The market has been in a downward trend for the past year because there is evidence showing that demand is becoming weaker. So far, prices have dropped by nearly 70% from the highest levels they reached at the end of 2024. The value of March cocoa futures in New York dropped by 5.9% on Friday, with the price declining to $3,931 per ton, marking the lowest level since November 2023. In December...

The US Treasury Department has released a general license that permits the export, sale, storage, and refining of oil within the country, provided that these activities are carried out by a legal entity that is officially registered in the United States. According to the general license, which was posted on Thursday by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a division of the U.S. Treasury,...

The Government Pension Fund of Norway, also referred to as the Oil Fund, which is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, made a profit of NOK 2.36 trillion, equivalent to approximately $247.4 billion, in 2025. The financial reports of the fund indicate that the return on investments amounted to 15.1%.  The fund achieved a return of 19.3% from equities, 5.4% from fixed income, 4.4% from...

Gold persisted in its upward trend on Thursday, even as worries about a worsening US-Europe dispute over Greenland lessened. US President Donald Trump announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday that the United States seeks to promptly initiate talks to purchase Greenland from Denmark and has no plans to use military force to take control of the island. Trump subsequently posted...

China's steel production in 2025 dropped to 960.81 million tons, marking the lowest level in seven years. This represents a decrease of 4.4% from the 2024 production figure, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics. In December, steel output fell by 10.3% compared to the same month in the previous year, reaching 68.18 million tons. This is the lowest volume recorded in two years. The...

Global smartphone shipments rose by 1.9% in 2025, reaching 1.26 billion units, as shown in preliminary figures from the International Data Corporation (IDC). During the last quarter, shipments increased by 2.3% compared to the previous year, hitting 336.3 million units. "Although there was a crisis due to the shortage of memory chips, the market in the fourth quarter was driven by strong sales...

Global liquid hydrocarbon production went up by 2.95 million barrels per day in 2025, reaching a total of 106.28 million barrels per day, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in their monthly report. For 2026, the EIA predicts production will rise by 1.37 million barrels per day, which is an increase of 120,000 barrels per day from the previous report, bringing the...

Global semiconductor manufacturer revenue rose by 21% in 2025, reaching $793.4 billion, as reported by Gartner, a research firm. Nvidia Corp., an American company, remained the top global chipmaker, expanding its lead over Samsung Electronics of South Korea and becoming the first company to surpass $100 billion in annual revenue. Samsung saw a 13% increase in memory chip sales last year, but...

The Chinese stock market is showing its strongest performance since 2017, according to Bloomberg, which is based on trading data. From the beginning of 2025, the MSCI China Index has increased by about 28%. Bloomberg also reports that the MSCI China Index is likely to conclude the year with its biggest gain since 2017. In comparison, the US index closed at 6,905.74 points on December 29, down...