Section

Business

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

Page 2

Business

Palladium Is the Only Precious Metal That Did Not Set a Record in January. That Is the Whole Story

Gold, silver and platinum all peaked in the same fortnight in January. Palladium's record is still from March 2022 and it is not going to be beaten, because the engine it was bought for is being discontinued.

Aug 18, 2026/4 min read

A catalytic converter, the largest single use of platinum group metals

Business

Silver Went to $121 and Came Most of the Way Back. The Shortage That Did It Has Not Gone Away

Silver set a record just under $122 an ounce in late January, then lost close to half of it. The London squeeze behind the spike has eased rather than ended, and the metal is still up almost 74 per cent on the year.

Aug 18, 2026/5 min read

A cast silver ingot beside a scattering of silver granules

Business

UAE Employers Have Stopped Asking Whether You Use AI and Started Asking to See It

Hiring is building across technology, finance, healthcare, logistics, real estate and construction. What has changed is not which sectors are recruiting. It is what counts as evidence on a CV.

Aug 18, 2026/3 min read

Professionals in a meeting in a modern office

Business

The UAE's Quietest Business Problem Is How Long It Takes to Get Paid

Persistent payment delays and rising default concerns are squeezing liquidity across the Emirates, in the same half that produced the region's largest volume of new project awards. Both things are connected.

Aug 17, 2026/3 min read

Cranes above a construction site against a city skyline

Business

The Gulf Was Forecast a Terrible Year. Brent Is at 84 Dollars

Early in the conflict the projections ran to 150 dollar oil and contracting Gulf economies. Halfway through August the numbers are less dramatic and more interesting than either the panic or the relief.

Aug 16, 2026/3 min read

A loaded oil tanker under way on open blue water

Business

Six Hundred Billion Dollars Is Sitting in a Queue

Twenty announced transactions are waiting for permission to happen. The delay is not bureaucratic sloth, it is three separate review regimes that did not exist in this form a decade ago.

Aug 15, 2026/4 min read

The colonnaded facade of a government regulatory building

Business

Four Deals in Five Days, and Not One of Them Was Large

Measurement, medical imaging, homebuilding and a presentation startup all changed hands in the first fortnight of August. The mid-market is moving while the giants wait on regulators.

Aug 15, 2026/4 min read

Financial market screens showing trading data

Business

A $110 Billion Merger Cleared Britain and Ran Into a Dozen States

Shareholders approved it, the UK waved it through in August, and a group of US states went to a federal judge to stop it. The largest media deal in a generation is still not finished.

Aug 15, 2026/3 min read

An empty cinema auditorium with rows of seats facing a blank screen

Business

e& Walked Away From Vodafone With $5.95 Billion and a Lesson

Four years ago Etisalat surprised the market by buying into Vodafone. In July it sold the lot to a French billionaire's family vehicle. The exit says more about European regulation than about telecoms.

Aug 14, 2026/4 min read

A telecommunications mast against an open sky

Business

Most of the Value of a Trade Show Happens in the Fortnight After It

Firms spend heavily on stands and almost nothing on follow-up, then conclude that exhibitions do not work. The floor is the cheap part of the exercise and the least important.

Aug 14, 2026/4 min read

Two people in conversation at a trade show stand, with the exhibition hall behind them

Business

ADIPEC Still Runs on Oil, Whatever the Programme Says

Abu Dhabi's energy week arrives on 2 November with hydrogen and carbon capture across the agenda and hydrocarbons across the balance sheets. Both things are true at once.

Aug 14, 2026/3 min read

An industrial energy exhibition hall with large equipment displays and delegates