Friday, October 30, 2026
9 stories
Christine Lagarde's departure as ECB chief arrives at a perilous moment for the euro zone. Her successor will inherit an unenviable job, with inflation, debt and growth all pulling in difficult directions. The handover matters well beyond Frankfurt.
Alphabet lost roughly $500 billion in market value as its search engine sputters and AI rivals gain ground. The bloodbath reflects how exposed Google is to the AI shift. Investors are questioning whether the company can reinvent its core business.
A lucky few countries are cashing in on the US-China rivalry as demand for critical minerals surges. The profits from these resources could transform their economies. The article maps who is winning the scramble.
The Economist argues that China copying American AI through model distillation is no reason to ban the practice, despite the annoyance at Anthropic and OpenAI. Letting imitation happen, the editors suggest, may be wiser than trying to stop it. It is a contrarian take on the AI race.
After 25 years of Narendra Modi, the Economist asks what his record really amounts to. Rapid economic growth, the paper notes, will not placate voters if it fails to produce jobs. The verdict mixes credit for ambition with warning about the employment gap.
Hispanic and Asian voters have become America's most dynamic swing voters, the editors argue, and are changing politics for the better. Their growing weight is reshaping both parties' calculations. The piece makes the case that this demographic dynamism is a healthy force.
Andy's government's latest budget shows a lot of talk about change and very little action, the editors write. The unimpressive package reveals a lack of ambition at the top. Britain, they argue, deserves better.
The paper argues that Israel's Jewish and Arab opposition parties should join forces if they want to dislodge Binyamin Netanyahu. Acting fast, they suggest, is the only way to build a workable alternative. It is a bold prescription for a fractured political landscape.
China's stock markets are a global exception: while the country is said to be winning the future, its investors remain strikingly glum. The piece puzzles over the gap between the economic narrative and market mood. Something, it suggests, doesn't add up.