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News

Yields on Gulf sovereign and corporate debt have surged to their widest spreads in five years as the war involving Iran drives a sharp reassessment of regional risk, according to Fitch Ratings.

Iran denied rumours of a US helicopter assault on Kharg Island, its main oil export hub, as speculation mounts over a possible ground operation targeting Iranian coastal infrastructure in the Persian Gulf.

Iran published images of what it said was a downed US fighter jet from the 48th Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath.

Sadara Chemical Company, the $20bn joint venture between Saudi Aramco (Tadawul: 2222) and Dow Chemical Company (DOW), has halted all production at its Jubail complex in eastern Saudi Arabia indefinitely without a shot being fired by Iran.

Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian has issued a public letter addressed to the American people, defending Tehran’s actions in the face of what he called, “US unprovoked aggression”.

Tech

Russia ordered major websites to block VPN traffic from April 15 or face penalties, tightening internet controls that mirror Iran's wartime blackout as Moscow positions itself as a mediator in the Gulf conflict.

Iran's NZ embassy mocked Trump's "stone age" threat with AI images of the US president as a caveman beside an ancient Persian king, the latest in a social media information war running alongside the military conflict.

Iran-linked hackers Handala claimed to have breached Israeli air defence contractor PSK Wind Technologies and passed classified command and control data to resistance missile units, though the claims remain unverified.

Iran's IRGC named 18 US tech and AI firms including Google, Microsoft, Palantir and G42 as targets for retaliation

Saudi Arabia has launched a new autonomous vehicle passenger route between two Riyadh malls.

Opinion

Erosion of Moscow’s influence in Balkans and South Caucasus creates an opportunity for Europe to expand its strategic role, says Carnegie Europe paper, but authors warn retreat is unlikely to be permanent.

A chorus of analysts and traders have spent recent weeks warning that oil prices will spike. But market is foward-looking and has already priced in the worst case. $200 oil won't happen.

Energy prices, supply chains, and financial markets are the main transmission channels, but the regional effects will vary significantly. The world faces yet another shock.

The spillover effects of recent developments in Iran have already begun to manifest themselves in ways that demand investor attention.

A tentative thaw between Washington and Minsk is gathering pace. The US has lifted some sanctions after Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko release hundreds of political prisoners. But time for deal-making is running out.

Data

Russia’s services sector returned to contraction in March, as weaker demand weighed on activity despite a modest improvement in business confidence, according to data published by S&P Global on April 3.

Gold has overtaken US Treasuries as the largest component of global central bank reserves for the first time since the mid-1990s, marking a significant shift in the structure of the international monetary system, Bloomberg reports.

Tokyo equities fell sharply on April 2, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 ending more than 2% lower as a sell-off gathered pace following remarks by US President Donald Trump that reignited concerns on the Iran war.

Companies pull back on operations in response to muted demand.

Poland’s Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 48.7 points in March from 47.1 in February, signalling a slower deterioration in manufacturing conditions but remaining below the 50-point threshold that separates growth from contraction.

Features

Reforms to oil, mining and financial laws have accelerated since the fall of Maduro, but legal ambiguity, institutional weakness and unresolved questions over democracy are tempering enthusiasm among investors, Orinoco Research says.

Hungary’s ability to unlock billions in frozen EU funding will depend heavily on the outcome of its parliamentary election on April 12. The opposition Tisza party led by Peter Magyar will need to win a supermajority to unlock the money.

Some African economies are winners from the Iran war. From Kenya to Nigeria, they are registering sharp gains in trade, aviation and energy revenues as the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran disrupts traditional shipping.

The world needs a stable Asia – East and West – and would be better served by the removal of the current Iranian regime. Only in the removal of said regime will Beijing be forced back into a more constrained, less opportunistic global role.

While Cuba goes dark, Fidel's grandson is posting Instagram videos and calling for capitalism. The Castro family's most unlikely dissident is also its most stylish.

Blogs

Strong pro-Palestine sentiment in Slovenia causes alleged interference by Israeli private security firm ahead of general election to backfire.

For more than 3,000 years, Nowruz has been Iran's national festival, but this year's war has darkened the mood.

US Commander-in-Chief, meanwhile, says he told Netanyahu “don’t do that”. But he did do that.

America and Iran have two very strategies for fighting this war.The US is still using the old school approach of building extremely powerful and incredibly accurate flying bombs that will definitely destroy anything they hit and are hard to stop.

A “permits-for-passage" system emerges as the US heads towards a strategic defeat in Iran after the White House makes a string of strategic blunders.

bneGREEN

A year ago this week, Spain’s grid ran entirely on renewable power for a full day for the first time ever. Wind, solar, and hydro met all the peninsula’s electricity demand on April 16.

The last three years were the hottest ever recorded and it’s only going to get worse – to the point where people will start to die from overheating. Unless you have an air conditioner.

Iran is building four solar plants and a wind farm targeting 100MW as the war batters the power grid, with the first phase due online by July 2026 amid repeated strikes on electricity infrastructure.

Chinese industrial conglomerate Sany Group plans to invest more than €1bn in a large-scale hybrid energy and data centre project in western Romania.

Singapore is taking another step toward the possible deployment of nuclear power, with the National Environment Agency announcing plans to commission three studies focused on nuclear safety standards and environmental safeguards.

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