Since Liberation Day, equity markets have recovered much of their earlier losses, and credit spreads have narrowed to levels even tighter than those observed before April 2nd. However, this optimism hasn’t extended to long-term U.S. Treasuries or the U.S. dollar, both of which remain significantly weaker. This is a strong indication that financial markets are losing confidence ...

Read the 10 key messages below — and download the full report for free We’ve just launched our latest Ortelius study: Critical Raw Materials for Battery Technologies in the EU. (https://ortelius.be/critical-raw-materials/) The report explores Europe’s growing exposure in sourcing the metals that power the energy transition — and what that means for our climate goals, industrial ...

Defying pressures from President Trump to cut interest rates, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its policy rate unchanged on Wednesday. A robust Non-Farm Payrolls report helped tip the scales in favor of this decision. However, placing too much emphasis on the labor market could prove risky.   While the Fed left interest rates unchanged for now, Fed Chair Jerome Powell highl ...

The Investment Opportunity of The Silent Threat in Your Water Imagine this: It’s a crisp Saturday morning, and you’re sipping coffee from your favorite mug, brewed with water from your kitchen tap. Your kids are playing in the backyard, splashing in a kiddie pool filled from the garden hose. Later, you’ll head to the grocery store, picking up packaged snacks coated to resist gr ...

Europe has a materials problem. And it’s getting bigger. As the green transition accelerates and clean tech ramps up, the EU’s demand for critical raw materials is set to skyrocket. Think, for example, of nickel, cobalt and manganese — the lifeblood of batteries, but also the future of mobility, energy, defense, and industrial competitiveness. Yet while Europe formulates plans ...

In August 2024, the share price of Argenx touched 490 EUR. Today, at 502 EUR, one could argue that the stock is essentially flat year-over-year. In early 2025, the stock reached a peak of 658 EUR. However, on 8th May, the stock lost 10.9% on huge volume (129 mln EUR traded on Euronext alone) following the publication of 1Q results (with an intraday low of 467.90 EUR or -14.3%). ...

Insurance is not the most exciting business, but insurers are a key part of the financial system. Below we take a look at some of Europe’s leading players and why boring is good.   Insurers have a long history … Most insurers have a long history. The oldest insurance company in the world – Hamburger Feuerkasse – was founded in 1676 and provided fire insurance. Today’s biggest i ...

Although real GDP Growth declined by an annualized -0,3% in Q1, the first quarterly contraction in three years, this reveals very little about the current state of the US economy or what lies ahead.   A deeper dive into the data uncovers major shifts beneath the surface. Consumer spending, the primary growth driver over the past two years, made its smallest contribution in this ...

Schneider Electric flashed red last week after posting disappointing first-quarter results. While the company is strategically positioned to benefit from the ongoing AI and data center boom, the broader picture left investors underwhelmed. Let’s start with the bright spot: Schneider’s ‘Systems’ division, which includes its high-growth data center business and represents roughly ...

At midday on Monday, the Iberian Peninsula experienced one of the most significant electricity blackouts in recent memory. Both Spain and Portugal were affected by a sudden, widespread power outage that, at its peak, left an estimated 14 gigawatts of demand unmet - roughly the equivalent of 14 Belgian nuclear reactors going offline at once. Some reports suggest the actual short ...