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England Swings!                                                                07 August 2026

Q2 has seen ECC Contracting posting the strongest project acquisition quarter in its history, as it secured three major Dubai construction contracts, with a combined value of US$ 1.29 billion. The three projects, encompassing six hundred and fifty thousand sq mt, will deliver two thousand, seven hundred and fifteen apartments and twelve townhouses, to house around eight thousand residents. The three projects are:

Capria East and Capria West within Ghaf Woods – Majid Al Futtaim

                  US$ 545 million   295.62k sq mt   1.27k apartments                        August 2028

W Residences Dubai Harbour – Arada

                  US$ 422 million   233.68k sq mt   490 luxury units                           July 2029             

Altan and Albero within the North Gateway District at Dubai Creek Harbour – Emaar

                  US$ 322 million    113.70k sq mt   958 apart/12 townhouses     Dec 2028

Meraas has awarded a contract to International Foundation Group for the initial development of groundworks at Nourelle; the agreement covers site preparation, as well as the design and construction of shoring and piling works and marks the next phase in the delivery of the premium residential development. Nourelle will combine contemporary architecture with the established character and walkable environment of Madinat Jumeirah Living.

According to Cavendish Maxwell, Dubai’s office market recorded an almost 200% surge in H1 sales, at US$ 4.31 billion, worth of sales and double the total sales value of the second half of 2025. H1 transactions climbed more than 38% on the year, to two thousand, six hundred with off-plan deals making up 65% of the total. There were two hundred and twenty high-value transactions, (over US$ 5.45 million), that hit record levels and were more than ten times higher than both H1 2025 and H2 2025. Some 95% of these deals were off plan. Prices in H1, at US$ 2.26 million, were 137% higher than the US$ 954k paid for off plan office sales in H1 2025. Ready office prices rose nearly 15.4% to US$ 817k on the year.

Although there was strong H1 growth, momentum did ease in Q2 , with transactions down almost 36% from Q1, along with a slight moderation in prices and rents, mainly in the ready segment. Vidhi Shah, director at Cavendish Maxwell, noted that “while the structural foundations of Dubai’s office real estate sector – including a diversified economy, strategic location and pro-business regulatory environment – remain very much intact, the market has entered H2 in a more uncertain environment”.

By the end of 2028, Dubai’s office inventory is forecast to top 10.7k sq mt – 13.1 % higher than June 2026’s total of 9.46 million sq mt. It is estimated that a further 150k sq mt will be added in H2 followed by 379k sq mt in 2027 and 718k sq mt in 2028. Cavendish Maxwell expects 2026 supply to be constrained by construction delays. When it comes to sales the leading locations, accounting for 70% of all transactions, were:

• Business Bay                                                      814 combined off-plan & ready sales
• Al Sufouh 1                                                        498
• Jumeirah Lakes Towers                                 333
• Dubai Maritime City                                           88
• Barsha Heights                                                    82

Sales prices rose 15% year-on-year to US$ 548 per sq ft, with rents climbing 14% to US$ 51 per sq ft pa – with both easing slightly quarter-on-quarter. The biggest rent gains were found in Downtown Dubai (17.5%), Barsha Heights (17.2%) and DIFC (17.1%). 50% of off plan deals were for units under one thousand sq ft, with growing demand for larger units above two thousand sq ft. In the ready market, 53% of sales were for offices between one thousand and two thousand sq ft.

According to Savills, the UAE population is expected to grow 2% this year. The real estate consultancy reckons that the Dubai housing market has cooled, with new supply outstripping demand and that total deals are heading south, pointing to a 19% decline on the quarter. It noted that in Q2, twenty-seven thousand, three hundred units were completed – the highest quarterly build for many a year. It expects the market to normalise – rather than correct – with the days of remarkable growth consigned to the history books. Savills maintains that there is still activity in the housing sector but it will take time for growth to return to the speed seen in previous years.

Last week’s blog ‘It’s Hard To Be Humble’ had a paragraph on Dubai’s changing population:

‘It seems that Dubai population figures have been amended higher; on 13 November 2025, the population clock indicated a figure of 4.044 million. According to Digital Dubai, via the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, the emirate was home to 4.580 million at the end of 2025. It estimated that the population had grown by 7.56%, from 4.258 million at the beginning of the year. Authorities have unveiled a ground-breaking AI-powered real time population monitoring system and this has been approved by the Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed. The ‘Dubai Population Now’ initiative replaces the traditional census with a continuously updated digital system, enabling authorities to track demographic changes in real time and make faster, data-driven decisions. Younus Al Nasser, CEO of the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment Al Nasser noted that Dubai attracts large numbers of workers and visitors, (totalling around 1.8 million), every day from within and outside the country’.

An update sees that despite the mini exodus – a dip of an estimated sixty-one thousand – at the start of the ME crisis, the population has bounced back and having started the year on 4.580 million, has already grown 3.5% to 4.740 million by the end of June.

In July, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed 1.9, on the month, to 52.7 – a four-month high that pointed to a moderate improvement in the UAE’s non-oil private sector’s health. It appears that despite the negative impact of the ME crisis, and the subsequent slowdown, which led to cautious client activity and competitive pressures, the underlying fundamentals remained solid. In the month, there was an uptick in growth because of smoother trade flows.  There was a welcome bounce back for the labour market following a damaging contraction a month earlier, not seen since the pandemic, as workforce levels returned to growth in July, with firms citing “stronger demand”. One worrying factor was that only 7% of respondents predicted an uplift over the coming year. With the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed, the future continues to be uncertain and price pressures remain high. It appears that many firms continued to report tight client budgets and intense market competition. For the first time in four months, non-oil companies received greater inflows of export work.

The Dubai PMI rose 1.0 to 51.7 in July, attributable to a rebound in new business growth, which jumped to its highest level since March on improving customer demand. Mainly due to competition and price pressures, business activity rose at the weakest rate since June 2021. Confidence in future output slipped to a four-month low, with businesses reporting a “solid increase in input costs in July”. On the back of a dip in June, hiring activity in the emirate recovered slightly.

UAE’s Ministry of Finance has announced the issuance of Ministerial Decision No (131) which extends the period during which Small Business Relief may be claimed to tax periods ending on or before 31 December 2029. To consolidate the nation’s standing as a leading global destination for investment, this decision forms part of the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to support small businesses and start-ups, strengthen the business environment, and enable entrepreneurs to grow and expand their businesses. Small Business Relief enables Taxable Persons, with annual revenue not exceeding US$ 817k, (AED 3 million) – the threshold – to benefit from simplified Corporate Tax compliance requirements, subject to the conditions and requirements set out in the relevant legislation.

The UAE Media Office released Q1 federal financials which showed that the nation’s GDP grew by 3.0% to US$ 132.1 billion, with the non-oil sector accounting for US$ 109.4 billion, (79.4%) of the total – and US$ 4.8 billion higher – with oil-related activity the balance of US$ 27.2 billion, (20.6%). It is estimated that non-oil growth accounts for about 3.75% to the 3.0% headline growth rate, whilst hydrocarbon activity reduced total growth by around 0.75% because of the decline in production starting in March.

The previous week saw Emirates launch crypto.com pay that will allow passengers to book their flights using cryptocurrency. All transactions will be priced and settled in AED, but passengers will require a Crypto.com account to complete the booking on the airline’s official website or app. Now Dubai Duty Free has introduced their Crypto Pay account at checkout to scan their unique QR code when shopping at Dubai Duty Free, both in Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport, as well as online at dubaidutyfree.com. Customers, shopping on their mobile phones, will be redirected to the Crypto App before reviewing and approving their transaction. It comes after Dubai Duty Free and Crypto in July 2025 signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore blockchain-enabled payment solutions and broader digital innovation initiatives. Like the Emirates’ initiative, this supports the Dubai Cashless Strategy, under the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33), which aims for 90% of financial transactions across the public and private sectors to become cashless by the end of 2026.

Following a cabinet decision, the Ministry of Finance has become the first federal entity to allow the use of ‘Aani’ and ‘Jaywan’ to pay federal service fees and fines; the former, backed by the Central Bank of the UAE, is the country’s instant payment platform, while ‘Jaywan’ is the homegrown card payment scheme. Such initiatives are part of the Ministry’s attempts to enhance the government payments ecosystem, as well as providing more flexible, convenient and faster payment options across all federal entities. It was also noted that the use of such systems will ensure sustainable financial flows and reduce transaction operating costs.

The federal Ministry of Finance has set a minimum excise price of US$ 0.27 for liquids used in electronic smoking devices and tools; this will commence on 01 September. Existing minimum excise prices for cigarettes, water pipe tobacco and other tobacco products will remain unchanged. The UAE continues to impose a 100% excise tax on all tobacco products covered under the country’s excise tax system.

Emirates NBD has agreed to acquire the retail banking business of HSBC Egypt, in a move that will enhance its position in that country’s consumer banking sector. The Dubai bank confirmed that its wholly owned subsidiary, Emirates NBD Egypt, had signed definitive agreements to acquire the retail banking business of HSBC Bank Egypt. It also commented that this investment will not only strengthen Emirates NBD Egypt’s position as a leading retail and premium banking franchise in the country but will also enhance connectivity across the UAE-Egypt banking corridor. Emirates NBD has been steadily expanding its international business, with overseas operations, in thirteen countries, now contributing about 36% of the group’s total income; it has over twenty-five million customers.

Figures from theRoads and Transport Authority point to the fact that, in H1, 348.1 million passengers utilised Dubai’s extensive public transport system, equating to 1.912 million users every day.

• Dubai Metro                                      136.5 million                            39.2%
• Taxis                                                    88.9 million                            25.5%
• Public Buses                                        85.1 million                            24.5%
• Shared Mobility**                            25.7 million                              7.4%    
• Marine Transport                                8.1 million                              2.3%
• Dubai Tram                                           3.8 million                              1.1%

(**Shared Mobility includes app-based vehicles, hourly rentals and bus-on-demand, along with limousines that carried 5.7 million passengers in H1; limousines separately carried 5.7m passengers).

In H1, the busiest Metro stations were:

• Burjuman                                  8.4 million                                Blue Line
• Al Rigga                                     6.4 million                                Red Line
• Union                                          6.4 million                                Blue Line                                                    
• Mall of the Emirates             5.2 million                                 Blue Line
• Business Bay                           5.0 million                                 Blue Line
• Sharaf DG                                 4.9 million                                 Green Line
• Baniyas Square                       3.8 million                                 Green Line
• Stadium                                     3.7 million                                 Green Line

On-going major transport infrastructure projects include:

• Dubai Metro Gold Line                        US$ 9.26 billion
  • Recently approved forty-two km with eighteen stations.  It will be Dubai’s first fully underground metro route and will connect with the Red Line, Green Line and Etihad Rail.
• Dubai Metro Blue Line                         US$ 5.59 billion
  • Construction is also continuing on the thirty km route with fourteen stations serving nine districts with an estimated population of around one million residents.
• 637 Euro6 low-emission buses        US$ 300 million
  • Including forty electric buses scheduled for roll out this year
  • Initiative supports Dubai’s goal of its entire public bus fleet to electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2050
• Driverless taxis
  • The RTA has already begun operating driverless taxis this year
    • Commercial air taxi services
      • Launch date is by the end of 2026
      • Joby Aviation secured a six-year service exclusive contract with the RTA
• Dubai Loop                                                US$ 650 million
  • Underground transport network
  • First phase set for completion by mid-2028

DFM-listed Amanat Holdings is planning to invest US$ 409 million, over the next three years, to take advantage of the growing demand for healthcare and education services across the region. At the same time, it will maintain a minimum annual dividend of US$ 0.019, (7 fils), per share under a newly approved three-year dividend policy. The company is targeting a return on equity of at least 10%, while preserving financial flexibility and maintaining a strong balance sheet.

In healthcare, the company is planning to expand its seven hundred bed Cambridge Health Group by developing new hospitals, expanding existing facilities and adding complementary services, including surgical capabilities and home healthcare. Having acquired the remaining minority interest in Cambridge, Amanat announced a seventy-bed expansion at its Jeddah hospital and launched a new one hundred and fifty-five-bed hospital project in Riyadh.

With a strong presence in higher and specialised education, it is evaluating opportunities to expand further into the K-12 segment, which has compelling fundamentals. Amanat’s broader strategy also includes supporting growth across higher education, specialised education and selective K-12 opportunities. Listed on the Saudi Exchange, Almasar Alshamil Education Company is majority-owned by Amanat Holdings PJSC, and owns Middlesex University Dubai, operating as an overseas branch.

Despite the economic and political turmoil, Emaar Properties has ploughed through all the difficulties, resulting in impressive H1 financial returns, with all indicators heading north:

• revenue                                            US$ 6.51 billion                      20.7%
• EBITDA                                          US$ 3.51 billion                      24.0%
• net profit before tax                   US$ 3.49 billion                      23.0%
• revenue backlog                           US$ 44.93 billion                   13.0%
• property sales                               US$   7.25 billion

Emaar said the results reflected contributions from property development, retail and commercial leasing, recurring income businesses and international operations

Emaar Development, (Emaar’s UAE build to sell business) posted:

• revenue                                            US$ 3.62 billion                      34.0%
• EBITDA                                          US$ 2.13 billion                      41.0%
• development backlog                 US$ 36.98 billion                     6.0%
• property sales                               US$   6.10 billion

During H1, Emaar launched eleven projects across Emaar South, Dubai Hills Estate, The Heights Country Club, The Oasis, Rashid Yachts & Marina and Expo Living. It also announced a new mega US$ 54.50 master plan

Hospitality, leisure and entertainment

• revenue                                            US$ 436 million      
• occupancy                                       60%

Recurring revenue (which includes malls, hospitality, leisure, entertainment and commercial leasing)

• revenue                                            US$ 1.39 billion       
• EBITDA                                          US$   1.09 billion                   10.0% 
• revenue backlog                           US$ 44.93 billion

Malls (includes shopping malls, retail and commercial leasing portfolio)

• revenue                                            US$ 954 million                       9.0%
• EBITDA                                            US$ 845 million                     10.0% 
• International property sales    US$   1.14 billion

Emaar Development PJSC is a majority-owned subsidiary of Emaar Properties but is listed on the Dubai Financial Market in its own right. Emaar Development is primarily focused on residential and commercial property development in the UAE, including Dubai Hills Estate, Downtown Dubai, Arabian Ranches, Dubai Creek Harbour, Emaar South, The Valley and other major communities.

• revenue                                            US$ 3.62 billion                      34.0%
• EBITDA                                          US$ 1.93 billion                      42.0%
• net profit before tax                   US$ 1.83 billion                      43.0%
• revenue backlog                           US$ 34.80  billion                 
• property sales                               US$   6.10 billion
• land bank                                        287 million sq ft

Salik Company posted an 8.7% decline, to US$ 192 million, in H1 profits, as the total number of trips declined 9.5% to 383.8 million, mainly attributable to the ME crisis; total revenue and EBITDA declined 7.5% to US$ 385 million and by 8.4% to US$ 266 million. H1 revenue from toll usage fees fell 11.4% to US$ 328 million, including a 16.5% annual decline in Q2 2026 to US$ 157 million. H1 revenue from fines rose 7.5%, on the year, to US$ 39 million, as Q2 fines revenue rose 14.2% to US$ 20 million, contributing 11% of total revenue. H1 tag activation fees increased 8.1% to US$ 7 million, supported by a 10.2% increase in Q2 2026 to US$ 3 million.

Ibrahim Sultan Al Haddad, CEO of Salik, commented that Q2 marked the beginning of a recovery in traffic flows, with a gradual rebound during April and May, culminating in June traffic volumes returning to almost normal levels. Salik data showed a 12.5% decrease in total H1 chargeable trips to 278.5 million. Chargeable trips during the peak period (US$ 1.63/AED6) totalled 102.9 million, while trips during the off-peak period (US$ 1.09/AED4) reached 146.2 million.

Established in 1982, Orient Insurance, part of the Al-Futtaim Group, posted growth in its H1 financial results, with revenue 16.8% higher at US$ 1.42 billion and net profit up 8.4% to US$ 149 million. Both total investments, (including banks balances), and total assets trended upwards – by 16.9% to US$ 3.32 billion and by 18.5% to US$ 5.45 billion; total equity rose 9.4% to US$ 1.69 billion. In Q1, the Dubai-based insurer registered a Q1 20% jump in revenue to US$ 703 million and an 8.9% rise in net profit to US$ 93 million

The DFM opened the week on Monday 03 August on 5,796 points, and having gained one hundred and forty-nine points (0.1%), the previous week, gained one hundred and forty-nine points, (2.6%), to close the week on 5,945 points. Emaar Properties, US$ 0.30 lower the previous four weeks, gained US$ 0.13 to close on US$ 3.13 by the end of the week. DEWA, Emirates NBD, DIB and DFM started the previous week on US$ 0.75, US$ 8.23, US$ 1.98 and US$ 0.38, and closed on 07 August at US$ 0.76, US$ 8.74, US$ 2.06 and US$ 0.39. On 07 August, trading was at one hundred and ninety-four million shares, with a value of US$ one hundred and fifty million dollars, compared to one hundred and twenty-seven million shares, with a value of US$ one hundred and sixty million dollars, on 31 July.

By 07 August 2026, Brent, US$ 10.28 (10.4%) lower the previous week, shed US$ 7.20 (7.0%), to close the week on US$ 81.90. Gold, US$ 3 (1.3%) lower the previous week, gained US$ 300 (7.4%), to end the week’s trading at US$ 4,349 on 07 August. Silver was trading at US$ 63.68 on 31 July – and closed today, 07 August, US$ 5.88 (10.2%) higher on the week at US$ 57.80.

Earlier in the week, oil prices declined to a three-week low, to under US$ 80, on the back of news that the key Strait of Hormuz waterway may open, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both announcing talks had progressed to allow shipments to potentially resume as soon as this week. Rubio had told reporters that “there’s been progress made in those talks, but not finality yet. We’re hoping that will happen very shortly”. However, Iran noted that it was not negotiating with the US – and had no plans to do so – and is instead talking to Oman. Another blockade sees one imposed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi Arabia’s ports in the Red Sea.

Another oil giant benefitting from the turmoil in the ME. Q2 Profits at BP have almost doubled to US$ 5.73 billion (243% higher on the year) and the highest quarterly profit since the 2022 halcyon days, at the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. There are some campaigners who think that BP, (and others), are “profiteering” off skyrocketing oil prices and perhaps should be taxed further on their fortuitous earnings; Q2 Brent averaged US$ 103.85, compared to US$ 67.88 a year earlier. Even Donald Trump got in on the act saying that American oil firms, ExxonMobil and Chevron, were “making too much money”. In 2022, the UK government had introduced the Energy Profit Levy that sees companies subject to a windfall tax – the problem is that it only applies to profits made from extracting oil and gas in the UK.

Like some of its peers, BP, with nearly fourteen thousand people on the UK payroll, is slowly, but surely, moving away from clean energy. In BP’s case, it plans to sell off its US renewable natural gas business Archaea, (four years after buying the US biogas business for US$ 4 billion), has recently sold its Gelsenkirchen refinery and has put its North Sea business up for sale in a move that would put an end to sixty years of production in the region. In recent weeks, BP sold its Gelsenkirchen refinery and agreed to sell its retail business in Austria.

CEO, Meg O’Neill commented that this was part of her plan to prioritise “value, not sentiment or history”, and that “we have to focus on the assets with the strongest potential to deliver competitive returns and long-term value”. In her bid to streamline the business, she has shifted from the now infamous 2020 manifesto of pulling slowly back from fossil fuel to a much cleaner energy strategy, and that the new tagline – “performing while transforming” – would see the firm “significantly scale-up our low carbon energy business” as part of a commitment “to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world get to net zero.”

O’Neill has certainly put her cards on the table, having noted that “our performance over the past few years has not met our own expectations, let alone those of our shareholders”, and that certain investments in green energy simply had not “delivered the returns that we expect”, and “some assets may have been important to BP in the past…that does not necessarily mean they are the right assets for BP’s future”.

She also had advice for UK’s new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, telling him that since the UK currently gets 75% of its energy from fossil fuels, therefore, “the first barrel of oil we consume and molecule of natural gas we need should be coming from the UK North Sea, where we generate jobs, we generate tax revenue, we generate all those additional positive impacts”.

On a visit to London, Scottish-born Dame Jane Fraser, the chief executive of Citigroup, expressed her concern about UK bank taxes, noting that they were higher than in many other financial capitals including New York, Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin. She fears that this could threaten investment in the UK, adding that, “money votes with its feet”. The most powerful woman on Wall Street, who has headed Citigroup since the 2020 retirement of Michael Corbat, said that the perception of the UK in America was that it is a “bit diminished from what it used to be” but that there is a “desire and want for the UK to succeed”. When she was asked about a new bank tax in the UK, she responded with, “where I get concerned about it is London is such an important centre, a financial centre around the world. The world needs London to work well and to continue to prosper and innovate.” Her worries have also been echoed by JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon.

After US investment firm Castlelake, that had made several offers over the past four months, pulled out of the bidding, Apollo has paid US$ 7.67 billion for EasyJet.  Founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, in 1995, EasyJet is one of Europe’s largest airlines, employing more than nineteen thousand people, and flies around one thousand, two hundred routes across thirty-five European countries. Apollo said it wants to help the airline grow and that it does not intend to cut any jobs in the first twelve months. Sir Stelios and his family still own around 15% of the business, and he said he supported Apollo’s plans for the airline “to create more growth”. Early last month, it seemed that a deal between Castlelake and the airline had been reached but then Apollo – which owns Wagamama parent The Restaurant Group – waded in with a higher bid. Under the offer from Apollo, EasyJet shareholders will receive US$ 9.62 per share.

Earlier in the week, Astra Zeneca saw its share value drop by 7.0% on the FTSE 100, following an FT report that it was planning a US$ 400 billion merger with US rival Bristol Myers Squibb. There was nothing forthcoming from the UK’s second-most valuable listed company behind HSBC, except that if the companies were in discussions, they are at an early stage.  In February, it had taken a direct listing in the US, as part of a “harmonised listing structure” with the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stockholm, in an attempt to tap into deeper investment and boost its valuation. It is no secret that its Chief Executive, Sir Pascal Soriot, would be keen on a move to a New York listing.

Because of better-than-expected Q2 financials, Next has upped its full year forecast, as the retailer registered, in the quarter to 01 August, full price sales rising 9.2% on the year, (more than double the 4% the retailer had forecast). The main driver was a 13.2% surge in sales on Next’s virtual department store – Label – which sells a range of brands and organises the logistics for many of them. The updated forecast shows that it now expects full year profits to be US$ 1.67 billion, up 7.3% on last year, and US$ 33 million higher than previous forecasts.

Guinness is going global as its maker, Diageo, wants to spend almost US$ 1.0 billion, until 2030, to increase capacity and expand the reach of ‘the black stuff’ across the world. It hopes that this strategy will help boost its finances and enhance its sales which have been declining. Its CEO, Sir Dave Lewis, announced a US$ 1.0 billion cost saving measure, including reducing staff numbers, (with no other details available), and more than halving the final dividend payment. Even though its latest results showed declines in both net sales and operating profit, by 3% to US$ 19.60 billion, and by 2% to US$ 5.68 billion, the market is happy. On the news, its share price was 3.23% higher; in the past month it has surged 15%.

Accell, the Dutch company that owns the iconic Nottingham bike manufacturer Raleigh, founded in 1887, has begun insolvency proceedings, after it had “exhausted all the available options” and was “no longer able to meet its financial obligations”. Raleigh was once the biggest bicycle maker in the world, employing over eight thousand, but had stopped making bikes in the city decades ago.  The company was sold, in 2012, for US$ 134 million, to Accell to join its roster of European bike brands, including Haibike, Winora and Ghost. After a difficult time, Raleigh saw redundancies in 2024, followed a year later by an annual loss of US$ 40 million. Accell carried out a restructuring in February, when it was able to secure additional funding from shareholders and lenders, as well as reducing debts. This was just a sticking plaster to buy time, as it was unable to trade out of its financial difficulties and was forced to initiate insolvency proceedings.

Despite warnings of challenging market conditions and rising cost inflation, Persimmon has posted higher H1 revenues – up 15.3% to US$ 2.33 billion – and a 14.5% hike in pre-tax profits to US$ 226 million; completions rose 12.7% to 5.19k.  The FTSE 100 builder also confirmed that it was on track to deliver full year results in line with market expectations and that it expects to deliver twelve thousand, five hundred homes this year.

In its first earnings report since its IPO, SpaceX posted a 92% hike in Q2 revenue, (driven by growth in Starlink Satellite orders and improved AI computing deals), at US$ 7.81 billion, beating analyst expectations by around US$ 1 billion. Revenue-wise, rocket launches brought in  revenue of US$ 962 million, but lost US$ 542 million, whilst its AI segment – which includes the social network X, its Grok chatbot, and data centres – saw revenue at US$ 2.6 billion, but registered a US$ 1.3 billion deficit. Starlink, its satellite internet business, accounted for just over 50% of the company’s revenue and was the only segment not losing money. Overall, the company reduced its net loss to US$ 541 million. Normally such revenue figures would see happy investors and the share value surging. Not in this case because it posted a capex spend of over US$ 18.0 billion and that made investors wary on whether the company can deliver on its elevated promises; over 86% of that spending went to its AI division. On the release of the figures, SpaceX shares dropped more than 8% during after-hours trading. 

Meta has been fined US$ 567 million for its failure to warn the public about dangers its platforms posed to children; this penalty was in addition to the US$ 375 million fine, already imposed by US Judge Bryan Biedschiedin New Mexico. The judge noted that Meta is a “public nuisance” akin to air pollution and that “it must put the money in a fund aimed at reducing future harms”, comparing it to a factory, with advertising and content as its product and “the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children to be the pollution that must be abated”. No surprise to see that Meta disagrees with the verdict and will appeal.

Europe’s largest bank, HSBC registered a better-than-anticipated H1 pre-tax profit, up 23.4% to US$ 19.5 billion, attributable to wealth revenue growth – up 18.0% – wealth management fee earnings and a surge in trading activity; it also raised its full year guidance for its full year net interest income to exceed US$ 46 billion, having previously said it would hit that level. The lender confirmed the resumption of its share buybacks, with an up to a US$ 1 billion plan, which disappointed investors who were looking at a figure of more than double that. It set a second interim dividend of US$ 0.10 per share, following a similar payment in May. On the release of the earnings news, its shares hit a record high of US$ 21.61, (HK$ 169.50). During the period, the bank has continued its strategy of exiting markets, where it lacks scale, by divesting its Singaporean insurance, Egyptian retail banking, (to Emirates NBD), and Australian mortgage businesses. HSBC’s results are in line with those of other European big banks, such as Standard Chartered, all of which have been filling their boots over the past two years of recovery.

On Tuesday, Nationwide cut its mortgage rates by up to 0.19%, to 4.52%, for its lowest rates, with reductions across its fixed mortgage range, including for first-time buyers, home movers and those looking to remortgage. Last month, it had raised rates by up to 0.35% but since then, Donald Trump has again promised that talks this week may end with positive results. Mortgage rates have dropped, mainly because of falling swap rates and if they remain at this level, other borrowers are bound to follow suit.

Betfred, the brainchild of Fred Done, is set to axe some six hundred jobs and close one hundred and thirty betting shops, (about 10% of its total estate), in the UK. Betfred is one of the country’s biggest high street bookmakers and has been badly impacted by an increased tax burden. Last November, Betfred’s owner had warned that the rising tax burden on the sector could force the closure of all his UK shops. As from last April, there has been a 19% increase, to 40%, in the rate of remote gaming duty. As from 01 April 2027, a new remote betting rate, within general betting duty, will be introduced at a 25% rate. It is expected that the new tax will generate US$ 1.09 billion for the Treasury.

In the six years to March 2025, 29.9% of betting shops closed with 5.82k open; since then, the problem has got worse. Other leading betting shops, including Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes, and William Hill’s parent company, Evoke, are in the same boat. All have the same problem, initiated by the late Chancellor of the Exchequer who probably thought that she could raise money from an easy target not realising the impact. It will backfire if thousands lose their job and councils their tax revenue.

In 2016, Sainsbury’s paid US$ 1.88 billion to acquire Argos, and this week the supermarket announced its sale, under a “business as usual” deal, that will allow the company to concentrate on its core grocery business; it added that expected cash proceeds of at least US$ 162 million from the agreement with Swift Partners. It also indicated that this transfer of ownership would not result in any job losses, customer loyalty benefits and visible changes. The grocery retailer also added that Argos would continue to trade through its existing channels, “with long-term commercial agreements, covering Argos stores in Sainsbury’s, Nectar, Nectar360 and Habitat ensuring continuity for customers, colleagues and suppliers”. Since 2016, Sainsbury’s has been on the receiving end of robust competition from the likes of Amazon and has found it difficult to expand its customer base. The low buying price reflects the trouble that Argos has gone through and Sainsbury’s has now decided, ten years later, to focus on its core business When news of the deal hit the markets, Sainsbury’s share price rose 4% – an indicator that investors were relieved that the end had come for the albatross around the company’s neck.

Yesterday, 06 August, the ASX 200 ended trading on 9,271 points, after a second day of breaking records, and surpassing the previous record of 9,227 a day earlier. The main driver was the higher commodity prices – particularly gold and copper – and the fact that AMP had just posted fiscal H2 profits, surging 57%, and had announced a US$ 100 million share buyback. The day’s top five performing stocks were:

• Minerals 260                                             10.6%
• Pantoro Gold                                             10.0%
• AMP                                                             6.0%
• Westgold Resources                                5.4%
• Regis Resources                                         5.2%

It is reported that ten Manchester City players earn more than US$ 15 million a year, as listed below, and account for 74.2% (US$ 196.22 million) of the twenty-four total players’ salaries of US$ 264.39 million.

All figures in US$

Erling Haaland is the stand-out player with his earnings accounting for 13.9% of the total, with his contract recently extended through until 2034; his salary figure excludes bonuses. The Norwegian is the highest-paid player in the English Premier League which is 50% higher than the second highest paid player – Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk – who earns US$ 24.54 million.

According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, the UK is now on track for one of its worst cereal and oilseed harvests on record, attributable to dry weather and a markedly lack of rain. Indeed, July has witnessed the driest July since before 1836, one hundred and ninety years ago, with all Wales and half of England currently in drought – and even hotter weather is due next week; experts predict that rain to reverse drought ‘won’t arrive until October’. Total output for barley, oats, and oilseed rape is expected to drop to just 19.5 million tonnes this year, making it the poorest yield since detailed record-keeping began in 1984; rape seed will be one of the only crops to escape the impact of the drought. Even if late yields are better than expected, experts indicate that the final figure would still rank among the UK’s five worst harvests in history; this is also the third consecutive year of a poor harvest – and once again wheat, the country’s main arable crop, and grown on many farms, has in particular suffered from the lack of rain. To date this year, average wheat yields, at 6.8 tonnes per hectare, are 13.9% lower than the ten-year average of 7.9 tonnes because farmers have had to harvest weeks earlier, (to avoid the hot dry weather), resulting in grain being half their normal size. On top of all the climatic problems, farmers have had to face higher input costs because of the ME crisis, with the costs of fertilisers up to 40% higher, with supply slashed. Farmers cannot expect help from their own government who appear to be spending all the money they can scrape together on bolstering defence spending.

Apart from the problem with crops and cereal, other farming sectors have suffered. Dried pastures have seen grass growth halved, with the lack of water also devastating the sizing and quality of root vegetables and potatoes. Dairy producers have already been forced to use up their winter feed rations early, which has erased millions of litres from UK milk yields and will spike meat and dairy production costs into the winter. The UK imports 42% of their food supply, more than half of which emanates from the EU, with the main supplying countries being France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, all of whom are suffering from shared climate strain. Because supply is short across the entire continent, this has pushed up costs of imported food (and other non-farm supplies) which is surging. It is reported that wholesale prices have already jumped, including 40% for potatoes, 60% for tomatoes, and 90% for iceberg lettuces. On top of this, is the economic effect if the drought continues say through until October when there will be significant crop losses and higher food prices. Indeed, the following will inevitably occur:

drought → lower agricultural production → higher food prices → higher inflation → reduced household spending → weaker economic growth → civil unrest(?)

There could be a long wait before the country returns to some form of normality. It has had a turbulent period over the past decade, not helped by successive poor governments whose experience and relative expertise were sadly lacking. Many of the problems have been self-inflicted but the likes of the current climatic conditions, the ME crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Covid are beyond control. Whatever happens, we will have to wait before once again England Swings!

Drill Baby Drill!                                                     24 July 2026

Once again, driven by ongoing demand for homes, (valued at over US$ 2.72 million), three hundred and seven June sales of luxury off-plan residential market garnered US$ 1.01 billion, from 0.31k sales, with an average price of US$ 3.30 million. Unsurprisingly, apartments took the lion’s share, accounting for 54.1%, (0.17k units), of the market share, valued at US$ 578 million, whilst the balance (0.14k) being taken up by villas/townhouses, worth US$ 439 million. A further thirty villas valued at US$ 113 million were sold, as well as thirty-three sales valued at US$ 130 million. In the US$ 1.36 million to US$ 2.72 million (AED 5 million to AED 10 million), bracket, there were two hundred and ten sales with 0.11k sales of apartments, (52.9% of total sales), worth US$ 197 million and 0.10k sales of villas, worth US$ 174 million.

Dubai Islands, with forty-eight June sales, recorded the highest number of off-plan luxury transactions, followed by Dubai South’s thirty-nine transactions and Palm Jumeirah’s twenty-two – a big thumbs up for waterfront and master-planned communities. In the ultra-luxury sector, US$ 5.45 million to US$ 13.62 million, (AED 20 million – AED 50 million), seven villas changed hands for a combined US$ 56.6 million and five In the US$ 13.62 – US$ 27.25 million, (AED 50 million to AED 100 million) for US$ 93.98 million. Apartment sales also remained robust with eighteen sales of US$ 142.1 million in the US$ 5.45 million to US$ 13.62 million category and three, worth US$ 54 million, in the higher sector. A penthouse in Business Bay was sold for US$ 54.5 million.

This week also saw the sale of a US$ 45 million luxury off-plan apartment in Dubai for over US$ 45 million – an indicator of the sustained demand for ultra-prime homes in the emirate. Located in Jumeirah Second, within the Aman Residences Dubai development, the property spans 10.02k sq ft, with an average price of US$ 4.52k per sq ft. In H1, sales of residential units in the luxury market, (over US$ 10 million), posted sales of over US$ 4.51 billion, (equating to an 11.5% increase on the year, involving two hundred and sixty-nine deals) – 11.2% higher.

A new report by Anarock indicates that in H1, Indian, UK and Chinese expatriates continued to dominate the Dubai residential property market listing accounting for 22%, 17% and 14% of the total that pushed total sales to US$ 69.67 billion – and this includes four months of the ME crisis. The consultancy posted that more than one hundred and fifty nations invested in the sector last year and that in this H1, transactions totalled US$ 61.50 billion, with buyer confidence returning quickly after a brief slowdown. Overall H1 residential prices averaged about US$ 518 per sq ft – 6.0% higher on the year. The consultancy also noted that “residential prices softened by just 4% – 7% in the February to April period, significantly outperforming the Dubai Financial Market Real Estate stock index, which had crashed 34% at its peak.

With off-plan properties accounting for between 70% and 77% of residential transactions, during the period, and that around 80% of transactions were cash purchases, it points to a recovery backed by robust market fundamentals, whilst reflecting sustained buyer confidence, despite short-term uncertainty. The Anarock report also noted that last year there was an annual 23% increase, in the number of new investors entering the Dubai property market, to 129.6k entering the property market last year whilst the population grew by more than 6.0% to around 4.1 million. Among buyers, 38% purchased homes for their own use, 28% for rental income, 21% to qualify for the UAE’s Golden Visa programme, and 13% cited capital preservation as their main motivation. It also sees a 4% to 7% growth in property prices, (attributable to continued population growth, expanding international buyer demand and government initiatives), but pointed to the continuing crisis being the main downside risk to the market.

Due to the ongoing regional conflict, Q2 transaction volumes in Dubai declined sharply, sinking 28.6% on the year, across both off-plan and secondary markets; property sales were at US$ 23.95 billion. According to JLL, Dubai is expected to deliver around forty thousand residential units in H2, driven by government initiatives to improve housing affordability. Looking at the market from both the off-plan and the resale segments, the former posted quarterly and annual declines of 14.7% and 23.1%, whilst the latter registered falls of 30.3% and 41.8%. There was moderate price growth, with annual increases of 2% to 6% across property categories, with villas showing the highest gains, whilst quarterly 2% – 3% declines were noted, with apartments seeing the largest decreases. Q2 saw the Dubai Land Department launch the Flexi Rent initiative, allowing tenants to pay rent monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually, easing their financial burden. Mouhammad Takieddin, JLL’s Regional Head and CEO, commented that, “for savvy investors and occupiers, this evolving landscape creates distinct opportunities. Combined with the UAE’s strong economic fundamentals, the market remains robust and well-positioned for continued growth”.

ValuStrat’s Q4 market review shows that the Dubai property market is showing signs of stabilisation, with residential price declines slowing significantly while commercial property sectors continue to post record-breaking gains. The residential market posted its second consecutive quarterly decline, falling 4.0%, on the quarter, to 220 points and 10% since the crisis started on 29 February. Monthly declines since then have seen 6% in March, 2% in April and 1% in both May and June. Despite this market correction, (which could have been a lot worse), the average Dubai villa was valued at US$ 3.54 million, (AED 13 million), up 2.0% on the year; apartment values fared a little worse averaging US$ 488k, (AED 1.79 million), down 3.0% annually.

The Q2 rental index rose 1.7% on the year, with average villa rents increasing 2.2%, to US$ 120k annually, and apartment by 1.3% to US$ 29k. The main driver influencing this sector of the market appears to be supply delays, with only about twenty thousand homes, (15.5% of the forecast total), being delivered in H1, against an annual 129k expectation. It is obvious that ME crisis has played a major role in this slowdown, with rising construction costs and ongoing supply-chain disruptions slowing project handovers across the city. ValuStrat’s managing director, Haider Tuaima, noted that “the trend suggests that the pace of house price declines eased considerably during the second quarter, pointing towards a gradual market stabilisation”.

In what would be the firm’s largest annual delivery programme in its history, Dubai-based developer Sobha Realty expects to hand over 6.82k residential units across five major projects in 2026. The units, with a combined sales value of US$ 5.89 billion, are spread across Sobha Hartland, Sobha Hartland II, Sobha Reserve, Sobha One and Verde by Sobha – with the value exceeding the total of all its previous deliveries. The company said its in-house development model, known as Backward Integration, allows it to control key stages of the construction process, including design, engineering, construction and finishing.  Sobha posted that it is expanding through a portfolio of sixteen masterplans in the UAE, including its US$ 13.62 billion Sobha Sanctuary project in Dubai and Sobha City, a planned US$ 10.90 billion development that will mark its entry into the Abu Dhabi market.

A CRC Property commented that the emirate’s Q2 commercial real estate market came through the challenging period, with office and retail property sales posting triple-digit annual growth, despite a slowdown in overall transaction activity. Both value-wise and volume-wise, posted double-digit declines – by 36.0% to US$ 6.61 billion and by 10.6% to 2.84k deals – attributable mainly to the regional conflict. Despite this blip, the commercial market is still in rude health as indicated by office sales value surging 190% on the year, and retail sales value by 178%. The agent’s MD, Behnam Bargh, noted that “while transaction volumes corrected, institutional-grade capital continued to flow into premium office assets, and the city has once again shown its ability to weather near-term disruption while staying anchored to the fundamentals that continue to attract capital from around the world.”

Although, in Q2, the office segment, fell 35.8% on the quarter, recording 1.00k transactions, sales value slipped by a comparatively modest 8.0% to US$ 2.04 billion. However, comparison to figures a year earlier tell a different story when the quarterly figure came in on just US$ 708 million. 43.9% of all Q2 deals were made in Business Bay, with 0.44k transactions, followed by Al Sufouh 1 and Jumeirah Lakes Towers. Units smaller than 1.5k sq ft accounted for more than 60% of transactions, indicators of robust demand from small businesses, start-ups and owner-occupiers. Office capital values climbed 3.7% on the quarter and 13.9% on the year, pushing the ValuStrat office price index to a record 299.5 points. The surge has been driven largely by a shortage of high-quality Grade A space, with average office values nearly tripling since 2021. Dubai’s industrial and logistics sector remained one of the strongest-performing segments. Warehouse and logistics capital values rose 8.4% quarter-on-quarter and 17.7% annually, driven by e-commerce growth, localisation initiatives and sustained demand from third-party logistics operators. With modern warehouse space in short supply, asking Q2 rents surged 11.9% in the second quarter alone.

A delegation from the IMF has concluded a ten-day visit to the UAE, after holding talks with senior officials on the country’s economic performance, financial outlook and policy priorities. The global body praised the UAE’s ability to withstand regional geopolitical challenges, saying strong economic fundamentals, swift government action and targeted support measures helped protect financial stability, maintain supply chains and sustain market confidence. It also noted that the UAE’s banking sector remains well-capitalised, with strong liquidity and continued credit growth, whilst highlighting the Central Bank’s proactive measures to strengthen the resilience of financial institutions. Preparations for the 2026 Article IV Consultation Mission were also discussed during the visit. The IMF added that resilient trade, aviation and logistics sectors, along with strong domestic demand, have continued to support economic growth. It also expects the UAE to maintain a fiscal surplus, backed by higher oil prices, prudent budgeting and low public debt.

Releasing impressive H1 trade financials, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, in his capacity of Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, noted that “these figures are not just trade data… but numbers that reflect the strength of our economy… the effectiveness of our development choices… and the world’s confidence in the UAE”. The Dubai Ruler noted that the country’s non-oil:

• foreign trade was 13.1% higher at a record US$ 527.79 billion, (AED 1.937 trillion)
• exports were 23.9% higher at US$ 123.38 billion (AED 452.8 billion)
• trade volume under the CEPA programme reached US$ 82.92 billion, (AED 304.3 billion)

In the four months, to 30 June, (and since the start of the hostilities), trade flows worth US$ 9.24 billion, (AED33.9 billion), between 01 March and 30 June 2026, were maintained, as well as supporting business continuity for thousands of companies. The measures and packages approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, has also provided almost US$ 22 million in liquidity to four hundred and twenty-eight companies in the private sector. Some of the measures taken included extending deadlines for suspended duty cases, (6.61k deferments of up to one hundred and twenty days), allowing customs duties to be paid in instalments and reducing financial penalties by up to 80%. In the early days of the crisis, Dubai Customs launched the Green Corridor to keep trade flowing through alternative routes and ensure goods continued to reach markets smoothly, facilitating the movement of more than 203.24k containers and over 3.16 million tonnes of goods worth more than US$ 9.20 billion from one hundred and eighty-eight countries. A further analysis shows the split of goods travelling via the Green Corridor:

                  food products                                            US$ 1.44 billion

machinery/electrical equipment        US$ 1.16 billion                                                        vehicles                                                     US$  1.15 billion                                        plastics                                                       US$ 0.41 billion

        iron/steel products                                 US$ 0.30 billion

                      miscellaneous                              US$ 5.34 billion

Newly signed Al Ansari Financial Services PJSC agreements see the DFM-listed payment service company tie up with Bahrain Financing Company, in Bahrain, and Bahrain Exchange Company , in Kuwait, which will give customers wider access to Western Union’s international money transfer services, covering more than two hundred countries and territories. In Bahrain, customers will be able to use Western Union services through BFC’s network of fifty-four branches across the country. In Kuwait, BEC customers can access the service through fifty-three branches. Al Ansarti customers will also benefit from faster transactions, improved digital services and easier access to secure international transfers.

Tax Star is but one of forty-two tax and compliance software companies to have been a pre-approved e-invoicing service provider by the UAE Ministry of Finance. This pre-approved status means the Ministry of Finance has reviewed Tax Star’s application and confirmed it meets the requirements to offer e-invoicing services in the UAE, with a final round of approval still to come. E-invoicing, which will soon be required by law, is being rolled out in stages. Large businesses, those earning over US$ 13.62 million (AED 50 million), must choose a provider by 30 October 2026 and start using e-invoicing by 01 January 2027; smaller businesses have until 31 March 2027 to choose a provider and until 01 July 2027 to start. Government bodies have similar deadlines later in 2027. Companies that miss these deadlines could face a fine of US$ 1.36k for every month.

Following a Central Bank launch, UAE Banks and licensed financial institutions have begun issuing the Jaywan cards in stages, with cardholders able to carry out online purchases and cash withdrawals. Its chairman, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, noted that the move represents a strategic step that enhances the UAE’s sovereignty over its financial infrastructure and contributes to establishing an advanced national payment system that keeps pace with international trends. This first home-grown payment scheme includes a number of benefits and offers covering travel, retail and entertainment. 

In H1, and despite weaker net interest income, Commercial Bank of Dubai’s net loan book crossed US$ 27.25 billion, (AED 100 billion), for the first time, attributable to lending growth and higher non-funded income helping to lift profit higher. Operating income and operating expenses both rose on the year – by 2.7% to US$ 790 million and by 3.4% to US$ 211 million – as net loans/advances moved higher to US$ 28.39 billion – 3.1% higher on the December 2025 return and 4.4% on the year. Net profit after tax increased 1.2% to US$ 469 million, while profit before tax rose 1.3% to US$ 515 million, with the bank delivering an after-tax return on equity of 20.92%. Customer deposits reached US$ 29.35 billion, up 0.6%, whilst gross loans and advances increased 3.4%, on the year, to US$ 29.48 billion and 2.7% higher than at the end of 2025. CBD’s total assets rose 2.6% from a year earlier to US$ 42.10 billion at the end of June. The bank reported a capital adequacy ratio of 14.13%, with its Tier 1 and Common Equity Tier 1 ratios both at 13%.

Emirates NBD posted a H1 17.4% growth in its loan book, to US$ 210 billion, driven by strong growth across its core markets and the consolidation of India’s RBL Bank. Both pre-tax profit, at a record of US$ 4.41 billion, and profit after tax, at US$ 3.51 billion, posted increases of 5.0% and 3.0% on the year. Double-digit growth was noted for total income, by 16.0% to US$ 7.60 billion, (backed by a 13% rise in net interest income and 25% growth in non-funded income), operating profit before impairment climbed 17% to US$ 5.31 billion, and expenses by 15% to US$ 2.26 billion, while the cost-to-income ratio stood at 29.9%. Impairment allowances reached US$ 381 million. Customer deposits increased 13% to US$ 243.05 billion, and the group’s balance sheet surpassed US$ 354.22 billion following continued organic expansion and the addition of RBL Bank, which added US$ 20.16 billion in assets, US$ 11.99 billion in gross loans and US$ 11.72 billion in deposits to the group. Lending grew by 17% to US$ 210.08 billion. Asset quality remained stable.

Meanwhile, Emirates Islamic posted increases for total income to US$ 872 million, (8.0%), operating profit to US$ 599 million, (10.0%, attributable to higher funded and non-funded income, asset growth and cost management), and net profit to US$ 463 million; its net profit margin was at 3.1%.  Operating expenses rose 3%, year on year, to US$ 245 million, including US$ 68 million for impairment charges. Its cost-to-income ratio stood at 29.1%. Customer financing grew 9.1% to US$ 26.43 billion, with deposits 8.3% higher to US$ 30.14 billion, with total assets – up 5.5% to US$ 41.91 billion, driven by growth in customer financing and deposits. Current and savings account balances represented 65% of total deposits, providing the bank with a large proportion of lower-cost customer funding. During H1, EIB became the first Islamic bank in the UAE to offer digital gold and silver investments through its EI+ mobile application, providing customers with access to Sharia-compliant investment products.

The DFM opened the week on Monday 20 July on 5,814 points, and having shed two hundred and forty-five points (4.0%), the previous fortnight, lost twenty-seven points (0.5%), to close the week on 5,787 points. Emaar Properties, US$ 0.26 lower the previous fortnight, shed US$ 0.02 to close on US$ 3.02 by the end of the week. DEWA, Emirates NBD, DIB and DFM started the previous week on US$ 0.72, US$ 7.98, US$ 2.00 and US$ 0.39. 6 US$ 8.53, US$ 2.12 and US$ 0.41, and closed on 24 July at US$ 0.72, US$ 8.23, US$ 2.00 and US$ 0.38. On 24 July, trading was at two hundred and two million shares, with a value of US$ one hundred and twenty-one million dollars, compared to one hundred and forty million shares, with a value of US$ one hundred and fifty-seven million dollars, on 17 July.

By 24 July 2026, Brent, US$ 15.09 (21.0%) higher the previous fortnight, gained US$ 11.50 (13.2%), to close the week on US$ 98.38. Gold, US$ 185 (4.4%) lower the previous fortnight, gained US$ 52 (1.3%), to end the week’s trading at US$ 4,052 on 24 July. Silver was trading at US$ 55.88 on 17 July – and closed today, 24 July, US$ 2.10 (6.4%) higher on the week at US$ 57.98.

Brent crude has risen to its highest level, in more than six weeks, in yesterday’s trading, as Yemen’s Houthis targeted oil tankers in the Red Sea and the US launched a new round of strikes on Iran. Having closed last week 15.0% higher on the week, at US$ 88.10, the latest move sees Brent 8.6% to US$ 95.70. Brent crude closed at $88.1 a barrel last week, having risen 15 per cent over the week. A matchbox calculation by the US Federal Reserve shows that a US$ 10-per-barrel increase in the price of crude oil raises inflation by 0.2% and sets back economic growth by 0.1%.

By today, 24 July 2026, oil prices had climbed back to above the US$ 100 a barrel level, for first time since May – some US$ 20 lower than its April peaks, but still US$ 28 higher than pre-war levels. The latest driver behind the uptick in prices was attacks on Saudi vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels loyal to Tehran. UK natural gas prices have been moving in sympathy with oil and are up a staggering 52% this month – 90% higher on the year. Since last week, diesel has moved 4.2% higher to US$ 2.29 per litre with petrol up 2.5% at US$ 2.07. It is estimated that if petrol were to rise a further US$ 0.06, it would surpass its Iran war high seen on 28 May.

A move, that could see tens of thousands of new jobs being created in Arizona, Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC  has indicated it will invest a further US$ 100 billion in Arizona, as it expands its production in the US, which in turn will prove a boost for the US President, as he aims to bring more advanced manufacturing to the US.  The tech giant, which makes the most advanced chips designed by companies such as Nvidia and Apple, said it will build four new plants in the state as its total investment in the US tops US$ 265 billion. TSMC, Asia’s most valuable company, with a market cap of around US$ 2.0 trillion, announced a 77.4% jump in Q2 net profits to US$ 22.0 billion; YTD, its share price has jumped by more than 55%.

Yesterday, 23 July, shares of Google and Tesla tanked by nearly 7.0% and 14.5%, as investors were spooked by the ever-increasing amounts of money being spent on AI. The double whammy, for both tech giants, was registering negative free cash flow – the money retained after paying for operations and investments – as well as pledges to expense billions more in capex. Google and Tesla posted negative cash flows of US$ 5.9 billion and US$ 1.1 billion. Indeed, this was the first time, since it became a public company in 2004, that Google cash reserves had gone negative. Many investors are becoming increasingly concerned about if and when their investment will show any economic benefit. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is planning to spend as much US$ 205 billion this year, mainly on AI projects and infrastructure, whilst Tesla expects this year to spend up to US$ 25 billion on unspecified projects.

Despite opposition from its directors, a creditor has successfully applied to have Woodville Consultants, the litigation funder, placed into administration – a day after its chief executive warned backers that such an outcome would not be “good for our investors”. He was proved right, with the company left owing thousands of small investors at least US$ 334 million, in what is now going to be one of the biggest corporate failures in the sector.  There have been recent claims of missed repayments from the company that used to provide loans to UK law firms to pursue litigation related to the car finance scandal by raising money from “loan notes” and bonds. There have been concerns raised about the company’s business model and governance, and insolvency practitioners from Kroll have now been appointed by the High Court to sort out the financial mess. According to official records from Companies House, the 2024 accounts showed a US$ 334 million loan book, and debts of more than US$ 322 million in bonds and “other loans”.

Matthew Wright, the ex-CEO of Southern Water, along with three other employees, face a charge of conspiracy to defraud the Environment Agency and Ofwat between 01 January 2012 and 31 December 2017. All four are accused of manipulating the Operator Self-Monitoring compliance testing regime which requires water firms to take samples at their wastewater treatment works and report the results to the EA. Last Wednesday, the High Court threw out an appeal by Wright that the EA did not have the power to issue the summons against the former CEO. An EA spokesperson responded, “we can confirm that we are taking criminal proceedings against Southern Water Services Limited and a number of former employees”. They were accused of conspiring to “defraud persons performing public duties in respect of environmental and financial regulation” of Southern Water, including the EA and Ofwat, by “the implementation of artificial no-flow events at wastewater treatment works”.

In that period, rules under the OSM regime were that if the discharge flow during a time of testing was insufficient to take a sample, it was not regarded as a fail, then permitting no samples to be taken for the rest of the testing period. Southern Water is accused of dozens of offences of failing to comply with or contravening an environmental permit condition between 2013 and 2017 at multiple wastewater treatment works.

This week, JD Wetherspoon issued its fourth full-profit warning in seven months, as the FTSE 250 chain, which runs almost eight hundred pubs across the country, suffered from higher costs and slightly lower than expected sales growth in its Q4. This week, it updated its shareholders ahead of its published audited accounts in October. Its founder and chairman, Tim Martin, expects “profits for the year are likely to be below market expectations, with marginally lower sales than anticipated in the final quarter, combined with higher costs in the areas of food, labour, repairs, energy and business rates”. He also noted that there was a 4.0% rise in like-for-like sales, on the year, in the twelve weeks to 19 July, with like for like sales YTD 4.3% higher.

On Monday, Trump tariffs again became an issue for the Carney administration, with the introduction of 50% tariffs on more goods from Canada, with an official claiming the measures are in response to the country’s “continued discrimination”; the levies apply to imports of Canadian motor vehicles, dairy, cement, clothing, fishing equipment, sporting goods, furniture, wine and alcohol, but exclude energy products, potash, fish and critical minerals. The Canadian Prime Minister said it was his country’s “right” to match any tariff measures imposed by the US and said his country had shown it was willing to take “the necessary actions to support our economy, defend our workers, farmers, businesses and families”. However, he added that he was “ready to intensify” talks to resolve the dispute with Washington and “modernise” the USMCA; latest tariffs are due to come into effect by 19 August. It is also known that the two leaders met on the sidelines of the FIFA World Cup Final, where “the president has asked for options on tariffs, in retaliation for recent Canadian wildfires  that affected the US, “and options are being shared with him”. More than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the US – with US$ 2.54 billion of Canadian goods crossing the border daily.

Still to be approved by the twenty-seven-nation bloc, the EU has unveiled controversial proposals that would slow cuts to businesses’ greenhouse gas emissions limits. This comes at a time when more than a dozen member countries broke their June temperature records, with some countries, such as Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany, having recorded temperatures above 40C. It proposes that some industries could obtain a four-year extension to emission allowances until 2038 – on condition, they commit to investing in decarbonisation efforts. Explaining the turnaround, EU climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, noted that “we are adopting a more business-friendly and may I say so, savvy approach”. The EC added that its Emissions Trading System, (introduced in 2005), was aligned with the EU’s goal to reduce carbon emissions by 90% by 2040, compared with 1990 levels. Many member countries are unhappy with Europe’s ETS, (its main tool for curbing greenhouse gases), with Italy in particular condemning the trading scheme as a de facto tax that has helped keep energy prices artificially high. Under the legislation, all the twenty-nine countries’ industries and power plants need to purchase a permit, or allowance, for every tonne of carbon dioxide they emit, creating a financial incentive to invest in cleaner technologies.

With energy prices rising and dipping all the time since the onset of the ME crisis, June proved to be a “good” month for the UK economy, with the CPI measure of inflation dipping 0.2%, on the month, to 2.6%, mainly attributable to a fall in diesel prices – the way things are going July will probably see the opposite happening. Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, was unchanged at 2.6%. Food prices also declined, along with clothing prices, in line with the start of summer sales, with bigger discounts than last year.

Data from the Office for National Statistics, for the quarter to 31 May, confirmed that private sector wage growth, at 2.9%, has fallen below 3% for the first time since 2020. This indicates that private sectors’ employees’ salaries are marginally above the 2.8% mark and means pay increases for the vast majority of workers are only just keeping up with the rate of price rises, with the inflation rate at 2.8%. This is in contrast with those in the public sector who have seen wage growth of 5.5% with the report noting that public sector pay “remains elevated” due to the timing of recent NHS pay awards. Overall, May weekly earnings rose faster, on the month, reaching 4.5%, as average earnings, excluding bonuses, remained at 4.3%. Data showed the unemployment rate remained flat at 4.9% – having come down from 5.2% in January – but still above the jobless 4.2% rate when Labour took office two years ago. There were 18k fewer jobs available compared to the same period in 2025. Such figures with no change in the quarterly earnings figure would seem to indicate that there will be a possible 0.25% rise in rates at the next BoE Monetary committee meeting, as rising energy costs have been the main cause of the inflation rate nudging higher

Of the total 2026-27 government spend programme of US$ 1.887 billion (GBP 1.416 billion), 80.0% – US$ 1.510 billion (GBP 1.133 billion) – is taken by six sectors:

Social Protection    US$          533 billion

Health                                         292 billion

Education                                   193 billion

Debt                                             180 billion

Defence                                       120 billion

Transport                                     92 billion

with the balance of US$ 377 billion (GBP 283 billion) taken by five other sectors – Public Order & Safety, Industry, Agriculture & Employment, Personal Social Services, Housing & Environment and Other.

In his first week in office, the new UK Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, seems to have hit the ground running with a number of spending announcements, totalling some US$ 2.00 billion. These are small commitments, equating to just 0.1% of public spending, , which is projected to be around US$ 1.877 billion this year, (as listed above). His first commitment was to “to end rough sleeping in our country”. This would cost some US$ 450 million over the next five years, and is expected to support at least three thousand of the estimated four thousand, eight hundred people sleeping rough. This money would come from existing “uncommitted” budgets in the housing department. The second measure was to cut VAT from domestic electric bills, in the current financial year, saving US$ 60 from the average bill. The total cost, which is unfunded, will be US$ 1.13 billion and that funding could come via scrapping the previous government’s digital ID scheme, which had been estimated to cost US$ 2.40 billion over the next three years. A further US$ 670 million is to be spent by reducing the cap on bus fares in England, by 33.3%, to US$ 2.66, though this does not include London.The fourth measure, funded at a cost of US$ 135 million, is a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, saving the typical pub US$ 1.45k, as from April 2027. The discount will apply to nearly 32k hospitality businesses in England but will not be available to the very largest live music venues.

Burnham ended his first week as PM by working out of the new No 10 North, based at Heron House in Manchester’s city centre, which he claimed will be the “situation room for making Britain better”. There will be no additional cost to taxpayers, as “the running of “No 10 North will be covered by exiting Cabinet Office budgets”, even though there is expected to be some three hundred civil servants moving to Manchester over the next twelve months. A move of part of the power base to the north is most welcome and not before time. The North-South divide has long been a drag on economic growth and a stain on government operating solely out of Westminster. One frightening statistic is that in 2026, a boy born in Blackpool can expect to live for 73.7 years, eleven years less than a boy born in Westminster.

Burnham will have to act quickly on many problem areas:

Cutting sickness and disability payouts

US$ 77.25 billion cost of benefits is being paid for people of working age. The biggest driver of the increase is the number of people claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) – a working age benefit designed to support people with disabilities that increase their living costs – which is expected to rise by 25% to five million by 2030

Housing

The government promised to deliver 1.5m new homes in England over the five years of this Parliament but managed only 204k in the first year. Burnham has also said he wants to deliver “the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period”. However, in 2025, English councils built just 1.97k homes , down from a construction rate of almost 200k a year in the 1950s.

The Starmer government has already committed to spend US$ 5.33 billion a year in state subsidies to deliver around 30k “social and affordable” homes a year, which includes homes for people to buy. It is estimated that to deliver such quantities could require a further US$ 17.32 billion on top of the US$ 5.33 billion existing spending commitments

Defence

After a delay of almost a year, Starmer finally published the government’s Defence Investment Plan  in June, that only took defence spending to 2.7% of GDP by 2030; because some of this balance was not funded, savings have had to be extracted from other Whitehall departments. There is pressure on the new PM to lift defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030  but that would mean finding another US$ 12.0 billion

Social care

In a world where there are two million older UK citizens living with unmet care needs, the social care system in England – which is delivered mainly by independent providers rather than the NHS – is widely perceived as underfunded and unfair; Burnham has called it a “broken” system. It is estimated that some 10% of people, aged sixty-five and over, face lifetime care costs above US$ 133k for their care. Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged a new “national care service”, with Starmer deciding to put this on the back burner by commissioning Baroness Casey to produce a review on options for reform, instructing her to deliver her final report by 2028. The ex-Manchester mayor may request her to produce the report by the end of 2026 and may then implement her recommendations.

Neets (Not in Employment, Education or Training)

Amazingly, there are over one million young people in the UK, aged 16-24, (about 14% of that demographic). In 2015, the UK’s Neet rate was in the middle of the pack of EU countries, but last year it was ranked second highest to Romania. One of the drivers is that the number of 19- to 24-year-olds starting apprenticeship courses Has fallen by 20%  since what is widely regarded as a botched reform of the system in 2016 by a previous government. Burnham may wait for the findings of an ongoing report by former Labour minister Alan Milburn, who described it as an “urgent national crisis”, and will probably act on his recommendations. Burnham has been known to say that the school system is too focused on the university route.

Getty ImagesTo act on any of the above will cost a lot of money – more money than is what is currently available to the Exchequer. It is unlikely that he will touch the four main taxes – income tax, national insurance, VAT and company tax – which account for 75% of all tax receipts, split 30%, 19%, 18% and 8%. However, he has already indicated that he may ask people to pay “a little more” in tax, as the country faces major spending pressures from an ageing population and a ​need to rebuild its armed forces. Of the rest, council tax/business rates, other indirect taxes/excise duty, fuel duty and capital tax, (including CGT and Inheritance Tax) account for 9%, 10%, 2% and 4% and make up 25% of total taxes.  Burnham could look at capital tax as a tax on the rich after he told told Labour Party members last year that Britain “overtaxed labour and undertaxed” wealth.  He has to maintain the fiscal rules of Rachel Reeves, which require him to balance day-to-day spending with tax revenues within three years. Council tax is the main tax on residential property in Britain and makes up 5% of revenue. It is based on an estimate on what a property would have been worth in 1991 — leading to ​outcomes which Burnham has called “highly regressive”. If Burnham were to replace council tax and stamp ​duty land tax on property ⁠purchases with an annual 0.48% levy on up-to-date property values, that would push up tax payments by people in London and other areas with high housing costs and lower them in cheaper areas — and bring potential windfall gains and losses in property values for landlords and homeowners in the most affected areas.

The other option is for him to reassess existing spending, across the whole government, to see whether cuts could be made.

In the short-term, he could introduce a windfall tax on the profits of both the energy and financial sectors – both benefitting from higher-than-normal prices, and returns. He could also look further north and decide to adopt a controversial approach, with reports indicating his government is considering allowing further oil and gas production in the North Sea, in the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. This would put the cat among the pigeons but could be a short-term solution for Andy Burnham, as he starts to put the country back on track after two years of financial mismanagement by the dynamic duo of Starmer and Reeves. Drill Baby Drill!

I Don’t Like Mondays!                                                     19 June 2026

Four months into the ME crisis, Dubai’s real estate market continues to show resilience, but the inevitable slowdown showed in May’s figures; both transactions, (down on the month 27.6% to 12.88k), and monthly value, 37.5% lower at US$ 11.07 billion, and 49.1% down on the year. May activity was split between the three sectors:

• off-plan sales                    US$ 4.46 billion           40.2% of the market
• land deals totalled            US$ 4.45 billion            40.2%
• ready property sales         US$ 2.17 billion            19.5%

The leading communities with the largest off plan sales value were:

• Business Bay                            US$ 659 million
• Dubai Islands                            US$ 384 million
• Dubai South                              US$ 351 million

and in the ready market:

• Burj Khalifa                              US$ 194 million
• Business Bay                         US$ 179 million
• Palm Jumeirah                        US$ 169 million

Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Lake Towers also recorded robust activity.

The month’s highest-value transactions indicate the growing popularity for the diminishing prime development opportunities. The top selling sales included:

• off-plan segment             apartment       Solaya In Jumeirah First                        US$ 31 million
• off-plan segment             villa                Karl Lagerfeld Villas by Tara                 US$ 11 million               
• ready market                   apartment       Serenia Residences on Palm Jumeirah US$ 16 million

Khalid Al Malik, CEO of Dubai Holding Real Estate, has said that the delivery of Palm Jebel Ali ultra-luxury villas, currently underway, is progressing well and handovers scheduled to commence later this year. He noted that the project will not open on a single handover date, and that future milestones will be announced once each phase is approved and reaches the right stage of readiness. It is expected that the first phase of handovers will occur later in the year. (In 2024, Nakheel had awarded US$ 1.36 billion in contracts to Ginco General Contracting, Shapoorji Pallonji Mideast and UNEC for the construction of seven hundred and twenty-three Beach and Coral Collection villas across Fronds K to P, along with supporting infrastructure and public spaces).

Palm Jebel Ali is being developed as a full waterfront destination that will combine homes, hospitality, leisure, wellness, green spaces and community infrastructure, with over eighty hotels to be built to form part of the wider masterplan, alongside beach clubs, dining, leisure, wellness, civic infrastructure, public spaces and community amenities.

Following recent reports linking customer notifications to possible delivery concerns, Majid Al Futtaim has confirmed construction at Tilal Al Ghaf remains on schedule. MAF said it was aware of a recent article referring to customer communication issued to buyers within specific phases of Tilal Al Ghaf but said the interpretation of that communication did not reflect the facts. The company said those updates were standard procedural notifications under the Sale and Purchase Agreements and did not indicate any change to delivery timelines. It concluded “construction across Tilal Al Ghaf continues to progress in line with the established project schedule and the terms of the Sale and Purchase Agreements”.

With the aim of assisting businesses and other stakeholders navigate a global trade environment being reshaped by technology, geopolitics and economic change, DMCC is planning to launch DMCC Campus and DMCC Intelligence. It hopes that the initiative will eventually move to being an executive education, knowledge exchange and strategic advisory services. A unified knowledge platform will sit above the twin platforms, with DMCC Campus  focusing on learning and professional development, whilst DMCC Intelligence will provide advisory and consulting services to governments, economic zones, industry bodies and corporations. Existing initiatives, including the DMCC Coffee Centre, DMCC Tea Centre, Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, DMCC AI Centre and academic partnerships, will form part of the broader knowledge platform.

Last year, it was reported that there was a 12.2% annual hike, to US$ 12.53 billion, in the money from Value Added Tax and Excise Tax revenues, distributed to federal and local governments, with it being used to fund services, infrastructure and long-term development priorities. Since its entry into the tax regime, VAT receipts have become important contributors to public finances, helping the UAE diversify government revenue sources beyond hydrocarbons.

Oak Hill Advisors, the global credit-focused alternative investment firm, has received regulatory authorisation from the Dubai Financial Services Authority to establish in the emirate. OHA, with some US$ 112 billion in assets under management, was the one hundredth hedge fund manager to be registered with the DIFC.

DIFC said OHA’s arrival reflects Dubai’s growing role as a base for global asset managers and financial institutions. The centre is already home to the region’s largest cluster of wealth and asset management firms, supported by its legal and regulatory framework, talent base and hub between Asian, European and Middle Eastern markets. Arif Amiri, CEO of DIFC Authority, noted that “OHA’s decision to establish its presence in DIFC further reinforces Dubai’s position as a leading global financial hub and a destination of choice for the world’s foremost alternative investment firms”.

UAE borrowers waiting for cheaper mortgages, car loans and business finance may have to wait longer after the Central Bank of the UAE kept its Base Rate unchanged at 3.65%.

A Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation in advancing trade and investment between the UAE and Australia, across key economic sectors, has been signed during TXF Global in Prague. It was endorsed between Etihad Credit Insurance, (the UAE’s federal export credit company), and Export Finance Australia, (Australia’s export credit agency), by Raja Al Mazrouei, CEO of ECI, and John Hopkins, MD and CEO of EFA. The former noted that “Australia is a valuable partner for the UAE, with whom we share a long-standing relationship built on mutual trust, shared values, and a strong commitment to economic diversification and sustainable growth”, and that the agreement will deepen bilateral economic ties and create new opportunities for cooperation across priority sectors. The partnership aims to promote joint initiatives that enhance trade and investment flows between the two nations, while enabling co-financing of eligible projects both within their respective markets and in third regions, particularly SE Asia.

The UAE has joined Australia and the UK to introduce a ban on children under the age of fifteen to use social media, prohibiting them from creating, using or operating personal social media accounts. It covers all social media platforms that enable users to create accounts or personal profiles, engage in social interaction, publish or share content, or that rely on algorithms to display, rank, or recommend content, whether free or paid. Meanwhile, children between the ages of fifteen and sixteen will be permitted to use social media, subject to enhanced age-verification measures added to their accounts. There is a twelve-month transitional period to comply with the new regulations,

Another record broken by the Dubai Financial Market’s sees its market cap exceed US$ 273.02 billion, (AED 1 trillion +), reaching a general index of 6,116 points. Some of the main drivers included an influx of foreign investors, a strong financial year, and a series of initial public offerings. In Q1, the bourse posted a 43% surge in net profits whilst its market cap grew by US$ 103 billion, (11.5%), during the quarter.

The DFM opened the week on Tuesday 16 June on 5,768 points, and having gained seventy-five points (1.3%), the previous week, had a mega shortened week, gaining two hundred and ten points (3.5%), to close the week on 6,164 points, by 19 June 2026. Emaar Properties, US$ 0.10 higher the previous week, gained US$ 0.34 to close on US$ 3.53 by the end of the week. DEWA, Emirates NBD, DIB and DFM started the previous week on US$ 0.74 US$ 7.82, US$ 2.13 and US$ 0.40, and closed on 19 June at US$ 0.76, US$ 8.44, US$ 2.11 and US$ 0.42. On 19 June, trading was at four hundred and seven million shares, with a value of US$ four hundred and forty million dollars, compared to three hundred and twenty-five million shares, with a value of US$ three hundred and eighty million on 12 June.  

By 19 June 2026, Brent, US$ 2.56 (3.0%) higher the previous week, shed US$ 4.33 (5.1%), to close the week, on US$ 80.38. Gold, US$ 549 (12.4%) lower the previous six weeks, shed US$ 69 (1.6%), to end the week’s trading at US$ 4,173 on 19 June. Silver was trading at US$ 67.97 – US$ 3.06 (4.5%) lower on the week.

Following Sunday reports that the US and Iran had reached an agreement aimed at ending the conflict in the ME, global markets rallied with Monday seeing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index surging by 4.21% and South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index by 4.97%; in Europe, Germany’s Dax rose 1.2% while France’s Cac 40 added 0.7%, with the FTSE  100 dipping 0.4%, as shares in energy giants BP and Shell – two of the biggest companies in the index – dropped on the news of the lower oil price. US stock markets all headed north – the Dow Jones up by 1%, the S&P 500 by 1.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq, by 2.5%. Brent crude, which was trading at around US$ 70 a barrel before the conflict started, and had peaked at about US$ 120 during the war, dropped more than 5% to US$ 82.84. It is hoped that with the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, there could be a triple whammy of reducing the risk of wider regional disruption, easing geopolitical and economic tensions. along with stabilising energy supplies.

One bitcoin statistic is that following the latest ongoing decline showing that 50% of Bitcoin holders are currently sitting at a loss. The previous week saw the currency witnessing its worst weekly decline since the collapse of FTX in 2022. It now seems possible money, that previously went into cryptocurrency, could be going into AI. Ending last week at US$ 64.5k, down 33.0% from its YTD high of US$ 96.2k, on 15 January, (and 47.3% lower on its historic October 2025 high of US$ 122.3k), there are some that are convinced that it will regain all of  these losses during this year because, as in previous crashes, Bitcoin somehow survived and came back with even stronger returns. It ended the week at US$ 63.0k.

In January 2019, the cryptocurrency was trading at US$ 3.6k but by June 2021, it had climbed 889% to US$ 32.2k before tanking 48.7%, eighteen months later, to US$ 16.5k in December 2022. Forward twenty months, to September 2024, it was trading 326% higher at US$ 53.9k and climbed 226.9% to its all-time US$ 122.3k last November. At the beginning of the week, 14 June 2026, it was back in the doldrums, 22.3% lower at US$ 64.5k. It ended the week lower at US$ 63.0k.

Citing national security issues, Anthropic said it had been ordered by the US government to suspend foreign nationals from using its platform, Claude Fable 5. What a world we live in when one government can decide who has access to the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence! At the weekend, Anthropic posted that “the net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance”, with it saying that the government still has to provide further details about national concerns.

For a US$ 60 billion investment, SpaceX has acquired Cursor in a bid to boost its presence in the AI market in which the software firm, behind the popular AI coding agent, has lagged its peers. This comes just three days after Musk’s tech company raised US$ 85.7 billion on its debut listing on the Nasdaq exchange, valuing SpaceX at more than US$ 2.0 trillion. It has been following Cursor for some time and only two months ago in April, it secured an option to either acquire Anysphere, the San Francisco-based owner of Cursor, for US$ 60 billion or pay US$ 10 billion for their partnership. The deal is a share-based merger between Anysphere and SpaceX’s wholly owned subsidiary X67. Cursor, founded in 2022, has quickly become a major player in the business that uses AI to automate coding, and the deal will provide Cursor with more computing capacity to develop AI models and possibly benefit xAI, the Grok chatbot maker, a stronger foothold in the AI coding market.

Since its IPO last Friday, SpaceX has seen its share price surge by over 50% by midweek to become the world’s fifth most valuable company; its current price sees the space/AI company worth US$ 2.66 trillion, compared to Amazon’s US$ 2.65 trillion. The boom in SpaceX’s value came as it announced it was buying AI coding start-up Cursor. Whether such mega price rises for major tech companies are sustainable, going forward, is open to debate mainly over future earnings’ uncertainty. It is hard not to wonder how a company making US$ 30.3 billion annual profit in Q1 is valued less than a company making a US$ 4.3 billion loss, and the same company accruing some US$ 716.9 billion in 2025 sales and the other only US$ 18.67 billion. It also raised US$ 10.0 billion more than initially thought when it sold shares to the public on Friday – bringing in a total of US$ 85.7 billion; this happened because the banks backing the IPO exercised a so-called “greenshoe” clause, which let them purchase an extra US$ 10 billion of SpaceX shares.

A group of shareholders has taken Microsoft to court, in Michigan, accusing the tech company of defrauding them and inflating its stock price by failing to disclose slowing growth in its Azure cloud business and the need to spend billions of dollars on AI infrastructure. It indicated that this was down to capacity constraints as it diverted resources to AI-related R&D and to its Copilot chatbot. Following the release of its December quarterly report on 29 January, its shares slumped 10.0% – equating to US$ 357 billion off its market cap. Microsoft reported capex of US$ 37.5 billion, up 66%, on the year, but above the analysts’ expectations of US$ 34.3 billion; growth in its Azure and other cloud businesses was 39% higher, but down from 40%, on the quarter.

Noting that price increases were “unavoidable”, Apple’s Tim Cook said that the situation around memory chips had become “unsustainable”, as the cost of the memory chips it uses had surged. He did not say when prices would rise or which products would be affected. Later, US President Donald Trump said that Apple had agreed to work with chipmaker Intel to make its chips in the US.

With the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, formally objecting to a US$ 10.0 billion rescue package for embattled Thames Water, it was one step nearer to become a public utility; she warned that this would place an “undue burden” on consumers. Ofwat had earlier indicated that it was near to a deal with lenders under which Thames, the UK’s largest water company, would avoid any new fines over sewage leaks for four years in exchange for a cash injection into the business from its creditors. Because it seems that disapproval by the regulator has probably put the final nail in the coffin of Thames Water maintaining its corporate structure and will be placed in a special administration regime, a form of temporary renationalisation.

The struggling Pizza Hurt chain has new owners, with Yum! Brands selling it in a US$ 2.7 billion deal which sees Yum China Holdings purchasing the mainland China operations for US$ 1.2 billion and private equity firm LongRange Capital acquiring the brand outside of mainland China for US$ 1.5 billion. The brand has been struggling for some time from intense competition, especially in the US where sales account for 40% of its total business. The impact from revival chains, including Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Little Caesars, on top of an increasing number of mid-sized regional chains, along with the rapid rise of third-party delivery apps, continue to slowly erode its market share.

Founded in 1958 by two brothers in Wichita Kansas, Pizza Hut was bought by PepsiCo in 1977 and then spun off into what became Yum! Brands in 1997, which will continue to operate its UK-based Pizza Hut restaurants rather than transferring them to private equity; it had bought the UK operations last October, after DC London Pie, the firm running the dine-in restaurants, fell into administration. With this divestment, Yum! Brands intends to streamline its corporate focus and resources on its remaining core brands, which include KFC and Taco Bell.

Dirk Van de Put, the boss of Cadbury chocolate-maker Mondelez, has defended the decision to continue doing business in Russia but admitted he is “not pleased” the firm’s taxes are funding the war with Ukraine. Saying it was the “right decision” to remain in Russia, he maintained that not leaving would risk the loss of thousands of jobs and leave Mondelez vulnerable to the Kremlin taking control of its local operations. It appears that most companies, including McDonalds, exited  but others did stay. Mondelez said it had discontinued new investment in its Russian business and suspended spending on advertising. Since the February 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the US multinational snack and beverage company, (with global sales of US$ 36.0 billion), had generated annual sales of between US$ 1.0 billion and US$ 1.4 billion – less than 3% of its total revenue stream.

On 18 May 1980, there was a series of student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju. Following the October 1979 assassination of military dictator Park Chung-Hee,  (who had seized power in a May 1961 coup to become the third president of South Korea), General Chun Doo-hwan launched two coups – on December 1979 and May 1980 – to install himself as acting leader and then president. After the second coup and declaration of martial law, which saw universities being shut down and a ban on freedom of speech, university students in Gwangju protested and organised militias that took over parts of the city. The police and military were called in and killed several hundred in trying to restore some semblance of order.

Next Monday, South Koreans will find all Starbucks’ outlets closed from 3.00pm for the rest of the day so staff can attend a history lesson following public outrage over a promotional campaign that remembered that bloody crackdown forty-six years earlier. Subsequently, Starbucks faced country-wide criticism after it launched a “Tank Day” reusable cup promotion on the anniversary of the Gwangju Uprising. During the training session all employees at Starbucks Korea stores will “receive education in historical awareness and social sensitivity.

In a US$ 22 billion deal, Fox has agreed to takeover Roku, which operates across the Americas, Europe and Australia. Lachlan Murdoch, who took over the reins at Fox in 2023 from his father Rupert, reportedly paid US$ 160 per share – equating to an 11% premium on Roku’s closing price last Friday – in a cash/stock offer. There was a 2.5% jump in Roku’s share price in pre-market dealing whilst shares in Fox slumped by up to 10%. Roku was a leader in introducing platforms, such as like Netflix and YouTube to television, through connected devices and smart TVs, with its main revenue driver attributable to advertising and subscription revenue from streaming apps. The combined company would become the third-largest player in US television by share of viewing, as Fox already operates Tubi, while Roku runs The Roku Channel.

In a bid to try and ration diesel, the Indian government has directed retail fuel station dealers to sell no more than two hundred litres per customer or vehicle a day, and that buyers cannot resell the fuel. It seems that the likes of trucking companies were abusing the system, as they were buying diesel from retail outlets of state-run companies, where prices are lower than at ​bulk supply points, leading to shortages at pumps in ‌some areas. It appears that diesel, which accounts for about 40% of India’s fuel demand, is sold at market rates to industrial users at about US$ 0.42 per litre more than retail prices. Diesel sales by private retailers, which price fuel closer to market rates, fell 58% last month, while those of state-run companies surged, with some areas seeing increases of more than 30%. India is a net exporter of refined fuels, but higher domestic sales at subsidised rates are hitting the profitability of state retailers, including Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and Hindustan Petroleum Corp, which account for about 90% of India’s more than 100k fuel stations.

As it has already faced claims it misused confidential client information and then mistreated an internal whistleblower, KPMG Australia is still embroiled in an audit scandal and is being investigated by ASIC. It has been revealed the federal government has almost three hundred active contracts with scandal-embroiled KPMG, for a total value of US$ 46 million, according to data from the parliamentary library. In 2024, a whistleblower raised concerns, with the firm’s senior leadership, that confidential board papers from construction giant Lendlease were used to pitch for and win audit contracts from other firms including Westpac and Dexus. The Reserve Bank of Australia is distancing itself from KPMG, with Governor Michele Bullock confirming the bank will re-tender its whistleblower hotline service.

Thanks to the video games industry, the UK exchequer was US$ 11.82 billion better off last year, with it generating twice as much revenue as film and TV, whilst employing some seventy-three thousand around the country.  In 2024, it was estimated that over 37.7 million, (53% of the population), played video games. What has changed over the years is that the number of adults playing games, estimated at 65% of players, with the thirty to thirty-nine year olds being the largest age group of UK gamers, making up 28% of all gamers. Because of its popularity, it seems that its international cultural value has burgeoned in recent years. Harvey Elliott, founder of games publisher Playstack and board member of Ukie, the industry’s trade body commented that “I always think of the money, but the cultural impact of games is phenomenal”, and “we know that this generation of kids is growing up with gaming as their main entertainment platform”. There is no doubt that some UK games have travelled well and have become a surprising way of showing off British culture to the world.

Japan’s Sanae Takaichi and Keir Starmer have signed an investment deal that will see Japanese firms spending more than US$ 12 billion on UK infrastructure and financial services and up to US$ 12 billion on UK offshore wind, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Although what amount of this investment agreement is new money, and what has already been previously announced, has yet to be clarified, it has been welcomed by the embattled administration, with the prime minister saying it will build a “new era of co-operation” between the two nations. To date, several major Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Estate, Mitsui Fudosan and Nomura Real Estate, have already agreed to billions over the next five years on UK infrastructure and real estate projects.

At the meeting, other Anglo-Japanese projects were discussed including both leaders reaffirmingtheir commitment to the Gcap fighter jet programme being developed alongside Italy. It was also announced that Rolls-Royce would work with Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency to develop next generation nuclear technologies and a technology agreement would link up UK research and development and software expertise with Japanese manufacturing. Whilst Andrew Griffith, the Conservative shadow business and trade secretary, welcomed the deal, he did add that Labour’s “tax hikes and employer red tape are doing huge damage, destroying jobs and putting more and more people onto welfare”.

For the first time, Japan’s Nikkei index surged above the 71k-point threshold, driven by gains in semiconductor-related stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed 1.88% to 71,219 points, slightly down on its intraday record high of 71,294 points. Semiconductor-linked shares led the rally, with 144 of the index’s 225 constituent stocks heading north. The broader Topix index rose 1.67% to 4,080 points.

Driven by a surge in global energy prices, the Bank of Japan lifted its so-called policy rate, by 0.25% to 1.0% – a level not seen since 1995. The country’s interest rates were slashed in the 1990s, to almost zero levels, to combat the fallout from a collapse in prices of assets like property and shares. March 2024 saw Japan’s first rate increase for seventeen years. The BoJ, after almost two decades of a deflationary cycle, has now to tackle inflation which had been markedly low until relatively recently, driven by high energy prices particularly because the country is heavily reliant on ME imports. Its wholesale prices climbed 6.0% over the past twelve months but the overall inflation is currently at 1.4%, below its 2.0% target. Another factor in the change in economic policy is the need to stabilise the currency, with the yen coming under pressure from the US dollar and euro. In line with other major economies, the BoJ faces the conundrum of raising interest rates helping to lower inflation but higher rates also make borrowing costlier.

On Wednesday, yet another breakthrough in the ongoing ME crisis, sees the signing of a fourteen-point deal, with the US President posting that “achieves everything we set out to accomplish – everything, and much more”. The basis is that in return for a guarantee that Tehran will not “procure or develop” nuclear weapons, oil sanctions will be waived and a US$ 300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran will be established. (Who pays for it has yet to be clarified). Despite Donald Trump criticising the Obama administration for releasing Iran’s frozen funds during his presidency, he is now doing the same. The Strait of Hormuz will be opened “with no charge for sixty days”. After that “the Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services”.  What still has to be decided is the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium and several other unfinished business. Although the agreement’s first paragraph points to ‘military operations in the region must be stopped’, the President answered a question of how the US would stop Iran procuring or developing a nuclear weapon would happen by commenting that “No, we’re going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement.”

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep benchmark interest rates flat at 3.50% – 3.75% surprised nobody. There are indicators that, under the new chairmanship of Kevin Warsh, monetary policy will be tightened in coming months. However, it is reported that at least nine of the eighteen-strong committee expect at least one rate increase in 2026, partially driven by the fact that the current 4.2% inflation rate had hit a three-year high last month.

 In May, UK government borrowing worsened, with its debt interest bill 21.2% higher, on the year, at US$ 30.82 billion and the highest ever May figure. Most economists had pencilled in a 21.0% lower US$ 24.86 billion figure, whilst the Office for Budget Responsibility estimate of US$ 23.40 was also short of the target. The interest payable on government debt rose to US$ 15.48 billion, the highest ever recorded in any May. Its share of the economy rose 0.4% to 85.1% – figures last seen in the 1960s. The ONS, said: “spending on debt interest, public services, investment and benefits all increased in May 2026, compared with last May, more than outweighing higher tax receipts”.

The day before the BoE’s monetary policy committee meeting, the Office for National Statistics released the latest labour market report,  showing that in the April quarter average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, was flat at 3.4%, with the unemployment rate dipping 0.1% to 4.9%. The figures tend to show that the recent high energy prices will probably have no impact on pay pressures. Job vacancies, at 707k, fell to their lowest level since the 2021 April quarter, as businesses cut back on recruitment, with the Office for National Statistics saying that while the labour market remained “broadly stable”, some areas showed signs of weakening. The professional services sector saw the largest fall in vacancies, but retail and hospitality also saw significant drops. Partly based on these figures, yesterday, the monetary policy committee of the BoE decided to leave rates alone at 3.75%.

Having expanded by 0.6% in Q1 – and witnessing the fastest growth in the G7 – the UK economy is set to see a marked slowdown in coming months, with the IMF having already posted that the ME war will impact the UK the hardest of the world’s advanced economies. However, it does see the country becoming the fastest growing European economy next year in the smaller G7 group of advanced economies, albeit at a slightly slower rate of growth of 1.3%.

With the Starmer administration in turmoil, and surely in its last days, there was some good news for the Chancellor, with the May headline rate of inflation flat on the month at 2.8%, after a decline in food price inflation. Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, nudged up 0.1%, to 2.6%, on the month.  The monthly report by the Office for National Statistics noted there were decreases in inflation “across a range of meat, dairy and vegetable items compared to last month, as well as the cost of domestic heating oil, which fell back after climbing in recent month”. However, these falls were offset by transport, (with fuel up 25% on the year), and air fares were the biggest drivers of inflation in May, rising by 6.8% on the year; other increases were the cost of raw materials rising by 8.7%, (in the twelve months to May), and factory gate prices by 4.0%. It also has to be noted that the September quarter energy price cap from July-September is to rise 13% from its current average annual level.

PwC has released a report in which it calls on the Starmer administration to draw up a comprehensive energy plan in conjunction with businesses and investors, the aim of which would be to assess the country’s needs and how they can be met. It concludes that higher industrial electricity prices restrict economic expansion and comprise enterprise/proactiveness. It estimates that if no robust plan is put into action, the UK is in danger of losing a mega US$ 336 billion in economic value – equating to 8.0% of current GDP. It is little wonder that the UK’s policy is the main driver to the country having the highest electricity costs in the G7 group of large economies.

With his expected victory yesterday, the Westminster stage is set for Andy Burnham to challenge for the keys to 10 Downing Street. Like many other Labour MPs, he would prefer a peaceful and orderly transition of power, by September at the latest. However, the current incumbent disagrees and has threatened to take the battle to a leadership contest which could turn out to be bitter and messy; he said “I will run. I will stand”. After the result, Burnham said he would “lay out a new path for Britain” and warned that there will be “no second chance” for the party to deliver change adding that “we must hear it, we must act upon it, and we must get it right”. Currently, there are over one hundred members who have put their names down for a change of leadership and it is expected that the coming week will see even more MPs and ministers calling for Starmer to give up. It is understood that the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, wants to remain in her position should Burnham end up as prime minister and that other ministers have told him that his time is up – even, it seems, his friend and neighbour, Red Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary. No doubt that the embattled politician will be seriously considering his options over the weekend, but he must be thinking I Don’t Like Mondays!

Shrimp On The Barbie!                                                   12 June 2026

New data from Bayut shows that some buyers, who entered the property market in post-pandemic 2021, have made a 153% gain on their purchase. Using its proprietary Price Index, the property portal compared average advertised sale prices per sq ft, in May 2021 and April 2026, and found that value gains ranged between 41% and 153%. Some of the leading gains, among well-established residential communities and based on sq ft increase, over that period were:

Jumeirah Islands                    153%                       US$ 1,047 per sq ft

Jumeirah Golf Estates         119%              US$ 699                                                                                                                            JLT                                          114%                       US$ 551

The Meadows                          110%                      

The Springs                             109%

Jumeirah Park                         106%                       US$ 603

Arabian Ranches                    95%

Growth was also evident in newer and infrastructure-led destinations, with Dubai South, Dubai Hills Estate and Jumeirah Village Circle showing increases of 92%, 87% and 84%, reflecting continued investor confidence in future-oriented locations. The premium communities showed reasonable growth with Palm Jumeirah, Business Bay and Dubai Marina posting increases of 83%, 78% and 64%.

Emaar Properties is preparing to unveil a massive US$ 54.50 billion master-planned development, with a total built-up area exceeding 4.5 million sq mt, and future home to some 150k residents; the developer has yet to release further details including prices and actual location. The self-sustaining urban district will comprise a mix of residential towers, villas, mansions, offices, retail, hospitality, cultural spaces and civic amenities. Development will encompass the principles of the twenty-minute city, with proposed metro connectivity, smart mobility infrastructure, EV-friendly pathways, cycling routes and app-integrated community services. At the centre of the district, a high street and grand boulevard will bring together shops, restaurants, cafes and cultural experiences, giving the development a retail and lifestyle spine. The location will combine high-density urban living with resort-style residential pockets, including private gardens, water features, parks, community lagoons, lakes, shaded promenades and dedicated cycling paths. A central district park is planned as one of the main public spaces, with sports courts, event lawns, splash parks, beach areas and outdoor wellness zones. The masterplan will be divided into five character zones – a Business Hub, an Urban District, a Young Families Cluster, a Family Living Zone and an exclusive villa enclave.

An indicator that reflects growing investor appetite for prime assets along Sheikh Zayed Road was the US$ 300 million acquisition of the Shangri-La Dubai by AHS Properties, founded by the twenty-six-year-old billionaire Abbas Sajwani. The forty-two-storey property had been previously sold in 2020, via an online auction, for US$ 191 million, so this week’s sale shows a 57.1% gain over the ensuing six years. The new owner commented that there had been no final decision on its future but that the company plans to upgrade and enhance parts of the building to improve its long-term value. He also added that the company continues expanding its Sheikh Zayed Road presence, with AHS Tower under development and another major mixed-use project planned for launch later in the year – and “that will be the biggest project on Sheikh Zayed Road — it’s a twenty-five US$ 25 billion, (US$ 6.81 billion), project”.

Last month was the third consecutive month that Dubai South has ranked as the best-performing area in the emirate’s property sector, posting a monthly 15.9% increase in sales transactions to 1.36k, valued at US$ 435 million. Wadi Al Safa 3 and Wadi Al Safa 5 followed, in second and third places, with volumes and values of 0.98k/US$ 463 million and 0.63k/US$ 227 million.

fäm Properties report that Dubai South residential property sales transactions are 35.7% higher since the 29 February onset of the regional conflict. The main driver continues to be off-plan sales which have risen by 57.9% over the period, including 1.23k last month and 35.7% in April. Firas Al Msaddi, CEO of fäm Properties., noted that “growing transaction volumes reflect genuine end-user and investor confidence in the government’s long-term development vision for this dynamic aviation and logistics ecosystem, underpinned by the expansion of Dubai World Central into the world’s largest airport”.

DXBinteract’s data indicates that, in May, the Dubai real estate market recorded 10.28k sales transactions, worth US$ 7.87 billion, spread between apartments, villas and plot sales – 8.77k (worth US$ 3.97 billion), 1.04k (US$ 1.96 billion), and 0.13k (US$ 1.14 billion). The average property price per sq ft was 3.0% higher at US$ 450. The commercial sector, including offices and shops, registered 0.34k sales transactions valued at US$ 790 million. The average property price per sq ft was up by 3.0%, on the year, to US$ 450. Of the total sales in May, primary sales accounted for 7.60k transactions, valued at US$ 5.04 billion, with the 2.69k resales accounting for US$ 2.83 billion. Value-wise, the most expensive villa and most expensive apartment sold in May were a luxury property at Signature Villas on Palm Jumeriah, sold for US$ 40 million, and US$ 31 million for one sold at Solaya 5 at Jumeirah First. Other AED 100 million luxury apartments sold were at Solya 6, at La Mer, for US$ 29 million, and at One Casa at Al Wasl, on the Dubai Water Canal, for US$ 27.5 million. An analysis by the worth of the properties shows:

On Monday, BEYOND unveiled The Yards, a US$ 1.09 billion Mediterranean-inspired master-planned destination in Dubai’s City of Arabia, as well as Arancia, the project’s first residential cluster. The Yards spans 2.3 million sq ft of gross floor area and will be home to 1.56k residential units ranging from one- to three-bedroom apartments. The masterplan is designed around a one-km green spine, with 70% of its total area committed to open landscape. At the same time, the developer launched Arancia Yards, comprising two hundred and seventy-two residences, (comprising one-, two-and three-bedroom apartments), across three low-rise buildings. The cluster is arranged around a 4.2k sq mt landscaped sunken garden, complete with 3k sq mt of rooftop terraces and more than 2k sq mt of retail and food and beverage space.

Developed by Alta Real Estate Development and designed by VSHD Design, Villa Gaia, a beachfront villa on Dubai’s exclusive Jumeirah Bay Island, has been the subject of a US$ 76 million sale. Located within one of the city’s most tightly held residential enclaves, the six-bedroom waterfront mansion spans nearly 22k sq ft; the property was designed as a one-off residence rather than part of a larger villa collection. Spread across four levels, it includes formal reception areas, a private office, guest accommodation, entertainment spaces, an infinity pool and a rooftop wellness retreat complete with a gym, spa, sauna and outdoor lounge overlooking the sea. It also has a professional-grade catering kitchen that can serve up to fifty guests, while underground facilities include dedicated staff quarters and climate-controlled parking for six vehicles. This transaction points to the increasing resilience of Dubai’s luxury real estate market, (despite international economic turbulence), and that many global HNWIs see the emirate as the ideal location in which to live and work. There are many drivers involved including investor-friendly policies, lifestyle appeal, tax advantages and the increasing number of international entrepreneurs, family offices and wealthy individuals relocating to the emirate.

Dubai’s administration has expanded its First-Time Home Buyer Program, first introduced last July, which has already helped more than three thousand, two hundred residents purchase homes; to date, sales under this scheme have garnered US$ 1.36 billion. Nearly forty-five thousand people have registered for the scheme which is open to UAE residents aged eighteen and above who do not currently own a freehold residential property in Dubai. There are twenty-two developers included in the scheme including nine new developers – 4Direction Developments, Arada, Dubai World Trade Centre, IRTH Group, Manam, Qube Development, Reportage Properties, SAMANA Developers and Sky View Real Estate; they have joined the latest phase of the programme, which now has a wider pool of properties to choose from, so that first-time buyers have an expanded portfolio of properties across different locations, budgets and property types. Five banks are also supporting the scheme through home financing options for eligible residents. Residents who have not registered can apply through Dubai Land Department’s website or the Dubai REST app.  DLD and DET both added that “the First-Time Home Buyer Program embodies Dubai’s foundational belief that home ownership should be within reach of everyone who calls this city home”.

Under a new initiative by the Federal Tax Authority, UAE nationals will be able to claim VAT refunds of up to US$ 7k on the costs of constructing new homes. It is estimated that this will yield about US$ 54 million in VAT savings for UAE nationals. Based on projected claims volume for this year, the total value of approved refund claims is expected to be 32.6% higher, than in 2025, at US$ 272 million. This initiative covers all VAT refund claims for Emirati home construction submitted on or after January 1, 2026, and will cover the construction of the new residence, including its fixtures and fittings, provided they are intended for the private use of the citizen or their family. Additionally, staff quarters for domestic workers, home gyms, security systems, swimming pools, fountains, landscaping and smart doors for main residence and garage, will also be eligible for claim. However, they must form an integral part of the new residential property, be constructed on the same plot, and directly serve the primary residence.

This week, King’s College Hospital London – Dubai announced a major multi-year expansion of its UAE healthcare footprint, scheduled for completion in 2028. This latest development will improve the scale and reach of its renowned services, introduce state-of-the-art technologies, and increase capacity to meet the evolving health needs of the local community. The focus will be on enhancing in-demand specialised services, including world-leading treatments in oncology and complex liver disease. Furthermore, new dedicated centres are planned for expanded critical care, precision medicine, and advanced surgical interventions, with additional operating theatres and integrated digital health solutions. Throughout the construction period, the hospital will remain fully operational, with all services continuing uninterrupted.

Building on a forty-seven-year legacy, DWTC Free Zone connects businesses and communities enhancing their potential for success. Last year, it managed to achieve a record US$ 6.82 billion, in economic output, 12.0% higher on the year. In 2025, it hosted some one hundred and eight major events that attracted some 2.18 million participants, 43.4% were international. These returns indicate Dubai’s role as a global meeting point, connecting economies whilst driving sustainable growth.

With the strategy of planning to work with both government and enterprise organisations as they scale digital transformation programmes, and invest in next-generation technology infrastructure, SCC has launched its new regional headquarters in the country. The main aim of Europe’s largest privately owned technology provider seems to be to capitalise on the growing demand for AI, cloud and digital infrastructure solutions across the region.

According to a new assessment by the InterRegional for Strategic Analysis, the UAE’s retail sector is on course to become a US$ 227 billion market by 2033 a 56.3% hike over the next eight years, equating to a CAGR of 5.2%. Over the period, the country’s smart retail market is expected to grow twelvefold to US$ 9.74 billion, at an annual rate of 32.2%, as AI, automation and data-driven customer experiences transform the shopping landscape. Several drivers are involved to account for the impressive figures, and the country’s move from being a regional shopping destination into a global retail powerhouse. They include strong consumer spending, record tourism inflows, rapid population growth, rising disposable incomes and sustained investments in world-class retail infrastructure. A recent report by Cushman & Wakefield described Dubai as one of the most resilient and diversified retail markets globally, with Fashion Avenue at Dubai Mall ranking a global eleventh in terms of luxury retail rents.

According to Mordor Intelligence, the UAE luxury goods market is projected to expand 39.5%, over the next six years, to US$ 11.86 billion by 2031, reflecting a 5.7% CAGR. Some of the attributes behind the growth are an increasing number of HNWIs, strong tourist arrivals, expanding premium retail space and the country’s reputation as a preferred destination for luxury shopping and lifestyle experiences. The report shows that fashion and apparel as the UAE’s largest retail category, accounting for 21.6% of the country’s e-commerce market. The grocery and supermarket segment has become one of the fastest-growing categories, at 13.0% annual growth, with electronics and smart devices being another major growth driver.

The Ministry of Finance has chosen DP World as a pre-approved service provider for the country’s upcoming mandatory e-invoicing framework. This announcement comes ahead of the UAE’s national e-invoicing pilot phase, which is scheduled to begin on 01 July 2026, before mandatory nationwide implementation starts in January 2027. Businesses with revenues exceeding US$ 136 million will be required to appoint an accredited service provider by 30 October 2026. The port operator noted that its platform will help businesses integrate e-invoicing compliance into their operational and financial workflows, reducing manual processes and improving speed, accuracy and traceability across transactions.

The UAE has moved two places higher to second, (behind Malaysia but ahead of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Bahrain), in its latest State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26 by DinarStandard. The Report indicates the country’s growing leadership across virtually every segment of the Islamic economy. The latest report shows the growing strength of the global Islamic economy, with Muslim consumer spending reaching US$ 2.6 trillion in 2024 and projected to surge 36.9% to US$ 3.56 trillion by 2029. Islamic finance assets have expanded to US$ 5.99 trillion and forecast to expand by 62.3% to US$ 9.72 trillion by 2030. The country ranked among the top three globally across all Islamic economy sectors and secured the top position in media and recreation. It was rated second in halal food, Muslim-friendly travel, modest fashion, halal pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, whilst placed third in Islamic finance. The country has been helped to reach this position for several reasons including years of investment in financial infrastructure, logistics networks, regulatory frameworks and digital platforms that have enabled the UAE to become a gateway linking Islamic markets across Asia, Africa and Europe.

By deal volume, the UAE has become the most active investment destination on a global scale, having recorded ninety-four venture capital, private equity and merger-and-acquisition transactions in Islamic economy-related sectors. It has attracted US$ 45.6 billion in foreign direct investment, equivalent to 5.24% of GDP, ranking second among Organisation of Islamic Cooperation nations. When it comes to trade, the UAE was the seventh-largest exporter to OIC markets, recording export growth of 7.83% between 2023 and 2024. It is no secret that the country wants to enhance its position to become a leading global centre for the halal economy, with government-backed initiatives, free zones and financial institutions have increasingly focused on Islamic finance, halal manufacturing, food security and technology-driven compliance systems. Muslim-friendly travel is emerging as the fastest-growing segment, with spending forecast to rise 70.3% to US$ 424 billion by 2029, supported by growing demand for faith-conscious tourism, digital travel services and dedicated hospitality infrastructure. In the 2024-25 year, there were three hundred and forty-six investment deals, with Islamic finance attracting the largest share of capital; Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Indonesia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye were the five leading countries for investment, reflecting growing confidence in both consumer-facing businesses and supporting infrastructure. As the global Islamic economy moves towards the US$ 10 trillion threshold, the country appears increasingly well-positioned to capture a disproportionate share of future investment, innovation and consumer spending.

Emirates’ President Tim Clark has indicated that the airline will continue to maintain flight schedules, despite rising costs, as well as rolling out incentives aimed at winning back customers worried about the protracted Iran war, focusing on safety and reliable travel connections. It will offer “all sorts of incentives other than price” to encourage passengers to return, and “that could be new means of ensuring their safety of operation, for instance”, adding that EK would also address concerns about cancelled flights and people getting stranded. He also noted that Emirates was in talks with governments and regulators to ease restrictions on ME airspace, as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency having issued conflict-zone warnings advising airlines against flying over parts of the Gulf and ME. However, he did relay disappointing news for passengers saying that the airline would not drop ticket prices for now to attract travellers back to its key hub in Dubai.

Having been a partner with Real Madrid since 2011, Emirates has renewed their sponsorship, with the Spanish team for a further five years up to 2031; the airline has been the club’s official jersey sponsor since 2013. The renewed partnership will see Emirates continuing as Official Main Sponsor and Official Airline Partner, (of both the men’s and women’s teams), with its iconic branding on player jerseys, training kits, and team staff apparel across all major competitions, including La Liga, the UEFA Champions League, Copa del Rey, and the Spanish Super Cup. Emirates is probably the biggest football sponsor in Europe, with its iconic branding displayed on jerseys of Arsenal FC, AC Milan, Real Madrid CF, SL Benfica, and Olympique Lyonnais; it is also the Platinum Partner to FC Bayern Munich’s first team, and has been the title sponsor of the Emirates FA Cup for nearly a decade, along with supporting the local Pro League, consisting of fourteen clubs competing for a national title.

The Dubai Integrated Economic Zones (DIEZ) recorded their strongest performance on record in 2025, with non-oil trade reaching US$ 138.79 billion, with Dubai’s Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, noting that the bloc, which includes Dubai Airport Freezone, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Dubai CommerCity, delivered its best ever annual results. DIEZ’s contribution to the emirate’s non-oil trade rose to 16%, as non-oil trade grew by an impressive 46% on the year. He praised the efforts of the DIEZ team, expressing confidence in their ability to sustain growth and further strengthen the emirate’s position as a leading global centre for trade, investment and business.

The direct impact of the current ME crisis sees higher petrol pump prices for UAE residents and now they are facing higher indirect costs for grocery items because of the surge in energy prices which are now hitting major supermarkets and food distributors. This has resulted in several problems for the industry including their supply chains facing challenges from higher freight costs, longer shipping routes and rising fuel prices. The latest fuel price increases are feeding into nearly every stage of the food distribution network, from imports arriving at ports to refrigerated trucks delivering fresh produce to supermarket shelves.  Some goods that are normally shipped in cannot reach Dubai because of the lockdown of the Strait of Hormuz – the only options are to fly them in, (usually at a much higher cost), find another longer, and more expensive, route or source an alternative supply source. Beyond transportation, retailers are also facing higher packaging, warehousing and distribution expenses which in turn will force retail prices higher.  In the short term, products – such as fresh vegetables and fruits, dairy products and frozen foods – that rely heavily on transportation, cold-chain logistics and imports will be the first to see elevated prices.

Of the twelve Emirati companies included in Newsweek’s eight hundred and fifty global list of “Most Environmentally Sustainable Companies 2026”, four emanate from Dubai – Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank, Mashreq Bank and Emirates Islamic Bank. The evaluation is based on independent, publicly available research compiled until April 2026, in collaboration between the Just Impact Foundation and Plant-A Insights Group.

Late last week, the Minister of Foreign Trade, Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, held bilateral meetings in Belarus, with senior officials, including Prime Minister Alexander Turchin. The visit comes after last year’s signing of the Trade in Services and Investment Agreement, which enhanced further expanding economic collaboration and investment with Belarus. Dr Al Zeyoudi also led a high-level UAE business delegation to the UAE-Belarus Trade Day, featuring representatives from some of the largest private sector companies of both countries. In 2024, bilateral non-oil trade stood at US$ 3.90 billion.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority has announced completion of 90% of a 1.5k mt bridge that will provide direct entry and exit points between Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai Harbour, With two lanes in each direction, it will be initially opened this month for motorists travelling from Sheikh Zayed Road, from both Deira and Jebel Ali, towards Dubai Harbour. In July, the bridge from Dubai Harbour towards Al Naseem Street, alongside the bridge heading towards the intersection of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street and Al Naseem Street, will become operational. A total capacity of 6k vehicles per hour, in both directions, is expected, with the bridge, that has taken some 4.2 million work hours to build, cutting travel time by 75%, from twelve to three minutes.

Shares from Swiss-incorporated companies can now be traded on Dubai Financial Market, with it having been recognised by Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority as a foreign trading venue. Swiss participants, supervised by FINMA, are now permitted to gain direct access to DFM’s trading venues; events such as this enhance the emirate’s standing as recognised regional stock market on the global stage. DFM has a base of more than 1.2 million investors from two hundred and twelve nationalities, with foreign investors representing approximately 85% of registered investors.  7.82 0.74 0.40 2.13

The DFM opened the week on Monday 08 June on 5,768 points, and having gained seventy-five points (1.3%), the previous week, gained one hundred and eighty-six points (3.4%), to close the week on 5,954 points, by 12 June 2026. Emaar Properties, US$ 0.60 lower the previous four weeks, gained US$ 0.10 to close on US$ 3.19 by the end of the week. DEWA, Emirates NBD, DIB and DFM started the previous week on US$ 0.71 US$ 7.32, US$ 1.99 and US$ 0.39, and closed on 12 June at US$ 0.74, US$ 7.82, US$ 2.13 and US$ 0.40. On 12 June, trading was at three hundred and twenty-five million shares, with a value of US$ three hundred and eighty million, compared to two hundred and sixteen million shares, with a value of US$ one hundred and ninety-three million on 05 June.

By 12 June 2026, Brent, US$ 24.11 (21.3%) lower the previous three weeks, shed US$ 5.28 (5.9%), to close the week, on US$ 84.71. Gold, US$ 425 (9.9%) lower the previous four weeks, shed US$ 124 (2.8%), to end the week’s trading at US$ 4,242 on 12 June. Silver was trading at US$ 67.97 – US$ 7.55 (6.6%) lower on the week.

For the fourth consecutive month, OPEC+ has agreed to its fourth increase in output targets by the same June amount of 188k bpd after 206k bpd hikes in April and May. The ME crisis has cut oil flows from the Gulf countries and has prevented several of the group’s members, including Saudi Arabia, from pumping more. It is estimated that seven core members of OPEC+ have increased their output quotas from April to June by almost 600k bpd. Overall, the cartel has seen oil production slump – in February, it pumped some 42.77 million bpd but by April, this had been reduced by 22.4% to 33.19 million bpd. OPEC+ has twenty-one members but only seven – Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Oman – have been involved in the group’s output policy decisions.

Today, SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq with the biggest ever initial public offering which will probably make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. The IPO was priced at US$ 135 and raised a record US$ 75 billion, (compared to the previous best – Saudi Aramco’s US$ 25.6 billion in 2019), valuing the company at US$ 1.77 trillion, ranking SpaceX seventh among US-listed firms, ahead of the likes of JPMorgan Chase, Berkshire Hathaway, Eli Lilly, Meta Platforms and Musk’s own Tesla; this is despite the firm posting losses last year. 30% of the offer has been set aside for retail buyers and Musk will hold 82% of SpaceX’s voting power after the IPO. Shares in the company were up 19.7%, five minutes after the stock went live in New York, at US$ 161.50.

Taiwan-based TSMC, the maker of the most advanced chips, designed by companies such as Nvidia, AMD and Apple, has indicated that it may have to raise prices, as inflation is pushing up its operational costs; this in turn would eventually see customers having to pay more for their electronic devices in the future. However, the firm’s CFO, Wendell Huang, said it would not introduce sudden “fourfold, fivefold” price rises. He also commented that the AI boom was not a bubble and that the firm’s global expansion was due to geopolitical pressure. Taiwan produces the majority of the world’s most advanced chips – the tiny processors that sit inside smartphones, laptops and AI data centres. Notwithstanding Taiwan itself, TSMC is expanding manufacturing in the US, Germany and Japan but the most cutting-edge production will remain in Taiwan. TSMC’s shares have surged and at 10 June were 42.3% higher YTD at US$ 71.33. The question for TSMC, and similar tech stocks, is whether the huge spending wave on AI infrastructure can be sustained.

In a US$ 10.6 billion deal, GlaxoSmithKline’s new chief executive, Luke Miels, (who took over from Dame Emma Walmsley in January 2026), acquired the US oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, Nuvalent in the FTSE 100 company’s biggest deal in over a decade. GSK will pay US$ 124.00 a share – a 44.6% premium on the US$ 88.49 market value of the share the previous evening. Miels commented that “today’s acquisition is a multi-product deal, consistent with our approach to acquire assets that have clinically proven targets and meaningfully address an efficacy and/or tolerability gap”. Nuvalent is currently developing a number of lung cancer treatments including two targeted therapies – Neladalkib and Zidesamtinib that are seen to be potential best-in-class assets.

As it ponders a possible US$ 9.37 billion London IPO, Boots UK posted a 25.0% surge in annual profits before tax of US$ 451 million in the year, to the end of August, before its private equity takeover by Sycamore Partners; revenue came in 3.2% to the good at US$ 10.04 billion, (with comparable retail sales up 5.8%), driven by the launch of fifty new beauty brands during the year. Robust demand for weight-loss jabs and beauty products was a boosting revenue agent, with comparable sales in its pharmacy division, 5.0% higher, attributable to healthcare services. Over the year, it carried out 800k NHS Pharmacy First consultations in England, while vaccinations and weight-loss treatments were the paid-for services “especially popular with customers”. In recent years, and more so over the past two, Boots has benefitted from semaglutide, (sold as Ozempic and Wegovy), and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) which have surged in popularity for their weight-loss effects, as they suppress appetite, slow digestion and signal fullness to the brain. Around 1.5 million people in the UK are now estimated to be accessing GLP-1 treatments privately, while NHS England prescriptions for the injections have risen by around 900% since 2020.

Because of the double whammy of a slowdown in its US business and a hit from the US-Iran war, embattled retailer WH Smith has warned that its original guide for the current year’s headline profit of between US$ 121 million and US$ 140 million has been amended downwards to US$ 100 million to US$ 121 million. It is also planning to tap the market for an extra US$ 171 million by placing twenty-six million shares with institutional and retail shareholders, representing approximately 20.8% of the company’s existing share capital. The market was not well pleased with this announcement with its share value slumping 17.2% to US$ 5.46 in early Wednesday trading; this was the lowest it has been since September 2010 and 36.0% lower YTD. The retailer’s chairman, Leo Quinn, who took over the mantle from Carl Cowling in January, also warned shareholders that it will have to write down the value of a number of recent contracts and acquisitions. Quinn added that “we need much greater capital discipline and a laser focus on returns. In recent years, the outcomes from certain acquired businesses and contract obligations have been very disappointing”. However, it did post that in the fourteen weeks to 06 June, like-for-like revenue across the group rose 2.0%, although over the past seven weeks, its key US businesses in airports and casinos reported like-for-like sales down 4% and 11% respectively.

Already owning almost 30% of Hugo Boss, Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is keen to become its 100% owner and has made a takeover offer for the German fashion brand, by buying the remaining stake for US$ 2.32 billion. The deal values Hugo Boss at US$ 43.95 – 4.1% higher than its share price at the close of Wednesday’s trading. Frasers, formerly known as Sports Direct, owns House of Fraser, Game, Jack Wills, Evans Cycles and many other brands, including being the largest shareholder in Boohoo.

Wizz Air has announced that operating profit fell by 16.6% to US$ 161 million for the twelve months to the end of March, with revenue rising 6.3% to US$ 6.46 billion. Like other European budget carriers, Wizz Air has been hit by the rise in jet fuel, (which it had warned earlier in the year would cost an extra US$ 58 million). However, because it is basically an East European carrier, it has suffered more than most from the impact of the war in the Ukraine and because it has 20% of its jets grounded because of problems with their Pratt & Whitney engines. The troubled airline withheld formal guidance for the current financial year, “given the lack of visibility across … trading seasons, uncertainty related to the ongoing conflict in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz”. Shares in Wizz Air have fallen almost 80% over the last five years, with the airline being among the UK’s most shorted stocks, with hedge funds and traders staking an estimated US$ 361 million on the share price falling further, based on the number of shares on loan — an indicator of short-selling.

Terra Firma is in the market to acquire hundreds of UK pubs, owned by Stonegate Group’s Platinum estate. The package of pubs, being marketed for sale, is understood to consist of about three hundred venues, and there has been interest shown by a number of prospective bidders and other private equity firms for the UK’s biggest operator. Terra Firma, founded by Guy Hands, has several investments including the music company EMI, the care homes’ operator Four Seasons Health Care and Annington Homes, the former owner of thousands of Ministry of Defence homes.

In a bold move, Prada has designed a body-hugging suit, created in collaboration with Houston-based space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, to be used by NASA astronauts heading to the moon. The Italian fashion house is keen to be the first major luxury player to make inroads in the space industry. The new product is expected to be used for NASA’s anticipated Artemis 4 moon landing in 2028.

The International Air Transport Association, which represents more than three hundred and seventy airlines, accounts for about 85% of global air traffic. Earlier in the week, it slashed its initial 2026 US$ 41.0 billion profit forecast, (which was 8.9% lower than posted in 2025), by 44.0% to US$ 23.0 billion. The main drivers behind this change included much elevated jet fuel costs and disrupted key air corridors, even though passenger demand remains resilient. However, the industry’s topline remains relatively buoyant, with revenue rising 9.4% to over US$ 1.16 trillion because planes are flying with more passengers.

IATA expects that this crisis will see some smaller airlines either going bankrupt or be taken over by bigger competitors, with the first casualty of the Iran war being US low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines which stopped operations last month. It also sees that many airlines will cut unprofitable routes to protect margins, while higher fares will continue. IATA expects airlines’ fuel bill to jump 38.9% to about $350 billion, with it accounting for nearly 33% of operating costs. Profitability per passenger will take a beating – halving to about US$ 4.50 per passenger. Furthermore, aircraft shortages do nothing to improve the situation, with both Airbus, (9.0k) and Boeing (6.81k) having long order backlogs – both equating to about ten years of production coverage.

For those who are planning to tour Europe this summer, IATA has issued a warning that the ‘Entry Exit System, Europe’s new border protocol, could trigger renewed chaos at airports across the bloc, with passengers potentially facing waiting times of up to six hours. It seems that delays and misconnections, linked to the system, are already happening across several European countries – including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium – even before the peak holiday season begins. EES, which replaces manual passport stamping with digital border registration for non-EU travellers entering the Schengen zone for short stays, is now operational across twenty-nine participating European countries, and affects travellers from countries including the US, UK, UAE, India and other non-EU states. The process involves passengers having to have their biometric data and travel details registered electronically at border checkpoints.

There are a few other issues that need to be sorted including ensuring checkpoints are not understaffed, consistent coordination between airports, airlines and governments and that all kiosks and technology systems are fully utilised and 100% reliable. To make matters worse for holidaying passengers in Europe, rising aviation costs – fuel, airport and passenger taxes – have seen ticket prices burgeon.

As one of Spain’s prime tourism places draws, Benidorm, with a 77k population, swells to around five times that number at the height of summer. Covid had left the resort virtually deserted and the Spanish tourism industry at a standstill, but time has changed with a remarkable recovery. Since the pandemic, foreign arrival numbers into the country have broken records each year and totalled ninety-seven million in 2025. This has helped Spain become the world’s second-biggest tourist destination, just behind France. Industry experts had originally expected this to see more modest growth but the outbreak of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran has made Spain an attractive alternative compared to ME holiday destinations such as Dubai, borne out by the fact that Spain received 9.1 million international visitors in April, a new high for the month – 5.2% higher, or  an extra 450k  people, compared to a year earlier. With tourism directly contributing 13% of Spain’s GDP, the industry has been a crucial component in the country’s growth of recent years, which has outstripped that of France, Germany, Italy and the UK.

The FAO’s latest 2026/27 Cereal Supply and Demand Brief World cereal production in the 2026/27 season is forecast to dip by 2.0% to 2.982 million tonnes, attributable to declining wheat harvests; this comes after last year’s record 6.1% hike to 3.043 million tonnes which led to an estimated 9.5% increase in global cereals stocks. Following a 2.7% increase last year, global cereal utilisation is forecast to increase by 0.6% this year. Current forecasts indicate that world cereal stocks will contract slightly, by 0.3%, because of lower anticipated rice inventories. Cereal trade is expected to decline by 0.3% to 507.2 million compared to a 4.8% growth a year earlier. As expected, lower wheat and barley traded volumes more than offset foreseen increases in maize and rice shipments.

With the twin aims of bolstering state-owned exporting companies and including transitional measures to help businesses adapt ahead of its full implementation, Indonesia’s Trade Ministry has introduced a new palm oil export regulation, known as Permendag 16/2026. The phased transition timeline has been designed to give private businesses time to adapt before full enforcement takes effect at the start of next year. The Ministry clarified that while the five types of regulated commodities – crude palm oil (CPO), refined bleached deodorized palm oil (RBDPO), refined bleached deodorized palm olein (RBDPL), used cooking oil (UCO) and palm residue – remain unchanged, the distribution channel is being tightly reined in. Commencing 01 January 2027, outbound shipments of palm oil derivatives can only be executed by designated exporting SOEs that hold a valid Export Permit. The new regulations indicate that state enterprises will secure export rights through either fulfilling the domestic market obligation or the formal transfer of export rights from private business actors to the state-owned enterprise.

In the nine-month period, to March 2026, Egypt registered 5.2% growth, as its net foreign currency reserves nudged 0.2% higher, on the month, to US$ 53.134 billion in May.

Although still maintaining a stable outlook, Morningstar DBRS has downgraded Austria’s highest credit rating from AAA to AA (high), meaning that the country has lost its top credit rating with the last of the five major credit rating agencies used by the ECB to assess collateral;

the main causes have been declining debt metrics and persistently high budget deficits, which have been higher than before the pandemic due to persistently elevated expenditure levels. Despite the government’s fiscal consolidation efforts, the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to remain on a slow upward trend. Austria first lost its AAA credit rating in 2014. The Austrian government aims to cut its fiscal deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2028 in order to conform to EU rules and exit its regime of fiscal scrutiny.

India’s Q1 economy grew at a faster pace than expected, rising a credible 7.8%, on the year, driven by a robust services sector, along with solid performances in the industry and construction sectors; although 0.3% lower than the 8.0% growth noted in Q4 25, it still beat the 7.3% market expectation. Growth for the twelve months to March 2025 was at 7.7%, 0.6% higher than the 7.1% in the previous period. These latest figures reaffirm the country as the world’s fastest growing major economy. Q2 will obviously be impacted by the double whammy of the ME conflict and the latest threat of additional US tariffs. If there is no early solution, continuing high oil prices will not only result in more severe import costs, which will affect its current account deficit, to a fourteen-yar high, but will reduce foreign direct investment, lower annual growth, further devalue the rupee, lift input costs and stoke inflation. To exacerbate its economic problems, the arrival of a possible powerful El Nino could have a damaging impact on its agriculture industry.

Russia’s IT Q1 sector revenue, (including both services and products), topped US$ 38.94 billion – 8.0% higher compared to the same period in 2025.The figures were compiled from statistics of IT companies, accredited by the Russian Digital Development Ministry. Revenue from sales of companies’ own products and services surged 21.0% to US$ 30.77 billion, with its share in the overall revenue structure, up 8.7% on the year to 79.2%.

In the first four months of 2026, China’s services trade expanded 4.9% on the year, with exports of travel and knowledge-intensive services reporting particularly robust growth, The total value of service imports and exports reached US$ 368.03 billion, as travel service exports grew at the fastest rate of any service export sector, rising 30.4% to US$ 21.75 billion. Accounting for 44.4% of all service trade, knowledge-intensive services trade rose 5.1% to US$ 162.59 billion, including exports of cultural and entertainment services and the charges for the use of intellectual property surged 39.5% and 20.8%, respectively.

The fallout from the scandal involving an Australian Big 4 audit firm, KPMG, that had seen confidential client information, being used between different divisions within the firm is widening; in this case, tax details of a client had been shared with the firm’s audit department – in other words, it  misused confidential client data to win lucrative ‌audit contracts.  Chief executive Andrew Yates, head of audit Julian McPherson and COO, Eileen Hoggett, have all resigned, over a whistleblower scandal that had started in 2024. Late last week, the country’s corporate regulator confirmed it had ​launched a formal investigation into three KPMG Australia partners linked to whistleblower allegations the accounting firm misused confidential client data to win lucrative ‌audit contracts.

It was only three years ago that rival PwC Australia was found guilty of sharing confidential government information with prospective clients. At the time, the firm agreed not to bid for new government contracts from April 2024 to July 2025, with PwC divesting its government advisory business, which had accounted for a fifth of its revenue, for AUD 1, to Allegro Funds, in August 2024. The renamed Scyne Advisory ​was then allowed to bid for new government contracts.

Now reports indicate that some blue-chip clients and government agencies say they are re-examining their association with KPMG and probably other accounting firms. Greens Senator Barbara Pocock has asked ASIC’s chief executive Scott Gregson whether the corporate watchdog will follow the example of the RBA and ATO and retender contracts; earlier, he had been  asked why ASIC had entered contracts with KPMG after it had commenced proceedings against the firm, responding, “we currently have eight active contracts, six of those for services contracts, two consultancy contracts and the total of those is approximately US$ 3 million”. He also added that “we have also approached KPMG this week seeking assurances of the absence of involvement of those persons involved in the matters that are public”.

Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum, estimates that the ME crisis has already cost Gulf countries US$ 150 billion in revenues and trade, and continues to lose US$ 1 billion every day; he added that war damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf region exceeds US$ 60 billion. At the beginning of the troubles, Brent was trading at US$ 74.84 on 01 March and reached  US$ 106.50 on 19 May and ended the week on US$ fff.

With the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the world has lost some 20% of total global oil output, with UN estimates that this has impacted one billion people in least developed and island nations around the world. On top of that, the waterway carries up to a third of the world’s traded fertiliser, 40% of its helium, (which is vital to the world’s semiconductors), and much of the feedstock on which modern industry depends.  According to the 2026 Global Peace Index, the ME war is costing the global economy up to an annual US$ 3.5 trillion and threatening food supplies across South Asia and East Africa.

A report released this week by the Institute for Economics and Peace said that the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East could strip nine of the region’s economies – Iran, Israel, Iraq and the six GCC countries – of nearly US$ 493 billion in output within the first year alone, equivalent to 6.2% of their combined GDP; it also projected that losses could more than double should hostilities resume.

Other ‘casualties’ include foreign investment flows and global food security. One of IEP’s scenarios, which assumes an extended ceasefire with the Strait of Hormuz only partially reopened, sees:

• Iran standing to lose between 15% and 25% of its GDP, (depending on how the conflict unfolds)
• Qatar facing losses of up to 15%, given that all of its LNG exports transit the Strait
• infrastructure damage across directly affected countries estimated at between US$ 183 billion and US$ 291 billion under the current ceasefire – a figure that could balloon to US$ 625 billion if fighting resumes
• neighbouring economies, including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Türkiye, facing an additional US$ 136 billion in first-year losses through disrupted tourism, reduced trade and falling remittances – a figure that doubles under a renewed war scenario
• the war and the closure of the Strait cutting world output by 0.6% in the first year, equating to roughly US$ 1.3 trillion in purchasing power parity terms
• should the war resume and the Strait remain shut for six months or longer, the first-year loss rising to around US$ 3.5 trillion, (1.6% of global GDP), surpassing the economic shock caused by the Ukraine war in its first year

He also warned that the world’s combined emergency oil reserves of more than two billion barrels would cover only two to three months if the Strait were fully closed again, with more than thirteen million bpd currently cut off. Economic modelling points to if prices were to top US$ 140 per barrel, for two months, that would be enough to push the EU, the UK, Japan and much of the global economy into recession. With global public debt currently standing at 93% of the world’s GDP, (a record peacetime high), there is not much leeway to save the global economy. The current debt level is a record peacetime high, leaving far less capacity for stimulus than during the 2008 GFC or the 2020 pandemic. On top of that, there are early indicators that foreign direct investment into the region is slumping, with Q1 inflows down by an estimated 60% to 70%. There are reports that US investment funds have paused new commitments to Saudi Arabia and that parts of the kingdom’s US$ 840 billion Vision 2030 project pipeline are now described as being “in limbo”.

Driven by the impact of the ME crisis, US annual consumer prices rose 0.4%, on the month, and 2.0% over the previous three months, to 4.2% – its highest level since April 2023 – and more than double that of Federal Reserve’s 2.0% target. The main contributors to the increased rate are higher energy prices, (accounting for 67% of the May rise and surging by 23.5% over the last twelve months), and food price inflation rising 3.1%. Looking at core inflation, which strips out energy and food costs, it nudged up by 01%, to 2.9% but on the month slowed 0.2% to 0.2%. If these figures are anything to go by, Kevin Warsh, overseeing his first rates meeting as chairman, will keep rates static at 3.5% – 3.75%, next week.

Another victim from the downturn in the UK economy comes with news that the British Heart Foundation has announced that it has had to close one hundred and fifty shops, over the next two financial years, because some of its stores are “no longer financially sustainable”. 60% of the stores will be closed by the end of March 2027, with the balance, sixty shops, will close during the following year. At the same time, there will also be a reduction in the charity’s central team supporting the retail operation, mainly down to rising operating costs and changing customer habits. Its chief executive, Dr Charmaine Griffiths, said its shops were facing an “exceptionally challenging trading environment” and the changes were designed to ensure its shop network “remains commercially sustainable”.

The Office for National Statistics posted that, in April, the UK economy contracted by 0.1%, as the impact of the ME crisis, having raised costs and affected turnover, saw a marked economic slowdown, after a 0.3% expansion a month earlier. The services sector, which accounts for some 75% of the economy, dipped 0.2%, with construction registering a 0.1% rise. In the quarter to April, the ONS said the economy grew by 0.7% compared with the previous three-month period. Surprisingly, April’s contraction was the first monthly fall since August 2025, with little hope of any improvement in the coming months as the conflict has yet to find a peaceful solution.  It seems highly likely that the BoE will keep interest rates unchanged when it meets next week.

Another nail in the UK Prime Minister’s coffin came when the public accounts select committee warned him that his government had “no robust plan” to achieve a promised sweeping reduction in bureaucracy and its growth ambitions lacked any real substance. This is despite Keir Starmer, (along with Chancellor Rachel Reeves), making the economy the Labour government’s No 1 priority. The committee also concluded that his government was unable to define what type of growth it hoped to achieve and by when, making it “impossible to measure” if any target had been met.

Yesterday was a bad day for the embattled Prime Minister with the resignations of his Defence Minister, John Nealey, and Armed Forces Minister, Al Carns, with both accusing him of failing to keep the country safe and leaving the country unprepared for future conflicts. The main crux of the difference, between the two, concerned finances, with Healey claiming that there was a US$ 37.58 billion hole in the defence investment plan, and the Chancellor saying that only US$ 16.11 billion was affordable, without raising taxes or taking away from public services. Healey thought he had struck a US$ 24.16 billion compromise, before being told this week the real figure was US$ 18.12 billion. Healey’s resignation letter to Starmer read “you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats”. Meanwhile, Carns added a further nail in the PM’s coffin, by writing “we are still purchasing capability suitable for the last war while our adversaries arm for the next one” and “a serious country funds its defence to meet the threat it actually faces, not the threat it wishes it faced”.

Sad news for Australians came with Barbeques Galore announcing a wind up in coming weeks, after entering into voluntary administration last February. Since then, it has been unable to complete a recapitalisation or find a buyer after failing to successfully negotiate a rescue deal. It still has sixty-two company-owned stores and twenty-seven franchise outlets, with five hundred employees facing redundancy. The receivers confirmed that staff will continue to be employed “during the receivership process”, or made redundant as the winding up occurs, whilst “all employees will be paid their full accrued redundancies and termination payments in the ordinary course of separation”. The fifty-year old company had not been helped by the ME crisis, with the Australian economy slowing, inflation rising, retail spending buckling as well as overseas supply issues.

Barbecues Galore was an Australian icon and a specialist barbecue and outdoor furniture retailer, specialising in barbecue grills, accessories and consumables. Brands included Ziegler and Brown, Kamado Joe, Prosmoke, Traeger, Beefeater and Saxon, with the retailer offering a wide range of gas and solid fuel barbeques, fuels and consumables, accessories, heating, and outdoor furniture. Australians will lament there will be no Shrimp On The Barbie!