Latin America Economics Weekly China-Panama rupture, precious metals & Lat Am The Panamanian Supreme Court’s decision to annul the licences that allowed a Hong Kong based firm to operate in the Panama Canal has been met with a backlash from China. While it’s not clear if China... 6th February 2026 · 5 mins read
Commodities Update Critical mineral stockpiles are a symptom of fracturing The stockpiling of critical minerals is an age-old response to a modern-day problem posed by China’s dominance over the supply of rare earths and other raw materials. That said, “Project Vault” will... 5th February 2026 · 4 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update What if the US strikes Iran (again)? Fresh strikes by the US on Iran would, coming in the wake of recent protests in the country, raise the chances of some form of regime change which could eventually pave the way for Iran’s possible... 29th January 2026 · 4 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update The implications of fraying Saudi-UAE ties Frictions between the UAE and Saudi Arabia have broken out into the open in the last few weeks. But even if the situation were to escalate, the near-term economic impact would probably be limited. If... 22nd January 2026 · 5 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly The latest on the protests in Iran The US appears to have backed away from military intervention to support protestors in Iran, helping oil prices to fall today. But the situation remains extremely fragile. Any near-term disruption to... 15th January 2026 · 6 mins read
China Economics Focus China’s AI rollout could rival the US One year on from DeepSeek’s breakthrough, Chinese AI is still hot on the heels of US tech. Despite hardware constraints, China looks set to remain close to the frontier of AI development. And China... 14th January 2026 · 31 mins read
Global Economics Focus The Shape of the Fractured World in 2026 Donald Trump’s tariff policies and his aggressive foreign policy approach are straining relationships with traditional US allies. One consequence that is apparent in our Global Fracturing Dashboard is... 12th January 2026 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Philippines budget, Vietnam booming, geopolitical shifts The Philippines’ 2026 fiscal budget, recently approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr., points to a sharp fall in infrastructure spending as the corruption scandal continues to weigh on the economy... 9th January 2026 · 6 mins read
India Economics Update A shift in India’s geopolitical alignment In our update of our Global Fracturing map for 2026, we now classify India as unaligned, rather than leaning towards the US, following the cooling of the relationship with the Trump administration... 7th January 2026 · 5 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi back in the US camp, for now Improved relations between Saudi Arabia and the US since President Trump returned to office, as well as recent agreements in the areas of AI-related technologies and defence, mean that we are shifting... 6th January 2026 · 8 mins read
Capital Daily First thoughts on the market implications of Maduro’s capture While the capture of Venezuelan president Maduro by American forces has dominated headlines, financial markets seem unperturbed. We agree with the implicit view that the near-term economic and... 5th January 2026 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update Trump eases the hardware bottlenecks on Chinese AI China’s leadership has spurned Nvidia’s knee-capped H20 chips. But it may be willing to let its firms buy the more powerful H200 chips that President Trump is now offering. This would allow China to... 9th December 2025 · 5 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Focus Russia & China: a “no limits” partnership with limits Russia and China declared a “no limits” partnership in 2022, but the economic limits to the relationship have become increasingly clear. Chinese FDI in Russia remains low, bilateral trade is... 25th November 2025 · 19 mins read
