Baltic
Dry Index. 2673 -02
Brent Crude 105.95
Spot Gold 4668 Spot Silver 75.26
US 2 Year Yield 3.83 +0.04
US Federal Debt. 39.156 trillion
US GDP 31.354 trillion.
"On
the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the
time.”
George
Orwell.
Stock casinos at or near all time highs. Brent crude back to $105. Trumpflation rising globally even as strategic petroleum reserves are released to cushion Trumpflation. Corporate failures and closures soaring, corporate layoffs accelerating.
What could possibly go wrong?
Asia-Pacific markets trade mixed as
Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extension fails to calm investors
Published Thu, Apr 23 2026 7:46 PM
EDT
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed as
investors remained cautious despite a three-week extension of the
Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, underscoring lingering geopolitical uncertainty.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend
their ceasefire by
three weeks following a meeting in the White House with top U.S.
officials, President Donald
Trump said Thursday.
“The Meeting went very well!” Trump
said in a Truth Social post announcing the extension of the
temporary truce.
The temporary truce, originally
set to expire after 10 days, will now provide additional time for
diplomatic efforts, with Washington also pledging to work with Lebanon to
strengthen its defenses against Hezbollah.
U.S. oil futures rose about
1.23% to around $97.03 per barrel.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.71% while
the Topix rose 0.30% after core inflation in Japan accelerated for the first
time in five months, rising to 1.8% in March, with Iran war fueling energy
worries.
Government data showed the inflation
figure — which strips out prices of fresh food — was in line with the 1.8%
expected by economists polled by Reuters, and was higher than the 1.6% seen in
February.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.23%, while the
small-cap Kosdaq was up 1%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index declined
0.61%, while the CSI 300 lost 0.28%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down
0.29%.
Overnight in the U.S., stocks pulled
back on Thursday, led by a drop in software shares and higher oil prices, as
investor uncertainty about the trajectory of the Iran war weighed on markets.
The S&P 500 traded down 0.41%
to close at 7,108.40, after earlier hitting a new all-time intraday high. The
tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined
0.89% to finish at 24,438.50. It had also scored a new all-time high in the
session. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average lost 179.71 points, or 0.36%, to finish at
49,310.32.
Asia-Pacific
markets: Nikkei 225, CSI 300, Hang Seng Index
Iran Ceasefire Fails to Reassure a
Global Economy on Edge
April 23, 2026 at 5:05 PM GMT+1
A tense ceasefire may be in place
between Iran and the US, but with no
peace talks on the horizon and with both sides enforcing oil blockades,
it’s hardly reassuring for a global economy on edge.
Besides blocking the Persian Gulf,
the US is also boarding
carriers thousands of miles from Iranian waters, depriving Tehran’s
customers, by far the biggest being China, of millions of barrels of supply.
Iran, for its part, continues to keep the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed,
preventing the passage of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil and fuel as well
as other commercial traffic.
The standoff
sent oil higher as stocks fluctuated on concern that a prolonged
closure of the waterway could worsen energy disruptions, boosting inflation and
slowing the economy.
In contrast to the symmetric
shock across much of the world during first few weeks of the Iran war,
S&P Global’s purchasing manager indexes now suggest further
damage to euro-zone private-sector activity, alongside fragile resilience
in Asia.
“Significant damage to the economy
has already been done — now it’s just a question of how much worse it will
get,” said Sonja Marten, chief economist at DZ Bank in Frankfurt. —
Zoltan Simon
Iran
Ceasefire Fails to Reassure a Global Economy on Edge - Bloomberg
Stock markets are too high and set
to fall, says Bank of England deputy
23 April 2026
The Bank of England expects stock
markets around the world to fall as share prices do not reflect the many risks
facing the global economy, its deputy governor has told the BBC.
Sarah Breeden said: "There's a
lot of risk out there and yet asset prices are at all-time highs. We expect
there will be an adjustment at some point."
It is unusual for a senior figure at
the Bank to be so forthright on market movements.
Breeden, who is also the Bank's head
of financial stability, declined to say when she expected markets to fall or by
how much, but pointed to a number of factors that markets seemed complacent
about.
"The thing that really keeps me
awake at night is the likelihood of a number of risks crystallising at the same
time – a major macroeconomic shock, confidence in private credit goes, AI and
other risky valuations readjust - what happens in that environment and are we
prepared for it?" she said.
The US stock market is home to the
world's biggest companies and has set a series of all-time highs recently
despite warnings from the International Energy Agency that the world economy is
facing the biggest energy shock in history.
Technology firms have poured
hundreds of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure prompting some,
including Microsoft founder Bill Gates to call it "a frenzy" that
resembles the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s, when investors threw money at unproven
start-ups that quickly went bust or had billions wiped off their value.
Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, the
biggest supplier of chips to AI companies, is among those to dismiss these
concerns.
A number of funds that mimic the
role of banks and lend privately to businesses have sustained losses and have
had to restrict withdrawals from investors, sparking concerns of weaknesses in
the financial system.
Breeden said the enormous growth in
this so called "shadow banking" system has not been tested.
"Private credit has gone from
nothing to two-and-a-half trillion dollars in the last 15 to 20 years. It
hasn't been tested at this scale with the degree of complexity and
interconnections it has with the rest of the financial system so far," she
said.
"It's a private credit crunch,
rather than a banking-driven credit crunch, that we're worried about."
The UK stock market does not contain
the kind or size of AI companies that have helped drive US markets to records
but the FTSE 100 index is also within 5% of its own all-time high.
Breeden said her job was not to
predict when and how much the markets fall but to ensure the financial system
is ready if it does.
"What we are watching for: is
how might those prices fall? Will there be a sharp adjustment downwards? And if
there is such an adjustment, how will that affect the economy? I'm not saying
it will happen today, tomorrow, in 12 months' time. It's ensuring that if it
happens the system is resilient."
Global stock markets
are too high and set to fall, says Bank of England deputy - BBC News
Meta will cut 10% of workforce as
company pushes deeper into AI
Published Thu, Apr 23 2026 2:00 PM
EDT Updated Thu, Apr 23 2026 4:23 PM EDT
Meta plans to lay off 10% of
its workforce, about 8,000 employees, as it continues ramping up investments in
artificial intelligence.
The cuts will begin May 20, and the
company is scrapping plans to hire people for 6,000 open roles, according to a
Thursday memo to employees. Bloomberg was first to report on the layoffs.
Meta’s latest round of cuts follows
several smaller job reductions that the company said was necessary to to
improve efficiency while focusing its efforts on generative AI, where it’s
lagged OpenAI, Google and
Anthropic.
CNBC reported in January that Meta fired about 10% of employees who were
working on metaverse-related
projects. Roughly 1,000 people in the company’s Reality Labs unit were let
go at that time.
Another round of layoffs commenced in
March and affected hundreds of employees working in a variety of units,
including Facebook, Reality Labs, global operations and sales. Meta also said
last month that it would shift away from third-party
vendors and contractors, which have historically handled content moderation
tasks, in favor of relying on various AI technologies.
Job cuts are picking up across the
tech sector as companies reckon with the AI boom. Microsoft confirmed on
Thursday that it will offer voluntary buyouts to some U.S. employees, a first
for the 51-year-old software giant. About 7% of U.S. employees are eligible,
according to a person familiar with the plans who asked not to be named because
the number isn’t being made public.
In January, Amazon announced plans
to eliminate about
16,000 corporate jobs, marking its second round of mass job cuts since last
October.
More
Meta
will cut 10% of workforce as company pushes deeper into AI
Nike cuts 1,400 roles in second
round of layoffs this year
Published Thu, Apr 23 2026 4:30 PM
EDT Updated Thu, Apr 23 2026 5:17 PM EDT
Nike announced a new round of
layoffs Thursday affecting approximately 1,400 employees across the
organization, mostly concentrated in its technology department.
In a note from COO Venkatesh
Alagirisamy, the company said the layoffs were part of Nike’s broader “Win Now”
turnaround strategy aiming to reshape its technology team, modernize its Air
manufacturing, move some of its Converse Footwear operations and integrate its
materials supply chain work into its footwear and apparel supply chain teams.
“Collectively, these changes will
result in a reduction of approximately 1,400 roles in global
operations, with the majority in technology,” Alagirisamy wrote. “These
reductions are very hard for the teammates directly affected and for the teams
around them, too.”
A Nike spokesperson said the layoffs
are about better positioning the organization for the current pace of sports
and accelerating its growth. The layoffs affect employees across North America,
Asia and Europe and represent less than 2% of the company’s total global head
count.
“This is not a new direction,”
Alagirisamy wrote. “It is the next phase of the work already underway.”
Affected employees will be notified
beginning Thursday, Nike added.
CEO Elliott
Hill has been working to turn
Nike around after years of slumping sales. While Hill has made some
initial progress, it’s come with some bumps in the road.
Nike announced
775 job cuts in January, primarily at its U.S.-based distribution
centers, due to the company’s work in accelerating its use of automation. At
the time, the company said the cuts are part of Nike’s goal to return to
“long-term, profitable growth.”
Those layoffs came on top of a round
of cuts last summer that affected less than 1% of Nike’s corporate
staff as part of the company’s efforts to realign the business.
In its third
fiscal quarter earnings report last month, the retailer warned that
sales will continue to fall for the rest of the year, primarily led by an
anticipated 20% decline in China during the current quarter.
Nike cuts
1,400 roles in second round of layoffs this year
Holiday chaos as 28 major airlines
cancel flights or hike prices - full list
23 April 2026
Many major airlines are adapting
their flight schedules or introducing new costs in the wake of the Iran war,
which has sent the cost of jet fuel soaring. Europe was previously warned that it has just six weeks of jet
fuel left, according to the head of the
International Energy Agency (IEA).
It comes as the Strait of Hormuz,
the world's most important oil transit passage, remains shut due to the ongoing
conflict in the Middle East. Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of IEA,
said flights could be cancelled across Europe if the vital passageway remains shut.
The benchmark price of European jet
fuel has surged from $831 (£614) per tonne at the start of the war to $1,838
(£1,387) at the beginning of April.
According to Mr Birol, Europe has
"maybe six weeks of jet fuel left". This means airports could face
critical shortages by May, causing travel chaos for Brits heading abroad.
He told AP:
"In the past there was a group called Dire Straits. It's a dire strait
now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the
longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation
around the world."
He added that "everybody is
going to suffer" without the permanent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
He continued: "Some countries
may be richer than the others. Some countries may have more energy than the
others, but no country, no country is immune to this crisis."
Air India
Revising its fuel surcharge from a
flat domestic fee to a distance-based one.
Air New Zealand
Cutting flights in May and June and
hiking fares.
Akasa Air
Introducing a fuel surcharge between
199 and 1,300 rupees on domestic and international flights.
Alaska Air
Increasing the cost of the first
checked by by $5, $10 for the second, and $150 for the third on North American
flights.
More
Holiday chaos as 28 major airlines cancel flights or hike
prices - full list
11 Reasons the US and Israel Clearly
Lost to Iran
From a failed bid for regime change
to Iran’s control of Hormuz and trillions in shattered Gulf capital, this was
not a close contest – it was a historic rout.
The Silver Academy Apr 22, 2026
Foreword:
No modern blunder rivals launching a
discretionary Iran war that empowers Tehran, endangers global trade routes, and
destabilizes trillions in allied capital while advertising U.S. impotence to
the entire world
I. Strategic “genius” that handed
Iran the win
a. The U.S.–Israel war machine went
in with four maximal goals – regime change, zero enrichment, elimination of
long‑range missiles, and cutting off Hamas/Hezbollah/Houthis – and achieved
exactly 0 out of 4.
b. Iran walked out with 1 consolidated regime, 1 intact nuclear program, 1
intact missile arsenal, and 3 functioning proxy networks that are now more
battle‑tested and politically justified than before.
c. The entire “pressure campaign” produced the opposite of what was sold:
instead of regime collapse, you got regime consolidation and a hard lesson for
every non‑aligned state that only hard deterrence works against Washington and
Tel Aviv.
II. Hormuz: turning the West’s
jugular into Iran’s toll road
a. Before this fiasco, Iran did not
exercise de facto day‑to‑day control over the Strait of Hormuz; after a few
months of Trumpian escalation, Tehran effectively operates a choke point over a
sea lane that touches a massive slice of global oil flows.
b. The U.S. spent tens of trillions over decades on carrier groups, bases, and
“freedom of navigation” branding, and still ended up in a position where Iran
can open or close a toll booth on the world’s energy a few days at a time.
c. Every attempt by Washington to reassert control – airstrikes, ship seizures,
blockades – has been met with Iranian tit‑for‑tat: ships seized, brief openings
followed by closures, while Western markets price in a permanent Hormuz risk
premium.
d. Ships passing through SOH used to pay in petro-dollar now they pay in
Chinese Yuan
III. Nukes and missiles: from “we’ll
stop them” to “we proved why they need them”
a. Officially, the war was supposed
to reduce the chance of Iran ever getting a nuclear weapon; in practice, it
produced 1 textbook case study that nuclear deterrence is the only thing that
stops a U.S. “war of choice.”
b. Iran’s enrichment and missile infrastructure withstood an air campaign that
burned through billions in munitions to change precisely 0 core strategic
variables.
c. Net result: 1 regime more convinced it needs a credible nuclear option,
multiple peer governments quietly drawing the same conclusion, and 0 evidence
Washington can actually disarm a determined mid‑tier power without blowing up
the world economy.
More
11 Reasons the US and Israel Clearly Lost to Iran
In other news.
All the alternative routes for Middle East oil and
gas to bypass the Strait of Hormuz
The Strait is considered the world's most
important oil chokepoint – but there are other options
Thursday 23 April 2026 06:43 BST
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has disrupted shipping
through the Strait of Hormuz, with only three
vessels passing the waterway in the past 24 hours, shipping data showed.
The Strait is considered the
world's most important oil chokepoint and had been handling roughly
one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supply before the U.S.
and Israel's war on Iran began on February 28.
More than a dozen tankers passed through
the Strait after Iran briefly
declared it open on Friday. But a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appeared
in jeopardy on Tuesday as Iran vowed to retaliate for the U.S. seizure of one
of its vessels and refused to join new peace talks.
The International
Energy Agency (IEA)
has called it the largest supply disruption on record, bigger than the oil
shocks of the 1970s and the loss of Russian pipeline gas after Moscow's
invasion of Ukraine combined.
There are some existing and possible
alternative oil and gas export bypasses of the Strait of Hormuz. These include:
EAST–WEST PIPELINE (SAUDI ARABIA)
Saudi Arabia's 1,200‑km East–West pipeline
can transport up to seven million barrels per day (bpd) of crude to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, with effective
exports estimated at about 4.5 million bpd, depending on tanker and jetty
availability.
From Yanbu, shipments can travel to Europe
via the Suez Canal or south via the Bab el-Mandeb strait to reach Asia, a route
carrying security risks from Yemen's Houthi militants, who have attacked
tankers during the Gaza war.
HABSHAN–FUJAIRAH PIPELINE (UAE)
The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP)
runs from Abu Dhabi's Habshan onshore fields to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman,
outside Hormuz. Operated by ADNOC and commissioned in 2012, the 360‑km pipeline
has a capacity of about 1.5 to 1.8 million bpd.
Oil loadings at Fujairah, however, have
been affected by drone attacks since the Iran war started at the end of
February.
KIRKUK-CEYHAN PIPELINE (IRAQ-TURKEY)
Iraq's main northern export route runs
from Kirkuk to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan via the Kurdistan region.
The pipeline restarted last September
after a two and a half year shutdown following an interim deal between Baghdad
and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
On March 17, Iraq began pumping 170,000 bpd,
with plans to reach 250,000 bpd, after Iraq's national oil company SOMO signed
export contracts via Turkey, Jordan and Syria.
GOREH-JASK PIPELINE
Iran may be able to utilise the Jask
terminal, fed by the one million bpd Goreh-Jask pipeline, to bypass the Strait,
the IEA said in its latest oil market report.
The construction of the terminal is not
fully complete, but a loading from Jask was tested in 2024, it said.
Possible alternative routes:
IRAQ–OMAN PIPELINE
Iraq said last September it was
considering a pipeline from Basra to Oman’s port of Duqm on the Gulf of Oman.
The project remains at an early conceptual
stage, with routes under study including an overland line via neighbouring
countries or a costly subsea pipeline.
IRAQ–JORDAN PIPELINE
The proposed 1 million bpd pipeline would
ship crude from Basra to Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba, bypassing
Hormuz.
First proposed in the 1980s and approved
in principle in 2022, the project remains stalled by cost, security and
political hurdles.
GULF–SEA OF OMAN CANAL
A canal bypassing Hormuz - similar to the
Suez or Panama Canals - remains purely conceptual. A project to cut through the
Hajar Mountains toward Fujairah would face extreme engineering challenges and
could cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
Strait of Hormuz blockade drives up costs at
Panama Canal
Published Apr 22, 2026, 09:43 AM Updated Apr 22, 2026, 05:48 PM
PANAMA CITY - The war in the
Middle East has boosted demand to move vital cargo through the Panama Canal to
such an extent that one vessel carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG)
paid US$4 million (S$5 million) to skip the line and avoid a wait that can
take up to five days, according to an official report.
A surge in such payments has been recorded
since the US-Israeli attack on
Iran began on Feb 28,
which led to the blockade of the Strait
of Hormuz,
a critical waterway for one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas exports
from Gulf countries.
To meet fuel demand, Asia’s refineries are
choosing to buy oil or gas from the United States and ship it through the
transoceanic waterway instead of purchasing from Gulf countries that rely on
the Strait of Hormuz, according to reports from the Panama Canal Authority.
The average number of ships passing
through the canal on a daily basis has “remained strong”, the authority told
AFP on April 21, with 34 ships in January and 37 ships in March.
Some days exceeded 40 transits.
“The increase reflects changes in global
trade patterns and market conditions, including geopolitical factors affecting
key routes,” the authority said.
More
Strait of Hormuz
blockade drives up costs at Panama Canal | The Straits Times
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians.
Japan
core inflation accelerates after five months as Iran war stokes energy worries
Published
Thu, Apr 23 2026 7:34 PM EDT
Core
inflation in Japan accelerated for the first time in five months, rising to
1.8% in March as the Iran war fuels worries around energy prices.
Government
data showed the core inflation figure — which strips out prices of fresh food —
was in line with the 1.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters, and was
higher than the 1.6% seen in February
Headline
inflation came in at 1.5%, compared with 1.3% in February, staying below the
central bank’s 2% target for a second straight month.
The
so-called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of both fresh
food and energy, dipped to 2.4% from February’s 2.5%, marking its lowest level
since October 2024.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has been
considering steps to cushion the economic blow from rising fuel costs,
including curbing gasoline prices. Tokyo has also released crude from its
stockpiles to mitigate an oil shock.
According
to Japanese media reports, fuel subsidies have been rolled out since March, with Takaichi saying that she plans
to cap pump prices at an average of 170 yen ($1.07) per liter nationwide,
warning that gasoline could potentially hit 200 yen per liter.
If
gasoline prices were at roughly 200 yen and capped at 170 yen, the subsidy
could cost around 300 billion yen per month, according to Finance Minister
Satsuki Katayama.
Following
government support measures, including ending the provisional gasoline tax,
energy costs fell 5.7% in March.
More
Japan
core inflation accelerates after five months as Iran war stokes energy worries
Goldman just released its inflation playbook for the rest of 2026
April 22, 2026
Inflation is back in the
headlines, and this time, it's not just the Fed's doing. Goldman Sachs released
its U.S. Inflation Monitor for March 2026 on April 20, 2026, and the picture it
paints is one shaped by forces that didn't exist a year ago.
Headline CPI surged 0.87% in March alone, pushing the year-over-year rate to
3.29%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, driven in large part by a 10.9% spike in energy prices tied directly to
the start of the Iran war. Headline PCE is estimated to have risen 0.64% for the month, lifting its year-over-year rate
to 3.45%, according to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System.
The good news, buried
beneath those numbers, is that core inflation, the measure the Federal Reserve watches most
closely, is actually decelerating. The question is whether the war's commodity
ripple effects and lingering tariff pressures can be contained before they undo
that progress.
Goldman thinks they can.
But the bank isn't without caveats.
How the Iran war is driving Goldman Sachs'
inflation concern
The single biggest
inflation wildcard right now isn't monetary policy. It's geopolitics. Oil
prices jumped from an average of $71 per barrel in February to $103 per barrel
in March, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirms.
That’s a 45% spike in a
single month. Goldman's oil strategists expect Brent crude to pull back to $80 per barrel by the fourth quarter of
2026, but the bank is explicit that risks remain tilted to the upside.
"Given the reduction
in the risk premium at the front of the curve and already edging up oil flows
through the SoH, we nudge down our Q2 forecast for Brent/WTI," Goldman's
commodity analysts wrote in a note, according to TheStreet.
The energy shock flows
directly into headline inflation through household energy costs and
transportation services, where passthrough is most pronounced. But oil isn't
the only commodity the Iran war is disrupting.
Goldman raises its December 2026 PCE inflation
forecast
The conflict has also
raised prices on Gulf exports, including nitrogen fertilizer and
aluminum. Goldman estimates that higher fertilizer costs will push food
prices up roughly 1.5% this year, adding approximately 0.1 percentage point
(PP) to headline inflation. Higher food prices, in turn, feed into restaurant
prices within core PCE, contributing an additional 0.05 to 0.10 percentage
points to core inflation.
Taken together, Goldman
has raised its December 2026 year-over-year headline PCE inflation forecast by
a full percentage point since the war began, with most of that revision
attributable to energy.
You, and every other
consumer, are already feeling it. Short-term inflation expectations jumped one
percentage point in the University of Michigan survey to 4.8% for the year ahead. The New York Fed's
equivalent measure rose 0.4 percentage points to 3.4%. Long-term expectations,
historically more anchored, also crept higher in both surveys, a development
the Fed will be watching closely.
Financial market-implied
expectations for 2026 headline CPI inflation rose 0.8 percentage points to 3.3%
since the war began, according to Trading Economics.
More
Goldman
just released its inflation playbook for the rest of 2026
UK inflation rises
after Iran war pushes up fuel prices
22 April 2026
The UK inflation rate rose to 3.3% in the year to
March, after the US-Israel war with Iran caused the largest jump in petrol and
diesel prices in over three years.
The rise from 3% in the
year to February was "largely due to increased fuel prices", while
airfares and food also contributed, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
said.
The figures provide the
first official look at the impact of the Middle East conflict on the cost of
living in the UK.
Inflation is now expected
to be higher this year due to the war, and higher energy costs could also slow
down the economy as people and businesses have less money to spend.
Inflation could peak
around 3.5% to 4% this year, economists have predicted. This would be higher
than the Bank of England's target of 2%, but much lower than the double-digit
rates seen early on in the war in Ukraine in 2022.
Wholesale energy prices
have soared since the Iran war began on 28 February, with the production and
transportation of energy across the Middle East slowing or stopping entirely
due to missile strikes and drone attacks.
The ONS collected its
March data in the middle of the month, a few weeks into the war.
Motor fuel increased by
8.7% month-on-month, the largest increase since June 2022, shortly after
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Over the year to March,
fuel prices rose by 4.9%. This was the highest rise since January 2023.
In addition to fuel, ONS
chief economist Grant Fitzner said airfares and rising food prices also played
a part, while "the only significant offset came from clothing
costs, where prices rose by less than this time last year".
"The monthly cost of
both raw materials for businesses and goods leaving factories rose
substantially, driven by higher crude oil and petrol prices," he added.
The rise in airfares was
largely due to the relatively early timing of Easter this year - the long-haul
flights monitored by the ONS had a return date of the Tuesday after the Easter
weekend and were recorded before the Iran war started.
Food inflation rose from
3.3% to 3.7% in the year to March, driven by chocolate and confectionery, meat,
fish, and soft drinks – which may also be linked to the timing of Easter.
More
UK
inflation rises after Iran war pushes up fuel prices - BBC News
LVMH CEO Arnault warns of ‘world catastrophe’ if Middle East conflict is
not resolved
Published Thu, Apr 23 2026 6:31 AM EDT
LVMH CEO
Bernard Arnault warned Thursday of “world catastrophe” if the conflict in the
Middle East is not resolved.
His comments came after the Iran war weighed on
demand in the first three months of the year, halving the luxury giant’s sales
growth.
“The world is now in a pretty serious crisis in the
Middle East,” the longtime CEO told shareholders at the company’s Annual
General Meeting in Paris.
“Either it’ll be a world catastrophe with very
serious and very negative economic impact – in which case, who can say how 2026
will unfold – or it will be resolved more rapidly in some shape or form that we
all hope for, even if it doesn’t seem to be easy, in which case, business will
recover and resume their normal course,” he said, according to a translation by
LVMH.
Organic sales at the world’s largest luxury
company grew 1% in
the first quarter. The Middle East conflict had a 1%
negative impact on organic growth, LVMH said last week, effectively cutting
quarterly growth in half.
If a solution can be reached between Iran, the U.S.
and Israel, however, Arnault expects to see a return to growth in the second
half of this year.
His comments come as many of LVMH’s peers
also faced a
hit to sales in March, weighing on both quarterly earnings and shares.
The conflict comes at a particularly precarious
time for the luxury sector, which had been largely expected to return to growth
in 2026 after a year-long slump – a recovery that is now in jeopardy.
“The Middle East was one of the hot spots for
growth... what I am hearing from our clients is that there is a double whammy
of consumer sentiment declining, traffic declining, and spend declining,”
McKinsey Senior Partner Gemma D’Auria told CNBC.
In the short term, brands will be impacted by the
conflict, which is significantly reducing traffic in the region, D’Auria said.
“It is yet to be seen whether this decline would be compensated for by Middle
East clients shopping elsewhere outside of the Middle East.”
LVMH CEO Arnault warns of 'world
catastrophe' if Middle East conflict is not resolved
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section Updates as they get reported.
Masdar and ScottishPower set UK record for offshore wind turbine
blades
Apr 21, 2026
ScottishPower and Masdar have set a UK
record for the longest blade installation at an offshore wind farm.
The first turbine installed at the $5.4
billion East Anglia THREE project features 115-metre blades — the biggest
manufactured and used in the UK, with each one longer than a Premier League
football pitch.
Impressive statistics
All 285 blades for the project’s 14MW
turbines — 95 in total — are being manufactured at Siemens Gamesa’s factory in
the north England city of Hull.
When complete, the 1.4GW East Anglia
THREE project will produce enough clean power for more than 1.3 million homes.
At 262 metres, the turbines stand higher
than the observation deck at The Shard, Britain’s tallest building.
Each turbine has a rotor diameter of 236
metres, and one single revolution will produce enough electricity to power a
home for more than four days, charge about 1,700 mobile phones, or brew almost
1,000 cups of tea.
Defining moment
ScottishPower — part of Iberdrola Group
— has invested $41 billion in the UK over 15 years. Its ScottishPower
Renewables business has 40-plus operational offshore and onshore wind farms and
solar sites, generating enough green electricity to power about two million
homes.
Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower
Renewables’ CEO, described the installation as a UK industry first and a
defining moment for ScottishPower, Iberdrola and Masdar as we “celebrate and
accelerate the deployment of homegrown renewable energy at scale”.
He continued: “East Anglia THREE will be
the biggest and most powerful offshore wind farm in our portfolio.
“That means billions invested in the UK
and global supply chains. East Anglia THREE will play a crucial role in the
UK’s clean energy future.”
Wind power at scale
Located off the Suffolk coast, it will
become one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms when it comes into
operation. More than 2,300 jobs have been supported during construction.
“We see tremendous potential for
offshore wind, not just in the UK but across the wider European market, where
offshore wind can provide critical energy security, power economic progress,
and help nations achieve their clean energy objectives,” said Husain Al Meer,
Director of Global Offshore Wind at Masdar.
The East Anglia THREE turbine blades are
seven metres longer than the previous record.
“These are the biggest blades ever built
for a project in UK waters — a real landmark for offshore wind,” added Darren
Davidson, UK Head of Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa.
Masdar and ScottishPower set UK record for offshore wind turbine blades
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
Another
weekend and a so called “ceasefire” war weekend, although no one seems to have
told the Israelis in Lebanon. Have a great weekend everyone.
UK PM Starmer: I'm innocent till I'm
proved guilty. This is a free country. The law is impartial.
UK AG: Who's been filling your head with that rubbish?
UK PM Starmer: I can't be had for anything. You've no proof.
UK AG: When I make out my report I shall say you've given me a
confession. It could prejudice your case if I have to forge one.
With apologies to Joe Orton and Loot.
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