BlackRock, the world’s richest private equity firm, became even richer in the second quarter when it posted $192 billion in net second-quarter income, 31 percent ahead of the second quarter in 2025.
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT – Jul 21 2026
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CHINA CLAMPS DOWN ON RARE EARTH EXPORTS
China, which dominates mining and production of the rare earth elements essential in high-tech manufacturing, tightened their exports to Japan in recent weeks after prime minister Sanae Takaichi commented on Japan’s response to an attack on Taiwan.
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CHINA’S CAR EXPORTS TOP ONE MILLION FOR THE FIRST TIME
In June, China’s carmakers exported 1.06 million passenger vehicles, a 71.2-percent increase from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported.
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CHINA’S SECOND-QUARTER GROWTH SLOWEST IN MORE THAN THREE YEARS
China’s economy expanded by 4.3 percent in this year’s second quarter, the slowest since early 2023, well under the first quarter’s 5-percent bump and below the bottom of Beijing’s 2026 forecast of “4.5 to 5 percent.”
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BRAZIL’S DIGITAL PAYMENT SYSTEM PROMPTS 25-PERCENT U.S. TARIFF
A key reason for Donald Trump’s new 25-percent tariff on Brazil’s exports to the U.S. is Pix, the country’s wildly popular digital payments system.
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U.K. BORROWING COSTS RISE ON RENEWED MIDEAST WAR
The yield on the U.K.’s ten-year bond rose briefly to 5.05 percent on 15 July as fighting intensified along the Persian Gulf.
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RENEWED PERSIAN GULF FIGHTING BRINGS OIL CRISIS CLOSER
The return to all-out war in the Mideast will cut off oil supplies from the region at a time when the world no longer has the reserves that shielded the global economy from a fuel crisis so far, oil traders are warning.
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GOING OUT OF BUSINESS TRENDS
America’s economic decline continues to spread beyond layoffs and into a more troubling trend: businesses shutting their doors for good.
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WHEN THE ECONOMY FALLS, JOBS GO WITH IT
America’s job market keeps flashing warning signs as layoffs spread across banking, technology, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, media, and education.
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COMPANIES SCRAMBLE TO COPE WITH WAR’S FALLOUT
For businesses, the Iran War’s twin legacies will be higher prices and lingering uncertainty.