Quirino Mealha

Economy

France and Germany near deal that would put De Cos in ECB top job

Two candidates are vying to succeed Christine Lagarde at the ECB, an EU official stated on Friday as EU leaders met in Dublin, while reports coming out of Spain said France and Germany are close to a deal on the central bank's top jobs with Spain's Pablo Hernández de Cos as favourite for president.

13 November 2026

Economy

AI bubble and financial crisis fears in focus at Web Summit's last day

Jensen Huang's resignation as Nvidia CEO, the risk of an AI bubble and soaring US debt were in focus on a packed last day of the Web Summit in Lisbon, as speakers on a panel moderated by Euronews warned that public debt markets could trigger the next financial crisis.

13 November 2026

Economy

Lagarde's early exit will not delay the digital euro, ECB says

Christine Lagarde's early departure will not delay the digital euro, a European Central Bank official stated at the Web Summit in Lisbon, citing the pilot due next year and a pledge by Brussels to agree the law by the end of 2026, while dismissing fears the project threatens people's privacy.

11 November 2026

Business

Anthropic swings to loss as massive compute bill looms over IPO

Anthropic’s revenue jumped 47% to $17 billion (€15.1bn) last quarter, but the developer of the Claude AI models slipped back into an operating loss and revealed close to $900 billion (€804bn) in commitments, mostly for computing, numbers investors will weigh ahead of its Nasdaq listing.

3 November 2026

Economy

Who will replace Lagarde? Eurozone nominations open for ECB top job

Eurozone countries have until Friday to put forward candidates to succeed Christine Lagarde as president of the European Central Bank, with finance ministers due to take stock of the nominations on 9 November, a Eurogroup spokesperson told Euronews.

3 November 2026

Markets

Oil falls on Hormuz deal hopes but Trump keeps strikes on the table

Oil prices fell on Monday morning as talks in Qatar revived hopes of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, but US President Donald Trump kept the threat of fresh strikes alive and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly urged him to hit Iran straight after Tuesday's midterm elections.

2 November 2026

Business

AstraZeneca profit jumps 23% as it unveils major savings plan

AstraZeneca's net profit jumped 23% in the third quarter on booming sales of its cancer drugs, as the British drugmaker unveiled a programme to save $1.5 billion (€1.34bn) a year to invest back into developing new medicines.

30 October 2026

Business

BP profit quadruples as Iran war sends refining margins soaring

BP's net profit quadrupled between July and September as the Iran war sent refining margins and oil prices soaring, with the British energy giant beating forecasts and cutting its net debt by $8.4 billion (€7.5bn) ahead of a strategy update in December.

30 October 2026

Economy

ECB holds rates at 2.5% on the day Lagarde announces her early exit

The European Central Bank kept its deposit rate at 2.5% on Thursday, hours after President Christine Lagarde said she would leave next February, months before her term ends, as France's bond market turmoil and inflation at 3.8% cloud the outlook for the eurozone.

29 October 2026

Economy

ECB President Christine Lagarde to step down in February 2027

Christine Lagarde will step down on 7 February 2027, around nine months before the end of her eight-year term, the European Central Bank announced on Thursday, hours before it kept interest rates on hold at 2.5%.

29 October 2026

Economy

Fed holds rates days before US midterms but two officials dissented

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, six days before the midterms, but two officials, including Governor Lisa Cook, whom US President Donald Trump is trying to fire, voted for a hike, with inflation at 3.7% and investors still braced for a rise in December.

28 October 2026

Markets

European gas price crosses €100 for first time since 2022 crisis

Europe's benchmark gas price crossed €100 per megawatt-hour on Wednesday afternoon for the first time since the 2022 energy crisis, just hours after EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen warned that Europe faces "another energy crisis" and a difficult winter.

28 October 2026

Business

South Korea fines Google and Apple over app store payment rules

South Korea has fined Google and Apple a combined 63.7 billion won (€42.7m), for steering app developers towards their in-house payment systems and holding up app reviews, adding to a string of penalties the US tech giants face over app store rules, including in the EU.

28 October 2026

Business

BNP Paribas downplays French debt exposure as profit beats forecasts

The French multinational bank BNP Paribas beat profit forecasts in the third quarter as revenue from equities trading surged 50%, and announced a €1.3 billion share buyback while playing down its exposure to French debt.

28 October 2026

Economy

What to expect from the Federal Reserve's next rate decision

The Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates on hold on Wednesday, six days before the US midterm elections, but with inflation at 3.7% and oil prices still elevated, investors see another hike in December as likely and will scour Chair Kevin Warsh's words for clues.

27 October 2026

Business

Dutch chip firm Besi jumps as Applied Materials moves to double stake

Shares in Dutch chip equipment maker Besi jumped on Tuesday after US rival Applied Materials announced plans to lift its holding to roughly 20% from 9%, tightening ties built around technology used to make AI hardware.

27 October 2026

Markets

Oil plunges over 6% as Iran diplomacy seemingly gathers pace

Brent crude fell more than 6% on Monday morning, retreating from its highest close since March, as regional mediators headed to Tehran and US President Donald Trump weighed a deal with Iran, while investors braced for a week packed with central bank decisions and earnings reports.

26 October 2026

Economy

Could France's bond turmoil force the ECB's hand?

The European Central Bank is expected to hold rates next week as France's bond sell-off tightens borrowing conditions across the eurozone, while ECB President Christine Lagarde has made clear that the first steps to tackle French debt woes must come from Paris, not Frankfurt.

23 October 2026

Markets

Turning mercury into gold? A US start-up says it has just done it

Little-known San Francisco start-up Marathon Fusion says it has turned mercury into stable gold at ten times the rate of CERN's record, raising a question that has haunted the diamond trade: could lab-made gold one day sink the price of the mined metal?

23 October 2026

Business

Why Musk wants to merge Tesla and SpaceX before Trump leaves office

Elon Musk has opened the door to merging Tesla and SpaceX into a $3.5 trillion (€3.1tn) giant, the latest step in years of folding his companies into one another, with a deal reportedly aimed at closing before US President Donald Trump leaves the White House.

22 October 2026