Author Archives
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Strong US Demand Exposes the Limits of Trump’s Tariff Strategy
The slight reduction in the US trade deficit in September offers little evidence that President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy is fundamentally changing the country’s dependence on foreign goods. Imports continued to rise, reaching a record level, while exports also expanded…. Read More ›
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Trump’s Election Setback Could Weaken America’s Trade Negotiating Position
The Democratic Party’s gains in the November midterm elections have created a new political complication for President Donald Trump’s trade strategy. Countries that have spent months negotiating with Washington under the threat of higher tariffs may now have greater incentives… Read More ›
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War Disruptions Shift Oil Industry Profits Towards Refining
The latest earnings from ExxonMobil and Chevron reveal how geopolitical instability is changing the distribution of profits across the global oil industry. While crude oil production remains central to the business models of major energy companies, disruptions to refining capacity… Read More ›
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AI Spending Forces Investors to Reconsider Technology Valuations
The growing financial commitment to artificial intelligence is beginning to challenge one of the strongest assumptions supporting American technology stocks: that the largest companies can continue expanding their businesses while generating sufficient cash to justify increasingly ambitious market valuations. October’s… Read More ›
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Rising Heat Is Creating a New Threat to Pregnant Women
For Darshnika Lakhoo, the danger of extreme heat was not something she discovered after becoming a mother. She had spent years studying how rising temperatures affect pregnant women and the health of unborn babies. Yet when Johannesburg experienced repeated heatwaves… Read More ›
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Stablecoin Freezes Reveal Who Really Controls Digital Money
When Tether and Circle moved to freeze billions of dollars in digital assets following the Binance security breach, the action was widely seen as an important step in limiting the damage. The companies were able to restrict the movement of… Read More ›
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Trump’s Venezuela Oil Ambitions Run Into a Shortage of Money and Expertise
Venezuela has spent years trying to revive an oil industry that was once among the most important in the world. Now, with US President Donald Trump promoting a major agreement covering 17 Venezuelan oilfields, the country has another opportunity to… Read More ›
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ECB Holds Rates as Energy Inflation and French Debt Complicate Policy
The European Central Bank faces a difficult monetary policy decision as rising energy costs threaten to prolong inflation while higher government borrowing costs put pressure on economic activity. Its expected decision to keep the deposit rate at 2.5% on October… Read More ›
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AI Investment and Consumer Spending Support US Economic Growth
The United States economy entered the third quarter of 2026 with two important sources of support: continued consumer spending and substantial business investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Economists expected economic growth to accelerate during the July-to-September period, despite higher energy… Read More ›
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US Federal Reserve’s Caution Reflects a Narrow Path Between Inflation and Growth
The Federal Reserve faces a difficult monetary policy decision as persistent inflation collides with uncertainty over economic growth and the consequences of higher energy prices. After raising its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point in September… Read More ›
