Business

"The catalyst was about mid-2024," said Stephanie Wilks-Wiffen from eToro, an online broker. That was when she read the annual Boring Money report, which showed that the gender investment gap had widened in the United Kingdom, with men making up almost 60% of investors. That inspired eToro to start developing its Loud Investing campaign, which aims to educate and empower women to invest. Launched in October 2025, it isn't the only initiative targeting women investors, by far. Wilks-Wiffen has noticed a rise in female-led initiatives over the past six to 12 months across the industry. Online brokers are launching new brand campaigns, producing "female finance" podcasts or sponsoring women's sports teams.  "The more the merrier, in my opinion," she said. "If our messaging doesn't land wit...

Why has the UAE decided to quit OPEC now? OPEC, the global cartel of oil-producing nations, operates a quota system that limits how much oil each member can produce. For years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has clashed with Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s most powerful member, over these quotas. The UAE has invested heavily to expand its oil industry and grow its market share, but OPEC limits have repeatedly held it back. Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told the New York Times on Tuesday: "The world needs more energy. The world needs more resources, and [the] UAE wanted to be unconstrained by any groups." The UAE is now betting it can sell more oil once the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz crisis ends, both in the medium and the longer term. Analysts, meanwhile, see the move as a calculated step...

Iran's shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has drawn comparisons with the supply disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and US President Donald Trump's new tariff regime. The pandemic exposed the world's heavy dependence on China for manufacturing everything from electronics to medical gear, while Trump’s tariffs, introduced last year, also accelerated efforts to cut that reliance. The war in Iran has highlighted yet another weakness: how fast a disruption to critical raw materials such as oil, gas and fertilizers can ripple across global trade. The International Energy Agency described the loss of roughly 10% of the world's oil supply and a fifth of global liquefied natural gas last month as the largest in the history of the global energy market. Demand and then supply shock While the pan...

Four decades ago, the Strait of Hormuz revealed its deadly vulnerability to the global oil market. During the 1980 to 1988 Iran-Iraq war, both sides repeatedly targeted oil tankers in the strait, turning one of the world’s most vital crude arteries into a floating battlefield. Saudi Arabia reacted by building the East-West Pipeline across its vast desert peninsula to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Years later, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) followed suit with the Habshan–Fujairah pipeline from the Abu Dhabi emirate to the Gulf of Oman. Hormuz’s vulnerability came roaring back in late February when the US-Israel war with Iran broke out. Tehran made good on its longstanding promise to close the strait if it were ever attacked. The move stranded hundreds of oil and gas tankers, choking off arou...

Russia plans to stop oil exports from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline from May 1, threatening a key refinery which supplies the vast majority of diesel, petrol and heating oil needed for the city of Berlin. The PCK refinery, located in the town of Schwedt about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Berlin, receives oil supplies via the pipeline. Previously run by Russian oil major Rosneft, the German government seized the refinery's operations following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since 2022, the refinery has imported Kazakh crude oil in increasing volumes, which is transported from the Central Asian nation, across Russian territory, to Berlin. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy confirmed the news to DW in a statement....

Social media giant Meta on Thursday announced plans to lay off about 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, as it seeks to scale up development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The owner of social media platforms Facebookand Instagram, along with the messaging app Whatsapp, said in an internal memo that the first round of cuts is due on May 20. Along with the cuts, Meta said 6,000 further posts would be left unfilled. Also on Thursday, US media reported that tech giant Microsoft was planning to offer voluntary early retirement buyouts for around 8.700 workers, or about 7% of its workforce. Massive AI investment  The job cuts come as both companies increase spending on developing AI applications. Meta has announced plans to develop "personal superintelligence," wh...

Iran's shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has drawn comparisons with the supply disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and US President Donald Trump's new tariff regime. The pandemic exposed the world's heavy dependence on China for manufacturing everything from electronics to medical gear, while Trump’s tariffs, introduced last year, also accelerated efforts to cut that reliance. The war in Iran has highlighted yet another weakness: how fast a disruption to critical raw materials such as oil, gas and fertilizers can ripple across global trade. The International Energy Agency described the loss of roughly 10% of the world's oil supply and a fifth of global liquefied natural gas last month as the largest in the history of the global energy market. Demand and then supply shock While the pan...

Russia plans to stop oil exports from Kazakhstan to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline from May 1, threatening a key refinery which supplies the vast majority of diesel, petrol and heating oil needed for the city of Berlin. The PCK refinery, located in the town of Schwedt about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Berlin, receives oil supplies via the pipeline. Previously run by Russian oil major Rosneft, the German government seized the refinery's operations following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since 2022, the refinery has imported Kazakh crude oil in increasing volumes, which is transported from the Central Asian nation, across Russian territory, to Berlin. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy confirmed the news to DW in a statement....

Apple announced on Monday that after more than a decade as chief executive, Tim Cook will step down in September. Cook will hand leadership to company veteran John Ternus, currently Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, marking Apple's first CEO transition since the death of founder Steve Jobs. "Having spent almost my entire career at Apple, I have been lucky to have worked under Steve Jobs and to have had Tim Cook as my mentor," Ternus said. "It has been a privilege to help shape the products and experiences that have changed so much of how we interact with the world and with one another," he added.Ternus has played a key role in reigniting sales of products such as Apple's Mac computers, which have gained market share in recent years [FILE: October 18, 2021]Image: App...

Weeks after Apple's 50th anniversary, the US technology titan announced on Monday that its CEO Tim Cook would step down in September, to be succeeded by hardware engineer John Ternus. Ternus will step into some of the biggest shoes in corporate America. Cook is credited with turning Apple from a $350 billion (€298 billion) company when he started to a valuation of over $4 trillion today. Ternus takes over a tech giant that must keep its premium edge — the iPhone recently retook the crown as the world's most popular smartphone by sales — while pushing harder into artificial intelligence (AI). At the same time, Apple faces intense competition, regulatory pressures and supply-chain challenges as it searches for the next phase of expansion beyond the iPhone. In a media statement, Ternus sa...