel prices linked to the Iran war weigh on the Republican Party weeks before the midterm elections.
Markets
Why ordinary investors struggle to buy into the robotics boom
Most of the companies building the robots of the future are still private, leaving ordinary investors with limited options such as Tesla, diversified industrial groups or new vehicles like RoboStrategy, a Nasdaq-listed fund whose shares trade at more than twice the value of its assets.
Economy
US and China list goods for tariff cuts, what it could mean for Europe
Washington has published the lists of goods the US and China could tax at lower rates under their "30-for-30" framework, covering about $30bn (€26.3bn) in annual trade each way. No rates or start date have been set, but US pork, dairy and whiskey on Beijing's list could squeeze European exports.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan agrees multi-billion-dollar deals with investment giants
Nearly $11 billion (€9.7 billion) worth in contracts have emerged from the Azerbaijan International Investment Forum, where some of the world’s biggest investment managers gathered for talks ranging from infrastructure and technology to energy and transport.
Markets
ECB launches 'Pontes' to settle tokenised assets in central bank money
The Eurosystem has launched Pontes, a system allowing banks to settle trades in tokenised assets using central bank money, and the ECB said it will invest some of its own funds in tokenised securities through it, the first concrete steps towards making the euro fit for the digital age.
Economy
Qatar rules out Hormuz bypass, launches new investments platform
Qatar said a gas pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz would make no economic sense. It also launched a new investment platform to manage QIA’s domestic holdings and outlined more than $60bn in investment opportunities, in a major reshaping of its sovereign wealth strategy.
Markets
Volkswagen drops out of Euro Stoxx 50 index as pressure mounts
Volkswagen has been removed from the Euro Stoxx 50, the eurozone's benchmark index of its largest listed companies, taking effect as markets opened on Monday just days after Europe's biggest carmaker warned that one-off charges would wipe out most of its profit this year.
Economy
What to expect from the Trump-Xi summit in Washington
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to hold talks with US President Donald Trump in Washington next week, with an expiring trade truce, tens of billions in tariff relief and AI all on the table as both economies need the relationship to hold.
Markets
Anthropic priced above $2 trillion as markets eagerly await IPO filing
Traders are pricing Anthropic above $2 trillion (€1.73tn) in pre-IPO markets, more than double the company's valuation in its last private funding round, as investors wait for the public release of the S-1 filing that could open the way to the largest flotation in history.
Markets
Bitcoin drops after US Senate blocks landmark crypto bill
Bitcoin has fallen almost 4% over the past 24 hours to below $76,000 after the US Senate blocked the CLARITY Act late on Tuesday, derailing more than a year of bipartisan negotiations and leaving the crypto industry without the federal rulebook it has spent years pursuing.
Economy
China's retail sales weaken as spending remains sluggish
Retail sales in China grew just 0.4% in August, the slowest pace since growth resumed and the second consecutive monthly slowdown, underlining how little progress Beijing has made in reviving consumer spending even as factory output accelerates.
Economy
Canada sells itself as a safe bet 'in a very uncertain world'
Canada is positioning itself as a refuge for global capital, with Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne saying the country is a safe place to invest "in a very uncertain world" as Ottawa hosts the largest investment summit in its history.
Europe News
EU moves toward restricting social media access for under-15s
The European Commission will propose barring under-15s from social media without parental consent, President von der Leyen said on Wednesday. A leaked draft also covers safety-by-design rules for risky online services, like AI chatbots and video games.
Europe News
EU halves cheap parcel influx in bid to rein in Chinese e-commerce
The EU has cut the number of low-value parcels entering the region by half, following the introduction of a €3 flat fee. The measure is part of a broader effort to curb the growing dominance of Chinese e-commerce platforms.
Europe News
EU trade chief to visit Manila to finalise Philippines trade deal
Manila and Brussels have already completed six rounds of talks aimed at reducing trade barriers across a broad range of sectors. The agreement would represent another step in Brussels’ efforts to diversify its trade relationships throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi pipeline shutdown threatens oil supplies to Europe and Asia
The pipeline disruption comes as Gulf oil exports have already fallen sharply and shipping routes face further threats. With no restart date announced, the impact on deliveries to Europe and Asia depends on how long the shutdown lasts.
Europe News
French blockade looms over EU plan to speed up trade deals in English
Eager to unlock new markets for EU businesses, the European Commission plans to accelerate trade deal ratification by circulating only English versions for approval by EU governments and the European Parliament – but sources told Euronews that Paris is set to oppose the move if it goes ahead.
Economy
Anthropic says AI could bring both 15% growth and mass unemployment
Anthropic has published an economic model projecting how AI might reshape the US economy by 2030, and its three scenarios range from barely perceptible to a boom with no historical precedent, including one in which GDP grows 15% a year while nearly a fifth of office workers are out of a job.
Europe News
European Parliament's report tightens investment conditions in the EU
The European Parliament’s rapporteurs on the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act are closing the EU market to Chinese investment in sectors where Beijing is dominant, going further than what the European Commission suggested.
Economy
German inflation rises to 2.9% in August, coming in below expectations
Inflation in Germany rose 2.9% in the year to August on the harmonised measure tracked by the European Central Bank, a fresh acceleration from July but well short of the 3.1% economists had expected, in a reading that offers modest relief to policymakers meeting in Frankfurt next week.
Europe News
How Canada’s turn toward Europe might test the EU's borders
The boundaries of the EU are inevitably informed by geography – but Canada, which shares the EU’s values and its vision of the world order, could challenge the bloc’s limits and open the door to a new form of association with Brussels.
Europe News
Von der Leyen turns up pressure on China over trade deficit
The European Commission's president said that the EU’s trade relationship with China had to be rebalanced, and pointed out that the bloc's trade defence investigations into Chinese products had ramped up significantly in recent years.
Markets
Nordics weigh merging their stock exchanges into one regional market
A group of the Nordic region's largest companies and investors is examining whether Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland could combine their national stock exchanges into a single regional marketplace in an effort to deepen liquidity and win more listings.
Europe News
Canada wants to get closer to the EU - but how far can it go?
In the midst of a trade war with the US, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney will attend Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union speech in Strasbourg on 16 September, with a summit between Ottawa and Brussels to follow. However, EU membership is not an option.