Asian stock markets fell sharply on Friday, led by a sell-off in technology firms as investors worried that recent jumps in share prices had gone too far.   Trading on South Korea’s, Kospi was temporarily halted as an 8% fall in the benchmark index triggered a mechanism intended to curb panic selling. The index closed […]

US President, Donald Trump has said he has ordered an investigation into major energy companies, accusing them of “gouging” customers by not cutting petrol prices after wholesale oil costs fell on global markets.   Trump wrote on social media that he had expected to see petrol prices fall “a lot faster than what I’m seeing”. […]

European polymer prices continued to fall over the week to 19th June. There were reductions of between 10 and 50 EUR per tonne reported in the prices of HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, PET, Polypropylene, PVC and ABS.   Asian polymers also fell with reductions of between 10 and 70 USD per tonne reported in the prices […]

The UK economy has taken a 6% hit from the effects of Brexit, according to economists’ analysis of internal Bank of England data about the decisions, views and financial results of thousands of British companies since the referendum a decade ago.   Examining data that the Bank uses to decide on interest rates, the study […]

US President, Donald Trump promised to visit India during a bilateral meeting at the G7 summit in France, signalling a thawing of relations between the two countries.   Trump said it would take place “sometime in the future”, adding India and the US were close to agreeing a trade deal.   Relations between the two […]

Japan’s central bank has increased its main interest rate to a new 31-year high after a surge in global energy prices.   On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised its so-called policy rate to 1% from 0.75% – a level not seen since 1995.   The decision comes as some other central banks have […]

European polymer prices continued to fall over the week to 12th June. There were reductions of between 5 and 90 EUR per tonne reported in the prices of HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, Polypropylene, PVC, ABS and Polystyrene.   Asian polymers fell with reductions of between 10 and 150 USD per tonne reported in the prices of […]

The UK government has committed to banning imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russian oil by 1 January 2027.   The ban forms part of the government’s package of sanctions on Moscow following the war with Ukraine.   In May, the government said it would gradually phase out the use of diesel and […]

President Donald Trump has said “I love the inflation” after official figures showed that US prices rose last month at their fastest rate for three years.   Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures for May showed that prices had gone up by 4.2% over the previous 12 months. The rate of increase, from 3.8% in […]

The US has added several major firms from China, including e-commerce giant Alibaba and electric car maker BYD, to a list of companies said to have ties with the Chinese military.   The Department of Defense’s list aims to alert American organisations to the risks of doing business with the Chinese firms, but their inclusion […]