Browsing: Business

EU goods trade returned a €28.4bn surplus in Q4 2025 as big surpluses in chemicals and machinery outweighed an energy deficit, Eurostat said. Imports fell 1.4%.

World Gold Council data rank China, Poland, Türkiye and India as top net gold buyers since 2020 while the Philippines and Kazakhstan recorded the biggest sales.

UK jobless rate reached 5.2% in Oct-Dec 2025 highest since 2015 outside the pandemic. ONS said UK vacancies at 726,000 and claimant count was 1.691m in Jan 2026.

Final data confirmed Germany’s CPI rose 2.1% in January and 0.1% month to month, while the EU harmonised rate also held at 2.1%; food, services up; energy down.

Baker McKenzie said its business services review, including AI use, led to proposed cuts and consultations affecting support staff in London and Belfast centres.

The 6th Sustainable Development Forum in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky runs Feb 17-21, with 40+ events on investment, planning, and tourism infrastructure in Kamchatka.

European Commission charged Meta, over WhatsApp Business API rules for AI assistants and weighed interim measures after Italy’s AGCM suspended the terms for now.

IEA warns grid bottlenecks are slowing power projects, with more than 2,500 GW stuck in connection queues, spanning renewables, storage and data centres in 2026.

The European Central Bank held rates steady at 2 percent, citing resilient eurozone growth, easing inflation, low unemployment and stable domestic demand.

Istat’s provisional CPI showed Italy inflation at 1.0% in January, with services up 2.7% and goods down 0.2%, keeping the services goods gap at 2.5 points yearly.