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Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

India probes alleged dumping of seven products from China

The DGTR has initiated probes into alleged dumping of seven products from China following complaints from domestic manufacturers, while also investigating imports from other countries. | Photo Credit: iStockphoto India has started a probe into an alleged dumping of as many as seven products, including engineering and pharma sector goods, from China following complaints filed by domestic manufacturers. The investigations are carried out by the commerce ministry’s arm, the Directorate General for Trade Remedies (DGTR). According to seven separate notifications of the directorate, the seven products are – Para-tert-Octyl Phenol Formaldehyde Tackifier Resin (used in the tyre and rubber industry), Penicillin G and its salts (an active pharmaceutical ingredient), 6-Amino Penicillanic Acid (a vital drug intermediate), T-Shaped Elevator/Lift Solid Guide Rails, Amoxycillin Trihydrate (used in the pharma industry), Montelukast Sodium (a pharma sector raw material), and Copolymer Polyol (used in the manufacturing of mattresses). In their applications, the domestic players have alleged that the dumped imports of these products from China are impacting their businesses and they have requested the imposition of anti-dumping duties on these imports. The DGTR is also probing dumping of ‘AD - Isopropyl Alcohol’ (used in hand sanitisers) from the European Union, South Korea, Taiwan and the US. Another investigation is underway on alleged dumped imports of Pentaerythritol, a chemical which has applications in the paint and varnish industry, from Russia. “On the basis of the duly substantiated written application submitted by the applicant and having reached satisfaction based on the prima facie evidence submitted by the applicant concerning the dumping of the product...the authority, hereby, initiates an antidumping investigation,” one of the notifications said. If it is established that these dumpings have caused material injury to the domestic players, the DGTR would recommend the imposition of duties on these imports. US-China trade tensions and China’s significant industrial overcapacity pose a major risk of cheap Chinese goods being dumped in India. In the recent period, India has initiated multiple such probes against dumped imports of certain goods from China. Anti-dumping probes are conducted by countries to determine if domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in cheap imports.

India probes alleged dumping of seven products from China
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

El Niño nears record levels as Pacific waters continue to warm

Models predict further warming of the tropical Pacific through the southern hemisphere spring, probably peaking in late spring or summer (December–February) and continuing into autumn 2027 (March). | Photo Credit: VENKATACHALAPATHY C El Niño has strengthened to near-record levels, with the Nino3.4 index reaching 2.72°C during the week ending September 27, the second-highest level on record. Models show further warming through spring (October-November), with most models peaking above 3°C. A positive Indian Ocean Dipole is also likely to develop during the same period, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia’s Southern Hemisphere monitoring report. Oceanic and atmospheric indices point to a strong El Nino, with further intensification expected through the remainder of spring. The most recent value of the Nino3.4 index, for the week ending 27 September 2026, is +2.72°C, well above the El Nino threshold (+0.80°C). This is the second-highest value on record in the Bureau’s weekly sea surface temperature (SST) data since 2008, behind +2.76°C for the week ending 22 November 2015. All models, including the bureau’s, predict further warming of the tropical Pacific through the southern hemisphere spring, probably peaking in late spring or summer (December–February) and continuing into autumn 2027 (March). Relative-Nino3.4 values are expected to exceed the warmest on record since reliable records began in 1950, with most models forecasting a peak above +3.0°C. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is neutral at present; however, the value of the IOD index for the week ending 27 September 2026 is +0.76°C. The index has now been above the positive IOD threshold (+0.4°C) for the third consecutive week. An event is considered established when it is characterised by sustained values above this threshold. A positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is likely to develop during the Southern Hemisphere spring and continue into early summer, although model guidance indicates some uncertainty in the strength and duration of the event. A strong El Nino is also evident in the atmosphere with weakened or reversed trade winds over the western to central tropical Pacific, increased cloudiness over the central to eastern tropical Pacific, and decreased cloudiness over the Maritime Continent, which is the dominant pattern for September, the report said. The sea surface temperature (SST) analysis for the week ending 26 September 2026 shows warmer-than-average waters around much of Australia’s west, south and southeast, with SSTs up to 3°C above average. SSTs to Australia’s north and northeast have cooled over the past couple of weeks and are now more than 1°C below average in parts. Global SSTs are still at record levels. SSTs averaged over 60°S to 60°N were at their highest level on record for any month since records began in 1900, 1.04°C above the 1961–1990 average.

El Niño nears record levels as Pacific waters continue to warm
Europe
The Guardian

EU spends three times more on imports from China than bloc exports there

China and the EU are locked in talks to avert a trade war. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenChina and the EU are locked in talks to avert a trade war. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesEuropean UnionEU spends three times more on imports from China than bloc exports thereDays before Xi Jinping’s summit with Donald Trump, new study shows trade deficit ran at more than €1bn daily in July Consumers and businesses in the EU are spending three times more on Chinese imports than their counterparts in China are buying from the bloc, a study has shown. Customs data showed the gap between the EU’s imports from China and exports to China, the trade deficit, ran at more than €1bn (£860m) a day in July. The new data comes just days after the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the trade imbalance must be arrested, and before Xi Jinping’s summit with Donald Trump on Thursday in Washington. The Mercator Institute for China Studies (Meric) said: “The problem is no longer simply that the EU is buying more Chinese goods. China is selling more to Europe while buying less from it.” China and the EU are locked in talks about averting a trade war, and the EU’s trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, will travel to Beijing to meet his Chinese counterpart on 8 October. “With the bilateral deficit now exceeding €1bn a day, the widening imbalance will almost certainly be high on the agenda at the planned EU-China meeting in October,” Meric said. Analysis of Chinese customs data by Meric showed the EU’s trade deficit hit €36.5bn in July alone, up from €32.2bn in July 2025. From January to July, the total deficit now stands at €234bn, about €21bn more than the first seven months of 2025. “The imbalance has now moved beyond three to one. For every €1 of goods the EU exported to China in July, it imported €3.10. The deficit was equivalent to €1.18bn a day,” Meric said. Sources in Brussels said one of the measures being considered is introducing quotas on hybrid vehicles and certain types of chemicals imported from China. Sales of hybrid vehicles rocketed after the imposition of extra tariffs on Chinese EVs in 2024 omitted to include hybrid electric cars, causing concern in the EU car industry. The latest figures show imports of hybrid cars that do not have to be plugged in have grown tenfold, from just under 4,000 vehicles sold in October 2024, to 50,000 in July 2026.

EU spends three times more on imports from China than bloc exports there
Europe
BBC Business

Sir Jim Ratcliffe suspends production at key UK plants blaming high gas prices

Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe's industrial giant Ineos is pausing production at its three plants in Hull, blaming high UK gas prices. The firm said gas prices in the UK are twelve times higher than in the US, and eight times more expensive than the coal-based processes used by Chinese competitors. Sir Jim said: "We are being forced to mothball some of the most efficient plants in Europe, but with gas prices now 12 times the level in the US and 8 times that of China, we just cannot compete." The facilities produce raw materials used to make pharmaceuticals, clothing, cosmetics, detergents, construction materials and military explosives in the UK and Europe. Gas is a key ingredient in production. Ineos said the move will affect up to 1,000 of its staff, of whom 245 work directly at the site. But the BBC understands workers across the sites will be kept on while Ineos tries to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly from the US at lower prices - which could take up to a year - or waits for gas prices to go down. Ineos is asking governments in the UK and the EU — where most of its products are exported to — to put in tariff protections against Chinese products. One plant makes acetic acid, which is used in vinegar, paint and glue. Another makes acetic anhydride, a key ingredient of aspirin, and the third makes ethyl acetate, which is used as a solvent and for decaffeinating tea and coffee. He said the current government's energy policy was "economic vandalism on an industrial scale". The wholesale price of natural gas — used for heating homes and generating electricity — has almost doubled in the UK and Europe since July. The disruption of supplies of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Israel war in Iran has pushed up prices around the world. Ineos says that its plants in Humberside are "among the most efficient in the world", producing materials with half the carbon footprint of US rivals, and only one eighth the footprint of Chinese equivalents.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe suspends production at key UK plants blaming high gas prices
North America
Yahoo Finance

SPMO Owns the S&P 500’s 100 Fastest-Rising Stocks. Its Momentum Screen Has Beaten the Index by 67-Points Over the Last Five Years

A simple momentum screen applied to S&P 500 stocks has quietly built a performance gap that turns identical starting portfolios into dramatically different ending balances, and the strategy costs almost nothing to implement. The professional research desk has always been the part of Wall Street that retail investors could not buy. AlphaSpace by Yahoo Finance opens one for $39.95 a month, and the first seven days cost nothing.1 (Sponsor) This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them. Owning the S&P 500 has proven to be one of the simplest ways to build wealth over the long-term. But one ETF has taken the same pool of large-cap stocks, applied a momentum screen, and produced substantially better results over the last five years. The Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (NYSEARCA:SPMO) has returned 137.81% cumulatively over the last five years, working out to just shy of 20% annualized. By comparison, the S&P 500 has returned 70.27% over the same period, or approximately 13% annualized. This momentum-driven performance advantage results in two portfolios with drastically different ending values. SPMO does not venture into small-cap stocks, obscure technology companies, or speculative names looking for the next market winner. Rather, it starts with companies already included in the S&P 500 and tracks the S&P 500 Momentum Index. The index selects roughly 100 stocks with the strongest momentum scores and reconstitutes and rebalances twice per year, in March and September. The idea behind the strategy is straightforward: stocks that have demonstrated stronger recent relative performance may continue outperforming. Constituents are then weighted using both market capitalization and their momentum scores. SPMO charges an expense ratio of just 0.13%, or roughly $13 annually for every $10,000 invested. That process currently produces a portfolio that looks considerably different from a traditional S&P 500 fund. Based on current holdings, technology represents roughly 54% of the fund. Names like Micron Technology alone account for more than 11% of assets. Meanwhile, Nvidia represents roughly 9%, followed by Broadcom at more than 6%. Johnson & Johnson, Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, and Lam Research are also among its largest positions. Altogether, the top 10 stocks represented just more than half of the portfolio. The results have been impressive. Through August 31, SPMO delivered a five-year annualized return of 19.7%, compared with 12.8% for the S&P 500 Total Return Index. Over three years, the difference was even larger: SPMO returned 37.3% annually compared with 21.0% for the index. The fund has also been ahead in 2026 through August, returning 23.8% against 13.1% for the S&P 500. Put these numbers into dollars, and the difference becomes easier to appreciate. A hypothetical $100,000 compounded at 19.7% annually for five years grows to roughly $246,000. At 12.8%, the same starting balance grows to about $183,000. That is a difference of more than $60,000 without leaving the universe of stocks already found in the S&P 500. While it is tempting to project past results forward, there is no guarantee that the advantage will continue. Momentum strategies naturally concentrate money in stocks and sectors that have already performed well. Today that means heavy exposure to semiconductors and technology. If leadership changes quickly, SPMO can find itself holding yesterday’s winners while the rest of the market rotates elsewhere. The fund also turns over more aggressively than a plain S&P 500 ETF because the index needs to continually identify new momentum leaders. According to Morningstar, the fund has a recent portfolio turnover of 44%. Investors should therefore view SPMO as more than a slightly modified S&P 500 fund. Its portfolio can become substantially more concentrated, and its results can diverge sharply from the broad index in either direction.

SPMO Owns the S&P 500’s 100 Fastest-Rising Stocks. Its Momentum Screen Has Beaten the Index by 67-Points Over the Last Five Years
Europe
BBC Business

'I don't have a buoyancy aid': Living without the Bank of Mum and Dad

ByColletta Smith, BBC Your Voice correspondent and Elaine Doran , Your Voice ProducerPublished4 hours agoBuying a home or even moving into a rented property is an increasingly unrealistic dream for many young people. This summer, BBC Your Voice revealed more than 40% of 25-year-olds were now living with their parents. Dozens of young people told us they were having to rely on the so-called Bank of Mum and Dad to help cover rent, bills and other living costs. But what happens if you cannot rely on help from family? Citizens Advice says increasing numbers are struggling to afford everyday essentials like rent and food without support from their parents. Eleanor Bell is now 23, but was taken into care when she was 10. She grafted hard to do well at school and got a first-class degree from the University of Central Lancashire. After graduating two years ago, she thought the playing field would even out. It hasn't. Eleanor says she has applied for more jobs than she can count and had a handful of unsuccessful interviews. She's currently living in her boyfriend's home outside Penistone in South Yorkshire, which helps with living costs, but the rural location has made the job hunt harder for someone without a driving licence. "I know a lot of people who've got jobs because their mum or dad worked there before them." When she saw a BBC article about how many young people now live with their parents, she got in touch. "I guess it makes me a bit sad. I'd like to live with my parents... but it made me think about the people like me, the people that don't have that, what are they doing then? Where are they? Who do they have to fall back on? "It's like everyone in their 20s is having to tread water, but I haven't been given a buoyancy aid," Eleanor tells the BBC. Official figures show that 39% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 in England are not in education, employment or training, compared with around 13% of young people overall.

'I don't have a buoyancy aid': Living without the Bank of Mum and Dad
Europe
BBC Business

Will a switch to light speed cut power use at data centres?

"I think we're at the end of copper," says Chris Sharp, the chief technology officer at data centre operator Digital Reality. He's not saying that we are running out of copper, instead Sharp, and many others in the data centre industry, are betting that it will be used less. Data centres use vast amounts of the metal: around 400 tonnes, external will go into typical facility of around 100MW (data centre size is measured megawatts, a unit of electrical power). Most of that copper is used in the electrical infrastructure needed to power the datacentre and for cooling systems. But up to 70 tonnes is used by the computer servers that do the work of processing data in that 100MW facility. Meanwhile, up to 20 tonnes is used for the network wiring connecting up those computer servers. It's here, in the spaghetti-like wiring which snakes through a data centre where copper is targeted for replacement. "The wires between these GPUs, CPUs, and all this compute are what's slowing us down," says Sharp. Data is shunted around data centres in the form of electrons, which travel efficiently in copper wiring. Many think there's an even better way of doing that, using light in the form of photons. Light has been used for decades for long-distance communications over optical fibre - the data for this article probably travelled down a fibre optic cable at some stage. But researchers and companies want to extend fibre's use to inside the data centre. It involves intricate engineering, where optical components are connected directly to electrical ones, sometimes on the computer chips themselves.

Will a switch to light speed cut power use at data centres?
Europe
BBC Business

Unexpected UK borrowing surge adds to pre-Budget pressure on chancellor

Image source, Getty ImagesByTom EspinerBusiness reporterPublished22 September 2026, 07:27 BSTUpdated 2 hours agoAn unexpected surge in government borrowing in August, driven by persistently higher inflation, has added to pressure on Chancellor John Healey as he prepares to deliver his first Budget at the end of October. Borrowing - the difference between tax receipts and government spending - was £18.3bn in August, almost a fifth higher than the year before, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Inflation rose to its highest rate in five months in August in the UK, driven up by higher petrol and diesel prices. Although tax receipts were higher in August compared with a year ago, spending on public services, benefits, and other costs grew more as the pace of price rises increased. The interest the government is paying on its debt rose to £8.8bn, its highest August level since records began in 1997. The cost of servicing that debt comes as the government is under pressure to spend more on defence and cost-of-living support to households, said Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy. He said it was important not to "overinterpret a single month given the volatility in the numbers", but added that there were some "concerning elements". He said the cost of paying the interest on government debt is likely to rise in the coming months. While the figures were an "unwelcome setback", Beck said the government tends to look at the OBR's medium-term fiscal forecast - so what it expects for the public finances three years into the future. "But even there, the chancellor's got problems," he said. "The cost of that interest has gone up. That's going to feed through into more borrowing." The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that spending on debt interest is "a worryingly large share of overall government spending and has been pushed up" since the last official forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Research economist Nick Ridpath said: "Both higher borrowing costs and higher inflation make life harder for a chancellor who is looking to bring down borrowing and to spend more on government priorities."

Unexpected UK borrowing surge adds to pre-Budget pressure on chancellor
Europe
The Guardian

Kevin Warsh may be the adult in the room. But can he calm the US economy?

Kevin Warsh at the Federal Reserve in Washington DC on 16 September. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAView image in fullscreenKevin Warsh at the Federal Reserve in Washington DC on 16 September. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAFederal ReserveAnalysisKevin Warsh may be the adult in the room. But can he calm the US economy?Eduardo PorterFed chair presided over unanimous decision to raise interest rates despite intense campaign from White House In the end, Kevin Warsh’s Federal Reserve acquitted itself well. For all the uncertainty he had sparked at the previous meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, when he refused to provide any indication of what he was prepared to do to tame stubborn inflation, the chair on Wednesday presided over a unanimous decision to raise interest rates for the first time in three years. “Today’s action starts to show that we’re serious about this,” he said at the press conference after the meeting, with “this” meaning inflation in excess of the Fed’s 2% target for over five years. Welcome though it was, his embrace of economic orthodoxy nonetheless did little to dispel the Keystone Cops quality of governance in Donald Trump’s US. Warsh’s resolve – raising rates just a few weeks before elections that will determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress – appeared even more resolute in the face of a veiled threat from White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, who pointed out to his chums on Fox that “if you want an independent Fed, then one thing the Fed does is it stays out of the way of elections”. The central bankers’ parsimonious comments in the press conference following the meeting made a sharp contrast with the more unhinged commentary from other members of the administration, including the president himself, who earlier this month celebrated the resilience of the labor market with a mind-boggling threat to “STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT” unless the Fed cut interest rates. Yet more significant than the contrast between Warsh’s words and the incongruent economic rhetoric from the White House is the tension between the Fed’s decision on Wednesday and pretty much every other initiative from the administration, from the volley of tariffs against imports from everywhere to the war in Iran to Trump’s “promise” of $5,000 a head if he wins the midterms to treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s desperate efforts to pull interest rates down even as the Fed is raising them. All things considered, financial markets reacted relatively calmly to the day’s events. For sure, the S&P 500 index took a nosedive on Wednesday afternoon, closing some 0.4% lower at the thought that the Fed would likely now raise rates again in December and twice in 2027. The yield on the 10-year bond rose sharply, again surpassing 5%. But investors appear to have bought – for now at least – that whatever deranged policies may emerge from the rest of the administration, monetary policy will remain comparatively sane. Investors should probably remain on their toes, though. A rational Trump would probably thank Warsh for his hawkishness. There might be a plausible argument to keep rates where they were because inflation is driven by temporary forces, like a war. Yet had the Fed staid its hand, or – goodness forbid – cut rates as the president has demanded, the bloodbath in the treasury market would have been gruesome, as investors were forced to accept that the chair of the central bank would not stand up to the nut who appointed him. By contrast, by raising rates and demonstrating he is serious about curbing inflation, the Fed is likely to calm market jitters and reduce long-term inflation expectations, which will ultimately redound in lower yields on treasury bonds, allowing for lower interest rates on mortgages and other long-term loans that matter to businesses and consumers. More clown cars are likely on the way. In his fury on Wednesday, Trump again threatened to stop trading with countries that have a surplus with the US – a proposition so devoid of sense that it is hard to comprehend, let alone critique. The war in Iran is likely to continue throughout the administration, bringing more volatility to energy markets. Even Bessent seems to be losing his hold on reality. Vexed over rising treasury yields – which are raising the cost of servicing the government’s Brobdingnagian debts – the man whom markets believed would play the role of adult in the Oval Office on matters of economic policy has started to emulate the desperate government officials he once pummelled into submission. Bessent built a reputation in financial circles in 1996 as part of the team built by George Soros and Stanley Druckenmiller that pushed the British pound out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. They made a tidy profit by teaching hapless British ministers that however many pounds they bought to defend the exchange rate, they could never overcome a market determined to sell. Today, Bessent has taken the losing side of that trade, betting that he can buy enough treasuries to bring long-term interest rates down.

Kevin Warsh may be the adult in the room. But can he calm the US economy?