Germany, the Czech Republic and 14 other countries have demanded the European Union introduce stricter price controls to the bloc’s new carbon market, over fears the policy will raise consumers’ bills, a document seen by Reuters showed. The paper, which has support from enough countries to form the “qualified majority” needed to pass EU laws, […]
Brent crude oil prices could hit $110 a barrel if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked, Goldman Sachs analysts have forecast, while HSBC analysts see prices topping above $80. Prices for Brent could average around $95 in the fourth quarter of 2025, Goldman Sachs said in a note dated June 22. Their assumptions included oil […]
A federal judge ruled on Wednesday for Meta Platforms against a group of authors who had argued that its use of their books without permission to train its artificial intelligence system infringed their copyrights. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, in San Francisco, said in his decision, that the authors had not presented enough evidence that Meta’s AI would […]
The debate about a European Union single market for non-bank financial services goes back decades. In recent years, the economic and strategic case for the idea, rebranded as capital markets union in 2014 and included in a broader concept of savings and investments union in 2024, has strengthened. But progress towards that goal has been […]
Services are becoming increasingly important in global trade. This column shows that strong growth in services trade was driven by a decline in non-tariff trade barriers amid technological progress that enabled a growing share of services to be delivered remotely. This trend has boosted euro area services exports more than those of other regions, reflecting […]
Global carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector hit a record high for the fourth year running last year as fossil fuel use kept rising even as renewable energy reached a record high, the Energy Institute’s annual statistical review of world energy showed on Thursday. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT The report’s figures highlight the challenge of […]
Geopolitical risk is a key concern for the euro area, yet most available measures reflect a US perspective. This column introduces a new indicator of geopolitical risk tailored specifically to the euro area, based entirely on newspaper coverage from local sources. The authors show that shocks to this index have significant recessionary and inflationary effects, […]
Amid geopolitical shocks, the EU is revisiting its industrial strategy. However, traditional metrics often paint a misleading picture of Europe’s underlying strength. This column uses a new approach to measure the EU’s relative state of technology in different sectors. It shows that although EU manufacturing broadly outperforms the rest of the world in productivity terms, […]
The US embrace of power politics in the trade arena violates both the letter and spirit of the WTO’s General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, undermining the integrity of the multilateral trading system. This column suggests that such violations are unlikely to cease in the foreseeable future. Bipartisan consensus in the US favours a toothless […]
2024 Marks a Pivotal Shift in the Global Poverty Landscape We need a fundamental rethink of where—and how—the fight against poverty must be waged. This is because for the first time, more people living in extreme poverty—defined as less than $3.00 per person per day at 2021 Purchasing Power Parity prices—reside in countries classified by […]
