Economy & Finance

Economy, finance, markets, luxury and geopolitics — macro signals that influence the art market and collecting.

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Tencent slashes Kuaishou stake after leading US$3B Kling AI round economy-finance
Tencent Holdings has slashed its ownership in Kuaishou Technology from 15.68% to 9.37% by offloading 273 million Class B shares, shortly after spearheading a US$3 billion funding…
China Records Most New Unicorn Startups in 5 Years as AI and Robotics Boom economy-finance
China's innovation ecosystem has seen a resurgence, with 67 new unicorn startups created in the first half of 2026—the highest number in nearly five years, driven by AI and…
US-China decoupling talk grows but economic ties remain deeply entangled economy-finance
Although tensions regarding decoupling are rising, the economic relationship between the US and China is too intricate to sever entirely, with significant dependencies on both…
Comcast's Sky acquires ITV channels for US$2.13 billion economy-finance
Sky, a subsidiary of Comcast, has reached an agreement to purchase ITV's free-to-air channels and streaming service for £1.6 billion (US$2.13 billion), thereby establishing the…
Paramount Faces $650M Quarterly Fee in Warner Deal economy-finance
Paramount may be required to pay approximately $650 million in cash every three months to the U.K. government as part of its deal with Warner, according to Reuters. The fee is…
Alibaba Wins Temporary Reprieve from Pentagon Lobbying Ban economy-finance
A US judge in the Northern District of California has temporarily blocked the Department of Defence from enforcing a lobbying prohibition against Alibaba, granting the Chinese…
German 'Super-Rich Tax' Targets Salaries, Not Capital Gains economy-finance
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil touted a new 'super-rich tax' as a personal negotiation success in an ARD summer interview, but the measure primarily targets employment income while…
Fashion Supply Chains Under Strain from US-Iran Conflict economy-finance
Ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, linked to the US-Iran war, are forcing fashion companies to reassess supplier relationships, inventory strategies, and…
Morgan Stanley forecasts US$1 trillion robotaxi market by 2040 economy-finance
Morgan Stanley projects the global robotaxi market will reach US$1 trillion by 2040, driven by plummeting manufacturing costs in China. In a research note, the bank forecasts…
Shenzhen Longsys Electronics First-Half Profit Surges Over 600-Fold economy-finance
Shenzhen Longsys Electronics reported a staggering 62,204% to 74,394% year-on-year increase in net profit for the first half of 2024, reaching between 9.2 billion and 11 billion…
Audiovisual production faces job cuts as TV orders plummet economy-finance
The audiovisual production sector is experiencing a sharp decline in orders from both private and public television channels, which are implementing cost-cutting measures. As a…
China's AI-powered robots poised to become next export machine economy-finance
China is preparing for a 'China shock 3.0' driven by AI-powered robots, leveraging its manufacturing lead, the world's largest training ground, and leading open-source AI models.…
Citi CEO Jane Fraser outlines two AI races shaping banking's future economy-finance
Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi, the third-largest US bank, stated that the global financial sector is engaged in two simultaneous AI races. The first is offensive: applying AI to…
Western 'overcapacity' claims target China's industrial rise economy-finance
Concerns are rising among Western economies regarding China's excessive industrial capacity, especially in the renewable energy sector. The critical question is whether this…
Three shocks end Asia's 'just in time' supply chain model economy-finance
Three major disruptions in six years—Covid, the Ukraine conflict, and the Hormuz crisis—have ended Asia's commitment to efficiency-at-all-costs supply chains. According to Jakir…
Markus Söder's Bürgergeld Cuts Ignore Rising Döner Prices economy-finance
Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU) has called for reducing Bürgergeld to the 'absolute constitutional minimum,' sparking debate about the real cost of living for…
Dean Baker: Bitcoin crash benefits society, AI boom also dangerous economy-finance
Economist Dean Baker argues that the cryptocurrency market is a speculative bubble with no intrinsic value, and that a collapse of the crypto market would benefit the majority of…
Merz Defends Germany's Defence Spending After Trump Ridicules Efforts economy-finance
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pushed back against US President Donald Trump's criticism of Germany's defence spending, calling Trump's remarks "ridiculous" on Friday. Merz…
German Politicians Urged to Consider Universal Citizen Pension economy-finance
The article argues that Germany's pension system is fundamentally unfair and that proposed reforms by the grand coalition will not address its core problems. The author advocates…
Germany adopts tougher stance on China trade with 34-point economic package economy-finance
Germany’s governing coalition has unveiled a comprehensive 34-point strategy to revitalize its struggling economy, emphasizing a firmer approach to trade relations with China. The…
Analysts dismiss AI stock panic over Meta cloud rumour as 'erroneous' economy-finance
On Thursday, a worldwide sell-off wiped out billions in semiconductor stocks as investors mistakenly viewed Meta Platforms' possible shift to cloud services as an indication of an…
China signals willingness to reduce EU trade surplus amid escalating tensions economy-finance
During talks in Brussels this week, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao indicated to EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic that China is open to exploring ways to reduce its massive…
Pittsburgh Symphony Budget Rises to $42M on Film Concerts economy-finance
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has increased its budget to $42 million, a $7 million jump attributed to revenue from live-with-film concerts. These special performances are now…
Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase Back Open USD Stablecoin Consortium economy-finance
Over 140 firms including Visa, Mastercard, and Coinbase have launched Open Standard, a consortium introducing Open USD (OUSD), a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. Unlike…
Merz's Economic Plans Ignore Climate Crisis economy-finance
Friedrich Merz, German Chancellor and CDU leader, presented the results of the coalition committee on Thursday, focusing on economic deregulation while disciplining wage earners…
US job growth misses forecasts, inflation and wage stagnation persist economy-finance
In June, the United States saw an increase of just 57,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, significantly lower than the 115,000 that economists from Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street…
German coalition proposes weakening dismissal protection for high earners economy-finance
A new coalition paper from Germany's CDU/CSU and SPD proposes allowing employers to dismiss employees earning above €180,000 annually more easily, even if the dismissal is…
US manufacturing group urges Trump to block USMCA renewal over China auto investments in Mexico economy-finance
The Alliance for American Manufacturing has called on the Trump administration to block the renewal of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), alleging that Chinese automakers are…
German Coalition Agrees on Higher 'Rich Tax' for Top Earners economy-finance
The coalition committee of CDU, CSU, and SPD has agreed on an income tax reform partially financed by a higher 'rich tax'. Despite its name, the tax targets not the wealthiest but…
German industry turns to arms: Daimler Truck lands major military order economy-finance
Daimler Truck, a German DAX-listed company, announced a major order at the start of the year to supply 7,000 military trucks to the French army in partnership with French military…
CXMT's $4.3B IPO: Soaring profits, US export threat, and HBM race economy-finance
ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) is preparing for a 29.5 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) IPO on Shanghai's Star Market. The Hefei-based DRAM maker has seen a massive profit surge…
Trump Earned Over $1.4 Billion from Crypto in First Year Back in Office economy-finance
In his first year back in the White House, President Donald Trump accrued over $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency-related activities, as revealed in newly published U.S. financial…
PDD Holdings expands in Xiongan after record fine economy-finance
PDD Holdings, operator of Temu and Pinduoduo, is expanding in Xiongan New Area, China's state-backed 'city of the future,' months after a record food-safety fine and regulatory…
Chinese tech giants launch share buy-backs to revive investor confidence economy-finance
To tackle increasing doubt among investors, several big names in Chinese tech, like Tencent, Alibaba, Meituan, and Xiaomi, have started buying back their shares. Tencent made a…
US refuses to renew USMCA trade pact, citing Canada-China ties economy-finance
The United States has opted not to extend the USMCA trade arrangement, largely due to apprehensions voiced by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer regarding Canada's strategies…
NYC Mayor Mamdani Approves Record $323M Funding for Culture economy-finance
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council have approved a groundbreaking budget of $323.8 million for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) for Fiscal Year 2027.…
Marcel Fratzscher: Kündigungsschutz nicht schuld an Wirtschaftsflaute economy-finance
Der Koalitionsausschuss tagt am heutigen Mittwoch, während die Wirtschaftslobby auf eine Lockerung des Kündigungsschutzes drängt, um Wachstum zu fördern. Start-up-Verbandschefin…
Trump reports over $1.4 billion from crypto ventures in ethics disclosure economy-finance
US President Donald Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family's crypto ventures in the latest financial disclosure, revealing that digital assets now…
US to Exit USMCA, Triggering Decade-Long Trade Pact Wind-Down economy-finance
So, on Wednesday, the Trump administration is likely going to announce that they won’t be extending the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. This move would kick off a six-year…
UK investors sue Binance and Zhao Changpeng for US$200 million economy-finance
Almost 1,700 investors from the UK are taking legal action against Binance and its CEO, Zhao Changpeng, seeking a minimum of £150 million (US$200 million). They claim that the…

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