Financial Times (April 2)
“A record number of megadeals were agreed in the first quarter of the year as companies shrugged off war in the Middle East and a shakeout in the software sector to propel mergers and acquisitions to $1.2tn globally.”
Tags: Acquisitions, Companies, Megadeals, Mergers, Middle East, Q1, Record, Shakeout, Shrugged, Software sector, War
Barron’s (March 26)
“The war in Iran and consequent blockage of the Strait of Hormuz offer a stark reminder of a different geopolitical risk, one lurking in tech-heavy global portfolios that are betting on artificial intelligence: Taiwan.” 75% of global foundry revenue originates in the island nation. “Investors often put Taiwan in the ‘too big to fail’ bucket, meaning China wouldn’t dare attack anytime soon because of the cascading ramifications…. But the far-reaching ripples from Iran’s attacks on the Strait of Hormuz, itself once thought to be in the unlikely bucket, is a reminder of the risks to global chokeholds and the potential spillover from geopolitical conflict.”
Tags: AI, Attack, Cascading, China, Foundry, Geopolitical risk, Global chokeholds, Hormuz, Investors, Iran, Ramifications, Revenue, Spillover, Taiwan, War
New York Times (March 21)
“From his first announcement of the attack on Iran on Feb. 28, President Trump has issued a stream of falsehoods about the war.” It’s well documented that “lying is standard behavior for Mr. Trump,” but “lying about war is uniquely corrosive. When a president signals that the truth does not matter in wartime, he …. makes it harder to win by hiding the realities of conflict and by making allies wary of joining the fight. Ultimately, he undermines American values and interests.”
Tags: Allies, Attack, Conflict, Corrosive, Documented, Falsehoods, Iran, Lying, Realities, Signals, Standard behavior, Trump, Truth, Undermines, Values, War, Wartime, Wary
Wall Street Journal (March 19)
“Escalating attacks on Persian Gulf oil-and-gas infrastructure are sending the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran into a dangerous new phase that threatens to worsen the crisis over global energy supplies…. Israel and Iran had already hit energy facilities throughout the nearly three-week-old war, but Wednesday’s attacks struck some of the world’s most important hubs and raised the prospect of tit-for-tat volleys against oil-and-gas facilities.”
Tags: Attacks, Crisis, Dangerous, Escalating, Facilities, Gas, Global energy, Hubs, Infrastructure, Iran, Israeli, New phase, Oil, Persian Gulf, Threatens, Tit-for-tat, U.S., War, Worsen
The Guardian (March 17)
“Britons taking out a new home loan face paying almost £800 a year more on average than before the Iran war as “Trumpflation” pushes up UK mortgage rates.” Higher rates come at a bad time, as “1.8m fixed-rate deals are due to end in 2026, and most of these borrowers will need to get a new mortgage. The change of direction comes amid the global shock waves caused by the war.”
Tags: £800, Borrowers, Britons, Fixed-rate deals, Global, Home loan, Iran war, Mortgage rates, Shock waves, Trumpflation, UK, War
New York Times (March 15)
“Two weeks into a war against Iran that he chose to launch, President Trump faces a stark choice — stay in the battle to achieve the dauntingly ambitious goals he has set, or try to extract himself from an expanding and intensifying conflict that is generating damaging military, diplomatic and economic shock waves.”
Tags: Ambitious, Battle, Conflict, Damaging, Daunting, Diplomatic, Economic, Expanding, Extract, Goals, Intensifying, Iran, Launch, Military, Stark choice, Trump, War
Barron’s (March 12)
“Wall Street is becoming increasingly worried” with the escalating war in Iran. Investors fear the war “could lead to a stagflationary environment where the Federal Reserve can’t step in to boost the economy due to stubborn price growth. Odds of no rate cut in 2026 surged to 46.1% on Thursday.” The odds had stood at just 5.1% a month ago.
Tags: 2026, 46.1%, Economy, Escalating, Fear, Fed, Investors, Iran, Odds, Price growth, Rate cut, Stagflationary, Wall Street, War, Worried
Washington Post (March 8)
The war in Iran “is hitting the economies of Europe and Asia harder and faster than it is striking the United States.” The conflict’s impact extends far beyond oil and natural gas prices. For example, “the closure of several international airports in the conflict zone, including the world’s busiest in Dubai, idled nearly one-fifth of global airfreight capacity, interrupting shipments of consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals and precious metals.” At present, “the cost of shipping goods by air from Asia to Europe is up 45 percent since the war began,” double the increase “for sending items from Asia to the United States.”
Tags: Airfreight, Airports, Asia, Conflict, Dubai, Economies, Electronics, Europe, Impact, Interrupting, Iran, Natural gas, Oil, Pharmaceuticals, Shipments, U.S., War
OilPrice.com (February 16)
“For decades, oil prices could swing wildly on even the distant prospect of war in the Middle East. As U.S. shale now accounts for a significant share of the global market, analysts and investors appear to have grown complacent. It is widely assumed, that “anything short of an oil blockade in the Strait of Hormuz will leave oil cold—and such a blockade is highly unlikely. This, however, is a false sense of security. Geopolitics can still flip the script on oil bears.”
Tags: Analysts, Bears, Blockade, Complacent, False, Geopolitics, Global market, Investors, Middle East, Oil prices, Security, Strait of Hormuz, Swing, U.S., War, Wildly
Reuters (January 5)
“The world economy is making a surprising habit of shrugging off unpleasant shocks…. Since 2020, the planet has weathered a global pandemic, inflation, sharply rising interest rates, and the outbreak of war without a major slump. In 2025, a tsunami of enthusiasm about artificial intelligence offset the disruptive effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade turmoil, keeping economies and financial markets humming. Opposing forces are preparing to battle for supremacy again in 2026. The stage is set for a turbulent contest between gain and pain.”
Tags: 2020, 2026, AI, Disruptive, Financial markets, Gain, Global pandemic, Inflation, Interest rates, Trade turmoil, Trump, Unpleasant shocks, War, World economy
