Section

Business

Markets, industries, and the forces reshaping the region's economy.

Page 2

Business

The Strait Reopens Every Few Weeks in the Headlines and Six Ships a Day in the Data

Day 187 brought more reporting on efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The transit count on the latest published day was six, against a pre-war baseline of about 85 a day, and the market puts one percent odds on normal traffic by 15 September.

Sep 4, 2026/4 min read

A merchant tanker under way in the Arabian Gulf while a helicopter lowers a boarding party onto its deck. The photograph records the boarding of the MT Wila in August 2020 and is not from the current closure

Business

A Tanker Took Three Projectiles in the Strait, and This Time the Traffic Data Moved

Brent topped 92 dollars on Tuesday, up from just over 88 at Monday's close. A tanker was hit crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Monday by three unknown projectiles, and transits through the channel fell to 107 in the week to 30 August from 121.

Sep 1, 2026/3 min read

The tanker Sten Suomi berthed at a fuel depot outside Stockholm, with storage tanks on the hillside behind. The vessel struck this week was crossing the Strait of Hormuz

Business

Two Rocket Launchers on a Small Island, and Oil Moved Three Per Cent

American forces hit Iranian launchers on Larak after the Guard was seen preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Iran answered at bases in Jordan and the UAE. It is the first exchange in over a month.

Sep 1, 2026/3 min read

A satellite view of the Strait of Hormuz, with the bare mountains of the Musandam Peninsula jutting north into the channel between Oman and Iran

Business

Iceland Voted No by Four Points, and the Reason Is Eight Per Cent of Its Economy

52.8 per cent against reopening accession talks, on a turnout of 82.5 per cent. Fishing is 8 per cent of GDP and 40 per cent of exports, and the Common Fisheries Policy is the one thing membership would not have let Iceland keep.

Aug 31, 2026/4 min read

Fishing vessels tied up in the harbour at Stykkisholmur in western Iceland, with snow still on the mountains behind

Business

Washington Says It Now Controls 65 Billion Barrels of Venezuelan Oil, on a Hundred Year Lease

President Trump announced a joint venture holding 55 per cent of output across 17 fields, at no cost to American taxpayers. The reserves are real. Turning them into barrels is a decade of capital spending that nobody announced on Friday.

Aug 30, 2026/4 min read

The Puerto La Cruz refinery in Anzoategui state, one of Venezuela's largest, seen from the road that runs past it

Business

Gold Is Up Fourteen Per Cent in a Month, and the Banks Cut Their Targets Three Weeks Before It Ran

The metal reached about 4,607 dollars an ounce on Friday, its strongest week in months, on the same US debt news that moved bonds and bitcoin. It is still below January's record, and it has just overtaken forecasts that were revised down in early August.

Aug 22, 2026/4 min read

Four hundred ounce gold bars stamped 999.9 fine, stacked in a vault

Business

The US Government Now Owes $40 Trillion, and Its Answer Was to Start Buying Back Its Own Bonds

Gross federal debt crossed forty trillion dollars on 18 August. Two days later the Treasury said it would more than double its repurchases of long-dated bonds. Yields fell, gold rose, bitcoin ran, and the underlying arithmetic did not change.

Aug 22, 2026/4 min read

The Treasury Building in Washington DC, headquarters of the US Department of the Treasury

Business

Google Was Handed the Right to Buy $12.2 Billion of Its Chip Supplier, If It Buys Enough Chips

Marvell granted Google a warrant over nearly 59 million shares, most of which only vests if Google hits purchasing targets running to fiscal 2033. It is a customer being paid in equity to remain a customer, and that structure is spreading.

Aug 22, 2026/3 min read

A close view of repeated circuit dies patterned across a silicon wafer

Business

Mohammed bin Salman's Record, Measured Against the Numbers He Set Himself

A decade after Vision 2030 was announced, the non-oil economy is the majority of Saudi output, the sovereign fund has grown roughly sixfold, and about 1.3 million more Saudi women are in work. The record is strong, and the interesting part is the method.

Aug 22, 2026/5 min read

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, official portrait

Business

The Strait of Hormuz Has Been Shut for Almost Six Months. Oil Is at $93, Not $200, and That Gap Is the Story.

A potential war is the wrong frame. Fighting began on 28 February and the strait closed on 4 March. The economic damage is real and measurable, and it is far smaller than the forecasts issued in the first month, for reasons worth understanding.

Aug 22, 2026/5 min read

Satellite view of the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Musandam Peninsula

Business

Three Soft Data Prints in One Week Cut the Odds of a September Rate Hike From Fifty to Thirty One

Note the direction. Markets are not arguing about how fast the Federal Reserve cuts. They are pricing the probability that it raises, and gold has just had its best month since January.

Aug 21, 2026/3 min read

Market data screens showing price movements across several instruments