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EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič on Tuesday urged the US to honour its side of the EU-US trade deal during a meeting in Paris with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Tensions have escalated in recent days over the implementation of the EU-US trade deal reached almost a year ago in Turnberry, Scotland, after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on EU cars, in breach of the agreement capping US tariffs on EU goods at 15%.
The agreement was further shaken in February after the White House introduced new tariffs following a US Supreme Court ruling declaring the 2025 tariffs illegal.
A European Commission spokesperson said Tuesday that during the 90-minute meeting with Greer, Šefčovič called for a “swift return” to the agreed Turnberry terms, meaning “a 15% all-inclusive tariff rate.”
The US currently imposes a 10% tariff on EU goods on top of duties already in place before Trump’s return to the White House in 2025, with rates varying across EU products. Combined duties can now reach as much as 30% on certain EU exports, such as cheese, exceeding the 15% cap established in the EU–US agreement.
During the meeting, Šefčovič also updated his counterpart on the EU’s implementation of the agreement, the spokesperson said, “to clarify” where the EU “stands.”
Washington wants Brussels to accelerate the EU legislative process needed to implement the deal, including the bloc’s commitment to cut tariffs on US industrial goods to zero.
But negotiations between EU governments and members of the European Parliament remain tense.
MEPs want to add safeguards that would make EU tariff cuts conditional on the US implementing its side of the agreement. They are also pushing for a “sunset clause” that would terminate the deal in March 2028 unless renewed.
The European Parliament’s position is backed by France, while Germany and other member states want to preserve the original agreement struck in July 2025 by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
A round of negotiation is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Poland’s Swiatek said she would prefer continued discussions and negotiations with the majors instead of a boycott.
“I think the most important thing is to have proper communication and discussions with the governing bodies so we have some space to talk and maybe negotiate,” the Wimbledon champion said.
“Hopefully before Roland Garros there’s going to be opportunity to have these type of meetings and we’ll see how they go.
“But boycotting the tournament, it’s a bit extreme kind of situation.
“I guess we as players are here to play as individuals, and we’re competing against each other.
“So it’s really hard for me to say how it would work, if it’s even there on the picture. For now, I haven’t heard anything.”
But French Open champion Gauff thinks strike action would be a genuine possibility if the players come together as one.
“If we all collectively agree, then yes,” the American said.
“I wouldn’t want to be the only one, but we definitely can move more as a collective.
“From the things I’ve seen with other sports, usually to make massive progress and things like this, it takes a union. We have to become unionised in some way.”
World number two Elena Rybakina says she has not been involved in the campaign, but would go with the majority.
“If the majority say we are boycotting, then of course I’m up for it. It’s not an issue,” the Australian Open champion said.
World number five Jessica Pegula has been an articulate advocate of the players’ campaign, but virtually ruled out strike action during a BBC Sport interview in Indian Wells in March.
“We love playing the Slams – I don’t think anyone’s going to strike against the Slams,” the American said.
“I just think it’s us asking for what we think we deserve, but I do think that if the men and the women can come together – which we have on that front – and keep pushing, there’s nothing wrong with us just asking for what we think is right.”
Almost a decade after British voters chose to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016, the FTSE 100 has been hitting record highs.
Yet beneath the headline, the financial scars of that vote remain unmistakable.
A new Morningstar analysis titled “The Brexit Decade” laid out the damage in numbers that are hard to dismiss.
Since the referendum, UK equity funds have bled roughly $160 billion in cumulative net outflows, six consecutive years of redemptions that have hardened into a structural loss of confidence rather than a passing cyclical drawdown.
How wide a performance gap has opened between UK stocks and comparable equity markets since the vote? And how has the pound fared?
The numbers speak for themselves.
The FTSE 100, the benchmark tracking the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, has gained 62% since Brexit.
Over a 10-year window, that works out to a compounded annual growth rate of just under 5%.
Wall Street has run a different race. The S&P 500 has rallied 253% over the same stretch, a 13.4% annualised return — almost three times the pace of UK large-caps.
The gap is not just a transatlantic story.
Within Europe, the German DAX has returned 151% and the Euro STOXX 50 has gained 109%, suggesting Brexit has weighed more heavily on London than on the continental rivals it left behind.
According to Morningstar, Brexit was a catalyst rather than the root cause of the UK market’s underperformance.
The UK equity market entered the 2016 referendum with pre-existing structural headwinds — declining domestic pension demand, capital rotating toward US growth markets, and an unfavourable sector mix tilted toward energy, banks and miners rather than the technology platforms that dominated the 2010s.
Brexit amplified and accelerated these trends, increasing the UK’s perceived risk premium and damaging confidence at a critical moment.
Investor behaviour has been unambiguous. UK allocations were systematically redeployed to the US, while passive strategies gained share as active UK equity economics deteriorated.
The UK’s footprint in global benchmarks has roughly halved over the past two decades, falling from nearly 10% of the MSCI ACWI to around 4% today.
In the most aggressive sterling-allocation fund category tracked by Morningstar, average UK equity weights have collapsed from 40% to 18%, with the freed-up capital systematically redeployed to US equities.
The asset management industry has felt the chill directly.
Around 380 UK equity strategies have closed since 2016 against just over 200 launches, and the share of total assets sitting in passive UK equity vehicles has climbed from 22% to 46% over the same period.
Active large-cap managers, including Columbia Threadneedle, Jupiter, Liontrust, Aviva and Schroders, have absorbed the heaviest outflows. Vanguard, iShares and Phoenix Group have absorbed the inflows.
The damage was then compounded by Covid-19, the global inflation shock, geopolitical conflict, falling foreign direct investment, weaker goods exports and domestic policy missteps — most notably the gilt market crisis of autumn 2022.
Isolating Brexit’s impact is difficult, Morningstar acknowledges, but there is no serious argument that it did not materially worsen outcomes.
The currency market tells a parallel story. The pound is down about 10% versus the US dollar and 12% versus the euro since the Brexit vote.
Against the world’s two reserve currencies, sterling has lost ground.
On the eve of the Brexit referendum, one pound bought €1.31. Almost a decade later, it buys just €1.15 — a roughly 12% loss of purchasing power against the single currency that the United Kingdom voted to step away from.
The picture sharpens against central and eastern European peers.
Sterling has tumbled over 20% against the Czech koruna and 13% against the Polish zloty, both economies that have absorbed manufacturing capacity and foreign direct investment that might otherwise have flowed to the UK.
Notably, the pound has barely held its ground against the Hungarian forint, eking out a 1.8% gain against one of Europe’s most volatile currencies.
The narrative is no longer one-way.
Since 2022, UK equities have outperformed US and global markets, driven by a strong value rotation and resilient dividends — without meaningful multiple expansion, according to Morningstar.
Valuations still reflect pessimism, however.
The UK trades at a 30% to 35% price-to-earnings discount to the US, with small and mid-caps the most depressed relative to history and developed peers.
Elevated mergers and acquisitions activity and record share buybacks suggest corporate insiders and overseas acquirers see value where public investors remain sceptical.
Some fund managers see this as the entry point.
Natalie Bell, fund manager on the Liontrust Economic Advantage team, said in a recent note that “valuations remain significantly depressed versus long run averages and other comparable markets,” adding that her team sees a broad-based valuation reversion opportunity for UK equities, particularly in small and micro-caps, even if the timing and magnitude is difficult to predict.
Others remain more cautious. Mislav Matejka, head of global and European equity strategy at JP Morgan, has argued that British equities often do well when investors turn bearish on everything else, given the FTSE 100’s defensive, liquid profile.
He sees the UK index rising 5% to 10% in 2026 but does not hold an overweight, on the view that the UK lacks a clear growth catalyst comparable to those emerging in Germany or China.
Ten years on from the vote, the question for international investors is no longer whether Brexit hurt UK markets — it is whether the resulting discount has now become the opportunity.
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Oil prices fell back in early trade but remained elevated as investors kept an eye on escalating tensions between the US and Iran and progress on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading 1.38% lower at $112.86 while US crude, or WTI, was down 2.27% at $104 per barrel. US futures edged 0.1% higher.
Elsewhere, regional trading was thin overnight with markets in Japan, South Korea and mainland China closed for holidays.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1% to 25,805.98. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5% to 8,649.80, while Taiwan’s Taiex traded 0.2% lower at 40,626.22.
The fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran was tested on Monday after the US military said it had sank six Iranian small boats targeting civilian ships, while two US-flagged ships successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
The key waterway for oil and gas transport remains largely closed despite repeated demands from the US for Iran to reopen the strait and as the United States imposed a sea blockade on Iranian ports. US President Donald Trump’s “Project Freedom” plan under which the United States would help guide stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz began on Monday.
Brent crude, the international standard, surged above $114 a barrel on Monday, gaining nearly 6%. Before the war began in late February, it was trading near $70.
Meta Platforms (META) is reportedly working on a financing package for a data center in El Paso, Texas, that could total roughly $13B, underscoring Big Tech’s growing reliance on debt to bankroll the infrastructure behind the AI boom.
Morgan Stanley (
Just-in-time account funding may be right around the corner as tokenization provides real-time capabilities.
Banks, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies could soon reduce capital buffers as Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) moves closer to operationalizing tokenization through its subsidiary, Depository Trust Company (DTC).
The DTC—which provides book-entry custody for more than $114 trillion in assets, such as municipal bonds, corporate bonds, corporate stocks, and money market instruments from the U.S. and more than 131 other countries and territories—expects to launch a limited first phase of its tokenization service in July. The full service is scheduled to roll out in October.
In December 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted the industry utility permission for a three-year pilot to process highly liquid assets, including components of the Russell 1000 Index, exchange-traded funds that track other major U.S. indices, and various Treasuries. The intent is to give tokenized securities the same entitlements, protections, and ownership rights as assets currently held in DTC custody.
“Our vision is coming to fruition,” said Frank La Salla, president and CEO of DTCC, in Monday’s announcement. “Tokenization has the potential to reshape market structure by improving liquidity, transparency and efficiency.”
Tokenization—which creates a digital representation of a tangible asset like real estate or municipal bonds—is no longer just a finance-sector buzzword. More companies are weaving tokens into their corporate finance strategies, using them in a wide array of instruments, including smart contracts, stablecoins and tokenized U.S. Treasury bills.
The DTCC developed the tokenization platform in collaboration with the DTCC Industry Working Group, which includes more than 50 custodians, asset managers, broker-dealers, and market infrastructure providers across traditional and decentralized finance. The group is focused on aligning standards and preparing market participants for new operational and settlement workflows.
Despite the infrastructure milestone, the near-term implications for corporate treasurers may be limited.
“I don’t see a material benefit yet for CFOs,” said David Easthope, senior analyst and head of fintech research at Coalition Greenwich. “The more immediate value proposition is coming from stablecoins, not tokenized securities.” He added that the benefits for issuers, and their representatives like CFOs and treasurers, “are much further out in the tech cycle that we are in.”
Like most of his música mexicana contemporaries, Diego Millán, better known artistically as Calle 24, sang about the excesses of living the rock star life — the money, the cars, the booze and the women.
Since signing with Street Mob Records — the independent label founded by Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús “JOP” Ortiz Paz — in 2020, the singer-songwriter has been responsible for hits like “Que Onda, ” which featured labelmates Chino Pacas and Fuerza Regida. The trombone-laced earworm about a deboucherous tryst was a breakthrough for Millán, reaching No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 after it debuted in August 2023.
These days, the 23-year-old Chihuahua-born artist is dialing down the glitz, opting for songs that aren’t about living the luxurious life.
“Money brings more problems,” Millán tells me inside an Italian restaurant at the Americana at Brand, Glendale’s monument to opulent consumerism. “Because the more money you have, the more things you have to support.”
In April, Millán released “Eterno,” his fourth studio album. The 15-track LP largely forgoes the boisterous brass section that’s become a staple in the genre in favor of stripped-down tracks about being disillusioned with newfound wealth (“10 de mayo”), his mental health (the gritty “Si Me Ven”) and romantic heartbreak and anguish (“Solo”). He also touches on a topic that might be too taboo to discuss: Mexico’s widespread systemic relationship of organized crime (“El Sentrita”).
Millán says this is the most authentic he’s ever been in his music, something he attributes to moving back to Mexico, a country he believes is deeply misunderstood and has profoundlyshaped his personality.
“[Mexico] is filled with deep values, strong ethics and a profound sense of social understanding,” he said.
While música mexicana artists might feel compelled to move to the states in search of fame and fortune, Millán now finds freedom in his native country — and through “Eterno.”
“Now, I can be myself,” he said.
The follwing interview was conducted in Spanish, and has been condensed and edited for clarity.
In “Solo” you talk about romantic loneliness. Why was that vulnerability important to include in this album?
I prefer to approach those themes from a more grounded perspective. With that song, I wanted to really open myself up to that feeling and express regret, that sense of loneliness that comes with saying “I screwed things up.” I feel that’s how you establish a deeper connection with your audience. After all, so many people out there don’t have luxuries or material things like that so how do you get to them? With emotion. A feeling that expresses regret, including with the phrase: “I know I’m a piece of s—, but you know that I love you.”
It reminds me of Joan Sebastian’s “Un Idiota,” in which the singer admits he still loves the person he wronged, and that he knows he messed up.
That’s what I wanted to do too, talk about the human experience and what it is. I wanted people to listen to it as they’re drinking, and all of a sudden that wave of feelings just hits you like a slap to the face.
The song “Si Me Ven” talks about burnout and the idea that money isn’t as fulfilling as one might think. Did you base it out of your own personal experiences?
This song fits like a ring on my finger. They say that money won’t make you happy and it’s true. In my case, I spent five years without seeing my family and missed many things.
On Instagram, you told fans: “I feel like I am more human than artist, I hope you all can understand. Sometimes I wake up wanting to do nothing, or sometimes asking myself what am I doing? Where am I going?” Do you feel drained by this career?
Of course [being a successful musician] is my dream, but I didn’t know all that it would entail. To this day, it has been draining, and there’s some days where I don’t feel like doing anything because I’m more of a person than an artist. There are some colleagues that do live life as if it were a movie, but I’m more of a homebody.
How do you make sense of the industry where part of the allure is tied to wealth, fancy cars and material goods?
I obviously love cars. Any normal person would love those types of things. And when you work hard, of course you fill the gaps you had when you were younger. But I don’t like putting it in people’s faces.
You say this, but your “Eterno” album cover shows you with a stack of money.
[Laughs] But there’s something curious about that cover. I was feeling down that day, there was just a lot of sadness around that time. Yet there I am, surrounded by all that stuff and that’s where the clash lies, you know? That contrast is what gives my album cover its depth.
Let’s talk about “El Sentrita.” The song contextualizes organized crime as a systemic issue. What prompted you to write about this topic?
I wanted to frame it as social commentary, addressing what has been going on in Mexico for decades, as well as the obstacles we face as artists who aren’t allowed to express ourselves or certain themes through music. Just as we were discussing right now, rap used to be how artists delivered social commentary through the medium of music. I would like to do that as well.
I figured if the government tells me I can’t sing a corrido, then I’ll use a corrido to offer them some criticism instead. You have to pay close attention to follow the character’s storyline as it unfolds. At the end of the song, it hits you, none of this would have happened if someone would have given him a chance. The goal was to raise awareness, to show that there are so many dreams within [Mexico] but they need to be given the opportunity to pursue them so that they don’t end up on the wrong path.
The music video for “El Sentrita” shows how one young boy gets roped into organized crime. It feels less of a choice and more a result of the system. Tell me more about this decision to give dimension to the character.
That’s the question: Who is the victim in this system? The way I saw it was that he was a good person who fell in with bad people and ended up becoming a bad person himself. If we look at it from a different angle, one where you don’t judge whether a person is good or bad, he was simply someone operating in that world out of necessity.
That’s when you have to question yourself and ask: how can we call someone a bad person when society leaves them with no other choice. I also wanted to do this to show young people that life in that world isn’t easy. Society right now is deeply damaged. This new generation of youth needs a lot of attention.
There is a phrase at the end of the song where you say, “You don’t sing about what you do, you sing about what you see.” What did you mean by that?
Because it’s not like we’re out there doing those things, you know? We aren’t engaging in any kind of criminal activity whatsoever. We simply sing, literally, about what we see, about what goes down in [Mexico] every single day. Because it’s not just some isolated incident; it’s something that happens constantly — day in, day out, without fail.
Wajax Non-GAAP EPS of C$0.67, revenue of C$502.1M
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| VITAL STATISTICS |
|---|
| Location: South Asia |
| Neighbors: India and the Maldives by sea |
| Capital city: Colombo is the executive and judicial capital; Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital |
| Population [2024]: 21.8 million |
| Official language: Sinhalese, Tamil |
| GDP per capita [Est. 2026]: $5,250 |
| GDP growth [Est. 2026]: 3.1%-3.3% |
| Inflation [March 2026]: 2.2%; 5.2% expected for 2026 |
| Currency: Sri Lankan rupee |
| Credit Rating (Fitch January 2026): CCC+ |
| Investment promotion agency: The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) and the Export Development Board. The BOI has reduced the minimum investment threshold to $250,000 from $3 million. |
| Further reductions are available for tech-based branch offices. Service exports (IT/BPO) have 15% corporate tax rate. Multi-year income tax break are available for strategic development projects that exceed $50 million. Foreign owners guaranteed repatriation of capital and profits under the law. |
| Corruption Perceptions Index rank [2025]: 107/182, where 182 is the most corrupt |
| Political risk: The energy and cost-of-living crisis; risk of public unrest; bureaucratic red tape |
| Security risk: Violent crime against foreigners is rare |
Sri Lanka is rewriting its economic story. After enduring the 2022 economic collapse and the devastation of Cyclone Ditwah in late November 2025—the deadliest disaster since the 2004 tsunami—the nation has emerged with renewed global confidence. The Board of Investment (BOI) recently reported that 2025 foreign direct investment (FDI) surged by 72%, reaching a historic $1.06 billion—the first time foreign investments in the country crossed the billion-dollar threshold.
Foreign investors are not merely maintaining their existing positions but are placing fresh, long-term bets on the country’s future in the form of greenfield investments that involve the highest upfront risk and longest payback horizons, says Hirotaka Mizutani, Founder & Representative Director of management consultancy One Step Beyond.
“Notably, 24 new greenfield projects contributed $134 million, representing approximately 13% of the total FDI,” he added. “This significantly exceeds the historical norm of 2% to 10%.”
This rebound is anchored by Singapore ($318.9 million), India ($213.7 million), and France ($122.5 million), followed by the Netherlands and Luxembourg. New capital is also flowing from the US, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. By sector, manufacturing led with a 46% share of the new capital, followed by port development (26%), tourism (11%), telecommunications (6%), and property development (5%).
Although a smaller slice of the investment pie, the real estate sector is viewed as a high-upside opportunity. Indika Hettiarachchi, an independent private market investment and strategy consultant, notes that Sri Lanka’s real estate offers attractive entry costs as the economy stabilizes. He argues that by maintaining strategic neutrality, the island provides a secure alternative to Middle Eastern hubs disrupted by the Iran war.
“This reliability was strikingly demonstrated during the 2026 International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup, where Colombo successfully hosted high-stakes fixtures like the India-Pakistan match, signaling to investors that the nation’s emergence as a regional center is increasingly compelling,” he adds.
Sri Lanka’s reputation as a stable “neutral zone” has increased investor confidence and capital inflows. The $3.7 billion Sinopec oil refinery project in Hambantota, finalized in 2025, is the country’s largest-ever FDI and a cornerstone in addressing its energy challenges. This commitment exceeds other major projects, including the $1.4 billion Colombo Port City development and the $700 million Adani Group terminal.
Meanwhile, China Harbour Engineering Company Port City Colombo confirmed a $300 million FDI commitment in January 2026.
Beyond securing the nation’s energy and port development, investments are diversifying into high-value niches, such as information and communication technology, renewable energy, and a “Green and Digital Economy” mandate that includes the 2030 Digital Economy Strategy and the use of quartz in the solar supply chain.
| PROS |
|---|
| Located on a major strategic shipping route between Asia and Europe |
| Fast-growing transshipment hub |
| Aims for 70% of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2030 |
| South Asian Free Trade Area, Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, current EU GSP+ program valid till 2027, and the Thailand-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement |
| English-speaking, technologically proficient workforce |
| A 10-year residency visa is available for a $200,000 investment in government-approved investments |
Yasiru Ranaraja, Founding Director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka, highlights that the most promising sectors are logistics, supply chain management, and high-value services.
“Sri Lanka sits directly along the main East-West shipping route, and the Port of Colombo has already become South Asia’s largest transshipment hub,” he says.
“As trade between Asia and Africa expands in what many analysts call the ‘Asian century,’ maritime traffic through the Indian Ocean is expected to grow significantly. Colombo is well-positioned to benefit from this shift.”
Corporate titans are propelling this expansion. Indian heavyweights include UltraTech Cement, a gray cement manufacturer, alongside tire leader CEAT, and energy giant Lanka IOC.
US-based Synopsys and Virtusa lead in semiconductor design and digital engineering, respectively.
Japanese firms, such as Tos Lanka, manufacture high-precision electronics, and YKK Lanka makes zippers for apparel.
| CONS |
|---|
| India-China investment competition may affect project approvals |
| Volatile currency |
| Foreigners can only lease real estate |
| Highly vulnerable to climate disasters |
| Small domestic market |
| IMF reform pressures |
| SOURCES: World Bank, KPMG Sri Lanka Budget Analysis 2026 Snapshot Report, IMF, Ministry of Finance, Economic Policy Statement 2026, Board of Investment Sri Lanka – Investment Guide 2026, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Asian Development Bank Outlook 2026, Transparency International, www.newswire.lk, 15th Census of Population and Housing |
| For more information on Sri Lanka, check out our Country Economic Reports. |
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is a magnet for premium global brands. Hong Kong’s Shangri-La anchors Sri Lanka’s luxury sector with properties in Colombo and Hambantota, alongside a significant presence from India’s Taj Hotels and ITC, and US leaders Hilton and Marriott.
Regional strength is further bolstered by Nepal’s CG Corp Global, which holds strategic stakes in the island’s homegrown Jetwing Hotels. With more than 20,000 new hotel room keys expected to be operational in 2026, Sri Lanka’s tourism strategy has shifted toward high-yield, experiential travel.
Facilitating this influx of capital is a package of structural incentives designed to eliminate red tape. This includes amending the Strategic Development Projects Act to allow tax holidays of up to 40 years within the Colombo Port City Special Economic Zone.
Additionally, Sri Lanka’s new Investment Protection Bill and a “single-window” approval system ensure a predictable business environment. However, while the government has committed to this initiative, “the real test will be whether it delivers genuine bureaucratic streamlining rather than a cosmetic rebranding,” argues One Step Beyond’s Mizutani.
A new Public-Private Partnership Act, expected to be introduced in the first half of 2026, will further liberalize the economy by inviting private equity into the infrastructure, energy, and telecom sectors.
It will also enhance stability through the restructuring of state-owned enterprises.
Sri Lanka’s investor-friendly landscape is underpinned by a network of four Free Trade Agreements, 28 Bilateral Investment Protection Treaties, and 46 Double Tax Avoidance Agreements.
Furthermore, while the IMF projects growth of 3.1%-3.3% for 2026, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has upgraded its forecast to 4%-5%. Reserves are at a post-crisis high of $7 billion, supported by a 32% surge in early-year remittances and a 92% completion rate on public external debt restructuring.
Nonetheless, Sri Lanka’s staff-level agreement for $700 million confirms a return to stability, though it remains fragile.
The IMF stresses the need to build resilience against Middle East energy shocks and post-Cyclone Ditwah reconstruction. Additionally, the government must pass its anti-money laundering evaluation to avoid inclusion on the Financial Action Task Force’s “Grey List” of jurisdictions under increased monitoring for financial crime and secure a long-term recovery.
The post Sri Lanka: FDI Is on the Rise appeared first on Global Finance Magazine.
AMD earnings call likely to focus on CPU strength, MI455 progress, more: GF
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The EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is scheduled to meet his US counterpart Jamieson Greer on Tuesday amid rising tensions between the bloc and the US following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a potential 25% tariff on EU automobiles.
The discussions, scheduled ahead of a G7 trade ministers’ meeting in Paris, were planned before President Trump’s latest tariff threat, Euronews has learned.
But they now give both sides an opportunity to ease tensions after Trump signalled measures that would breach the EU-US trade deal agreed last summer in Turnberry, Scotland, between Trump and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which caps US tariffs on EU goods at 15%.
On Monday, the Commission sought to project a sense of calm.
“It’s not the first time we have seen threats,” Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said, adding: “We remain very calm, focused on enforcing the joint statement in the interests of our companies, of our citizens.”
Trump’s threat came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised the US approach to the war in Iran, and after Washington announced the withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from Germany, further straining transatlantic relations.
German MEP Bernd Lange (S&D), chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, told Euronews on Monday that Trump’s threats were aimed specifically at German car manufacturers.
The US president also accused the EU of moving too slowly to implement the agreement.
“Since day one we are implementing the Joint Statement [the EU-US deal] and we are fully committed to delivering on our shared commitments,” Regnier said, adding that the EU was seeking predictability in the EU-US trade relation.
The Turnberry deal is currently being negotiated between EU governments and lawmakers before it can enter into force on the EU side. Co-legislators must still agree on the modalities for cutting EU tariffs on US goods to zero, as outlined in the agreement.
MEPs have nonetheless introduced safeguards to ensure the EU is not the only party adhering to its commitments and to protect the bloc from future US threats.
The Commission reiterated Monday that if the US takes measures that are “inconsistent” with the trade deal, all “options” remain open.
Last year, during the trade dispute that followed Trump’s return to power, the EU executive prepared a package targeting €95 billion worth of US products, though the measures were later suspended.
At the time, several EU countries also urged the use of the bloc’s anti-coercion instrument, which enables the EU to respond to economic pressure from third countries with a wide range of trade defence tools, including restrictions on licences and intellectual property rights.
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The major AI company Anthropic is exploring a potential partnership with the British semiconductor firm Fractile to secure a steady supply of chips for custom inference and reduce the significant overheads associated with current semiconductor solutions.
According to reports, these talks represent a strategic effort by the San Francisco-based firm to decrease its dependency on Nvidia whilst enhancing the speed and efficiency of its current and next-generation models.
As the global demand for generative AI capacity continues to climb, the financial burden of the hardware required to run these systems has become a primary hurdle for developers.
Anthropic, which has received multi-billion-dollar investments from both Amazon and Google, currently relies heavily on Nvidia’s H100 units alongside custom processors provided by its cloud partners.
However, the high market price and limited availability of these industry-standard chips have squeezed profit margins, prompting firms to look elsewhere.
According to industry analysts, a deal with a specialised firm like Fractile could allow Anthropic to exert greater control over its technical infrastructure.
This strategy reflects a broader trend among tech giants, including Microsoft and Meta, who are increasingly moving away from general-purpose chips in favour of internal or boutique designs.
Founded in 2022 by Oxford PhD Walter Goodwin, Fractile has gained significant attention for its unconventional approach to processor design.
Unlike standard chips that must constantly shuttle data between the processor and separate memory modules, Fractile’s “memory-compute fusion” architecture keeps data directly on the chip using static random-access memory, or SRAM, which does not need to be refreshed.
According to the British start-up, this method can run large language models up to a hundred times faster than existing hardware while lowering operational costs by 90%.
While these performance claims are impressive, the technology is still in the development phase.
Fractile has not yet launched a commercial product, and its specialised chips are not expected to be ready for full-scale data centre deployment until 2027.
Despite the long timeline, the start-up is reportedly in negotiations to raise $200 million (€170.5m) in funding at a valuation exceeding $1 billion (€853m).
The potential partnership highlights the growing significance of the UK’s semiconductor sector on the world stage. If a formal agreement is reached, Fractile could become Anthropic’s fourth major chip supplier, joining the ranks of Nvidia, Google and Amazon.
According to market reports, the discussions remain at an early stage and no binding contract has been signed.
However, the interest from a major player such as Anthropic suggests that in the AI race, the ability to deliver faster and cheaper compute power is the defining factor.
May the fourth at the box office: from $2B highs to Solo lows
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The airline sector is currently navigating a distinct performance gap as the slump in Spirit Airlines (FLYYQ) shares sparked by the company’s Saturday announcement of an immediate, orderly wind-down prompts a wider industry reassessment within the Quant rating framework.
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Crude prices were slightly lower ahead of European markets opening as traders digested comments from US President Donald Trump that Washington would help ships leave the Strait of Hormuz from today. Iran, however, has rejected the plan.
At the time of writing, the price of a barrel of US benchmark crude (WTI) was down 0.28% to $101.65 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, edged down 0.06% to $108.10 a barrel.
Much hinges now on progress towards ending the war with Iran and unlocking the bottleneck through the Strait of Hormuz.
The oil market “remains the fulcrum, with hundreds of tankers, bulk carriers, and cargo ships still stranded across the Gulf, idling as storage constraints force producers to shut … production simply because there is nowhere left to store it,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary note.
Trump said what he called “Project Freedom” would begin Monday morning in the Middle East. The US Central Command said it would involve guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and 15,000 service members, but the Pentagon did not immediately answer questions about how they would be deployed.
In Asian share trading overnight, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.4% to 26,135.47. Markets in mainland China and Japan were closed for “Golden Week” holidays. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3% to 8,704.70.
Strong buying of tech stocks pushed shares in South Korea sharply higher, as the Kospi gained 3.8%. Taiwan’s Taiex surged 4.2%.
On Friday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to another all-time high of 7,230.12, closing out a fifth straight winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3% to 49,499.27, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.9% to a record close of 25,114.44.
Apple led the way after delivering better profit than expected. Because it’s one of Wall Street’s biggest stocks in terms of overall size, its rally of 3.3% was by far the strongest force lifting the S&P 500.
Stock prices generally follow the path of corporate profits over the long term, and US companies have been exceeding expectations for earnings in the first three months of 2026. That’s even with the war with Iran and high oil prices souring confidence for many US households.
A little more than a quarter of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported already, and 84% of them have topped analysts’ estimates, according to FactSet. The index is on track to deliver roughly 15% growth in profit from a year earlier.
The main uncertainty for the global economy is where oil prices are heading because of the Iran war. Oil prices moved higher last week on worries that the war might keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for a long time, trapping oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide.
Brent was selling for a little more than $70 per barrel before the war began, and soaring prices helped the two biggest U.S. oil companies report stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. But stock prices nevertheless fell for both Exxon Mobil, 1%, and Chevron, 1.4%, as oil prices regressed Friday and each reported drops in net income from a year earlier.
In other dealings early Monday, the dollar rose to 157.18 Japanese yen from 156.80 yen. The euro fell to $1.1724 from $1.1746.
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Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government.
We’ve got a month left before the June 2 primary election, with mail-in ballots already heading to voters’ mailboxes.
As if on cue, the big campaign money is pouring in from an array of well-funded interests: business groups, labor unions, hotels, taxicab companies and even one candidate’s mother.
To get around the city’s strict fundraising limits, those donors are putting much larger sums into “independent expenditure” campaigns that operate separately from their favored candidates.
Let’s take a look at some of the outsized spending to emerge in recent weeks.
Things had been pretty sleepy in the L.A. mayor’s race, even with Mayor Karen Bass facing challenges from Councilmember Nithya Raman, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt and 11 other opponents.
That all changed after the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank-and-file officers, dropped more than $400,000 on ads targeting Raman, who was elected to the council twice with support from Democratic Socialists of America, which isn’t endorsing in the mayoral primary.
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Bass has been aligned with the union on a number of issues, supporting the hiring of more cops, signing off on higher police salaries and vetoing a ballot proposal to let Police Chief Jim McDonnell fire officers.
Raman, on the other hand, has been campaigning on her opposition to a package of police pay increases, saying the decision by Bass and the council to approve them was “politically motivated.”
Bass and others said the increases were needed to keep police from leaving a department that has lost 14% of its officers since 2020.
The league tried and failed to unseat Raman two years ago. This time around, the union is texting voters a campaign video highlighting her opposition to a city law barring homeless people from setting up encampments within 500 feet of a school.
The ad, which appears on YouTube, Hulu and other platforms, cites Raman’s recent vote against a new “no-camping” zone in Venice, in an area plagued by assaults and other crimes.
“Raman has voted over 75 times to allow homeless camps next to schools, daycares, parks and other sensitive locations, undermining public safety,” the ad’s narrator says.
Raman responded with her own campaign video saying Bass gave the union “more money than the city could even afford,” forcing city leaders to cut other services “to the bone.”
“This is what happens when a city governs for powerful interests rather than working people,” she said.
The league is planning to spend more than $1 million opposing Raman, and it’s already gotten some help. For example, office building owner Kilroy Realty Group has given $100,000 to the anti-Raman campaign.
Real estate executive Zach Sokoloff has a not-so-secret weapon as he seeks to unseat City Controller Kenneth Mejia: his mom.
Sheryl Sokoloff is the spouse of Jonathan Sokoloff, managing partner of the Los Angeles-based private equity investment firm Leonard Green & Partners. She recently dropped $2.5 million into a committee promoting her son, which has produced digital ads accusing Mejia of performing too few audits.
“Zach Sokoloff will actually do the job as controller,” the ad’s narrator says in one 30-second spot.
Mejia, in an email, called the attacks “baseless” and accused Sokoloff’s family of “using their extraordinary wealth to try to buy the Controller’s position.”
“Unlike my opponent, I do not have any millionaire family members who can bankroll my campaign,” he said. “Just like last time we ran, we’re relying on small dollar donations from LA residents who are inspired by our record of providing unprecedented transparency and accountability on their tax dollars.”
We already knew the race for the 11th District, which covers L.A.’s coastal neighborhoods, had gotten outrageously expensive.
Last week, Councilmember Traci Park reported raising nearly $1.3 million. Human rights attorney Faizah Malik, Park’s lone challenger, took in her own impressive haul of $454,000.
Turns out the independent expenditure campaigns in the race are nearly as costly.
Two city employee unions — the Police Protective League and United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 — have spent nearly $900,000 on efforts to get Park reelected. And they’re getting help.
The firefighters, a Park ally since her 2022 campaign, collected $150,000 for their pro-Park effort from Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, a construction trade union. The police union picked up $150,000 from restaurateur Jerry Greenberg and $200,000 from real estate company Douglas Emmett Properties, which gained notoriety for its push to evict tenants from West L.A.’s Barrington Plaza.
Malik, backed by Democratic Socialists of America, accused Park of doing the bidding of her donors at the expense of “everyday working Angelenos,” by supporting police raises and fighting stronger renter protections.
Hotel workers take aim at Park
Meanwhile, a different union is doing its own sizable spend.
Unite Here Local 11, which represents hotel workers, has put nearly $340,000 so far on efforts to promote Malik and tear down Park. The union’s leadership has been furious with Park, who voted against a hike in the minimum wage for tourism workers to $30 per hour.
Park said the wage hike would harm the city’s hospitality industry, costing hotel workers their jobs.
Like the police and the firefighters, Unite Here is not going it alone. The union picked up $50,000 from United Teachers Los Angeles and another $50,000 from Smart Justice California, a group focused on less punitive public safety strategies.
Unite Here has attempted to portray Park, a Democrat, as a Trump sympathizer, highlighting remarks she made to the president when he visited Pacific Palisades in the wake of the Palisades fire. The union also pointed out that she voted against making L.A. a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants.
Park told news radio station KNX in 2024 that the state already has a sanctuary law, and that she considered the ordinance to be an act of “symbolic resistance” — one that would jeopardize federal funding.
On Thursday, Park accused Unite Here of using a picture of her with personnel from the Army Corps of Engineers to falsely imply that she was standing alongside ICE. The Army Corps removed debris from thousands of burned-out properties in the Palisades.
Park, in a statement, called the mail pieces “dishonest and disgusting.”
Unite Here didn’t directly address Park’s allegation, but told The Times that “Local 11 believes that our local elected officials should not collaborate with the Trump administration in any way.”
Speaking of the hotel wage
Unite Here isn’t the only player in the hotel wage fight to leap into this year’s council races.
Two L.A.-based hotels, working with the California Hotel and Lodging Assn., have put a combined $300,000 into a political action committee supporting Maria Lou Calanche, who is seeking to unseat Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez; political aide Jose Ugarte, who is running to replace Councilmember Curren Price; and Park in the 11th.
The group, which goes by the name Fix Los Angles PAC, doesn’t seem to be sweating all the details. Its phone script to voters, which was filed recently with the Ethics Commission, got Calanche’s name wrong, referring to her as Mary instead of Maria.
— EXPANDING THE VOTE: L.A. voters could be asked in November to take the first step toward giving noncitizens the right to vote in city and school board elections. City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, now running for reelection, wants voters to give the council the authority to let noncitizens vote in elections for mayor, council and other city offices, as well as the school board.
— HOME SHARING HOLDOUTS: Bass is looking to relax the city’s rules on home-sharing, by letting residents rent their second homes on a short-term basis through Airbnb and other platforms. Some council members were cool to the idea, saying this week that they fear such a move would shrink the city’s housing supply.
— EYE IN THE SKY: The LAPD deployed drones more than 3,000 times last year, using them mostly for emergency calls or officers’ requests for help, according to a report submitted to the Police Commission. The 3-foot-wide surveillance devices are being used by a department already known for its sizable fleet of helicopters.
— SEIZING CONTROL: Bass and Councilmembers Tim McOsker and Ysabel Jurado want the city of L.A. to obtain majority control over the embattled Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency that delivers services to the region’s unhoused population. That proposal comes a year after the county’s Board of Supervisors voted to pull more than $300 million out of LAHSA.
— A GLOOMY OUTLOOK: L.A. voters lack confidence in the ability of city, county and state officials to make housing more affordable, according to a survey conducted by the Los Angeles Business Council.
— READY FOR OUR CLOSE-UP: L.A. plans to install 125 speed cameras by the end of July, in the hope of catching misbehaving drivers. But there are already some takeaways from San Francisco, where the technology is being credited with getting drivers to slow down.
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
The White House’s long-anticipated cannabis regulatory shake-up may ease rules on paper, but for banks, processors, and payment networks, little changes in practice.
While the rescheduling of cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III has sparked hope for industry reform, the reclassification doesn’t change the ongoing banking hurdles for smaller cannabis businesses in the U.S.
As large, publicly traded multi-state operators (MSOs) secure banking access, the majority of smaller cannabis companies still operate in a cash-only environment, with federal illegality, strict anti-money laundering rules, and a stalled bill blocking wider access to financial services. Alan Brochstein, an Austin, Texas-based analyst and founder of marketing firm New Cannabis Ventures, told Global Finance that meaningful reform still hinges on the passage of the SAFER Banking Act.
“Just because you’re Schedule III instead of Schedule I, you’re still federally illegal,” he said, referring to an April 23 order signed by Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s acting attorney general.
The reclassification formally recognizes cannabis for medical use. But the shift stops short of legalization and serves as a sobering reminder of the legal ambiguity that has kept major financial players wary.
“So, I don’t think that’s going to change,” Brochstein said. “Visa and Mastercard won’t allow processing, [and] rescheduling doesn’t change that.”
The bipartisan SAFER Banking Act, proposed in 2023, would provide a safe harbor for financial institutions serving state-sanctioned cannabis businesses, Brochstein explained. Lawmakers designed the bill to shield banks and credit unions from federal penalties and asset forfeiture when working with legal operators in compliant states. It remains stalled in Congress.
The reclassification has its benefits—expanding research, reducing tax burdens, and further legitimizing state medical programs across 40 states. Cannabis operators, however, remain boxed out of mainstream banking. Lenders, card networks, and cross-border investors are unlikely to change their stance substantially.
For now, rescheduling grants medical cannabis some legitimacy, but the financial plumbing that underpins the industry remains frozen. As a result, operators rely on cash-heavy systems and state-by-state workarounds, especially in markets where recreational sales dominate revenue.
“I don’t think the banking landscape will change that much at this time,” said Richard Ormond, a partner at Los Angeles-based law firm Buchalter, capturing the industry’s central tension as financial institutions stay on the sidelines.
“Things will remain cautious as the majority of businesses, particularly in California, really focus on recreational use rather than just medical use,” Ormond predicted.
A broader review is coming, with Congressional hearings on the SAFER Act scheduled for June. Until then, cannabis suppliers are left with incremental progress on regulation—and persistent uncertainty in the banking system.
