Private equity firm BlackRock reported assets under its management at the end of the third quarter were valued at $13.46 trillion, compared to $11.48 trillion a year earlier.
Category: TRENDS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC FRONT – Oct 21 2025
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SPOTLIGHT: TRUMP’S TARIFF WAR
Tariff rates and targets change so frequently that not even Trump can keep track of them.
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SPOTLIGHT: DANGERS IN THE PRIVATE CREDIT MARKET
The private credit market has ballooned in recent years, reaching an estimated $3 trillion at the beginning of 2025.
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TOP TREND 2024, EV GO FU: GM WRITES OFF $1.6 BILLION AS FEDERAL EV TAX CREDIT ENDS
General Motors will take a $1.6-billion charge against its third-quarter earnings to recalibrate its electric vehicle (EV) plans now that the federal tax credit of up to $7,500 on EV purchases has ended, the company announced last week.
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IKEA REPORTS SECOND YEAR OF SLUMPING SALES
For the second year in a row, furniture retailer IKEA posted sales less than those of the year before. Sales ticked down 0.3 percent to $51.9 billion when currency differentials were accounted for.
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S&P CUTS FRANCE’S CREDIT RATING AMID BUDGET CRISIS
On 17 October, S&P Global downgraded France’s creditworthiness by one notch, citing political instability that is preventing the country’s parliament from resolving a budget crisis.
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CHINA’S CONSUMER PRICES CONTINUE TO FALL AS DEFLATION PERSISTS
Consumer prices in China slipped 0.3 percent in September, month on month, as domestic demand for goods and services continues to languish amid an unresolved, four-year-old real estate crisis that has cut a third or more from home values.
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OIL PRICES SLIDE TO THEIR LOWEST IN FOUR YEARS
A sluggish global economy and rising worldwide oil glut have driven prices for oil produced in the U.S. down almost 20 percent, year on year, to their lowest since February 2021.
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CHINA’S CURBS ON RARE EARTH EXPORTS MAY “BREAK” GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS
China’s new restrictions on exports of rare earth elements crucial in products from smartphones to radar systems and medical devices will lead to “broken” supply chains and hike prices around the world for tech products, industry leaders have warned.
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IMF LIFTS GROWTH FORECAST FOR 2025
The world’s economy will grow by 3.2 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a new forecast, raising its expectations slightly from the 3 percent it projected in July. Global GDP will expand by 3.1 percent in 2026, the agency now expects.