The Economy Markets

Chinese 6-inch SiC wafer prices plunge amid 8-inch migration and government self-sufficiency policies Global wafer supply chain remains vulnerable to surging demand and recurring shortages Sustained Chinese pricing advantage could reshape the competitive landscape

Rising demand for solutions to post-weight-loss side effects Restaurant industry begins overhauling its strategies GLP-1 effects extending into behavioral change GLP-1-based obesity medications are reshaping the broader consumer economy far beyond th

OECD takes aim at China’s state-directed economic model 60% of Chinese firms’ market share gains attributed to subsidies China reclassified as an economic security risk, raising prospects of a major industrial shock The Organisation for Economic

Four Republicans Ultimately Break Ranks with Trump No Binding Force in Practice, Largely Symbolic in Nature Trump Also Searching for an Exit Rather Than Escalation

Kuwait airport struck again by Iran just two days after resuming international flights Saudi Arabia and the UAE carry out covert retaliation against Iran after civilian infrastructure is damaged Global investors abandon the Middle East, while Dubai’s status as a financial hub comes under pressure

Australia pours massive funding into AUKUS only to secure second-hand U.S.

Alphabet seeks an $80 billion equity raise to fund AI infrastructure investments Aggressively tapping bond markets while sharing investment costs with outside investors Escalating AI arms race drives Big Tech to absorb mounting chipflation-related costs

Total population falls by 3.09 million in five years as decline accelerates Children aged 14 or younger at 11.2%, people aged 65 or older at 29.4% Regional property markets cool as banks’ earnings base weakens Japan’s t

Airport, Factory and Warehouse Deployment Turns Industrial Sites Into Humanoid Testing Grounds Productivity and Safety Validation Remain Inadequate as Expectations Outpace Reality Battery Innovation and Embodied Data Among Key Challenges Yet to Be Solved

USTR Releases Section 301 Investigation Findings Tariffs Previewed Over Insufficient Forced-Labor Import Controls Move Pursued as Substitute After Reciprocal Tariffs Ruled Unlawful The administration of U.S.

China’s tech-led growth shift is real, but its subsidy model is creating political backlash Europe now sees Chinese overcapacity as a trade and security problem Without fairer competition, China’s growth will face stronger barriers abroad

LLMs can read financial news faster, but speed does not guarantee better prices The real risk is shared misreading, not just slow market reaction AI trading needs audit trails, uncertainty limits, and stronger governance A market

AI is shifting gains from labour to capital Europe protects labour more; the U.S.

Regional geopolitical risk is not a smaller version of global risk News-based indices measure exposure, language, attention and bias at the same time Europe needs a dashboard that compares global attention with local economic impact

Revised Chinese outbound investment rules restrict technology transfers and tighten investment reviews “Stop capital flight” — Beijing escalates crackdown on mainland investors’ overseas stock investments Europe, scarred by the Nexperia episode, takes a harder line against Chinese M&A attempts

Arm focuses on finished-chip business with unprecedented compensation package Challenge extends to PC market long dominated by x86 architecture, with Nvidia partnership in place Market-share race led by Intel and AMD faces potential upheaval from Arm camp offensive

Kevin Warsh, the newly appointed Chair of the Federal Reserve, highlights the importance of the trimmed mean inflation measure Relatively stable trimmed mean inflation contrasts with surging PCE and PPI readings Divergent inflation indicators strengthen Wall Street expectations for an extended rate pause

U.S.

AI deliberative democracy can widen participation, but scale alone cannot create trust Civic AI must be auditable, source-based and resistant to sycophancy Without public governance, AI risks turning participation into simulated consent

WTO reform must manage state-backed competition Subsidies expose the biggest gap in global trade rules Governed coexistence is the best path between free trade and trade war Only 72% of global goods trade moves under the WTO’s core mos