Economy

Political situation in France
Emergency solution postpones French budget crisis

The French National Assembly has adopted a temporary budget that keeps the state running until January after politicians failed to agree on the full-year budget for 2026, Bloomberg reports.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was forced to request the same emergency solution as last year with a temporary budget law because they could not agree on how much to reduce the deficit in 2026. The temporary law allows the state to continue collecting taxes and borrowing money without a full budget.

The fact that the budget negotiations are now postponed increases uncertainty about how the government will reduce the deficit, the news agency writes.

The temporary law is expected to be approved by the Senate later on Tuesday.

Gold price
Gold price super suite: 50 record days during the year

The gold price continues to surge during the morning and is up over 3 percent at 6 a.m. and is trading just under $4,500 per ounce, after yesterday having passed $4,400 for the first time.

Thus, gold has recorded 50 record days this year alone, writes Bloomberg. The precious metal is up 70 percent so far and if the trend holds, it will be the best annual return in 46 years.

The silver price is also rushing during the morning to a new record level of $69.59 per ounce.

Dollar development
The dollar towards its worst year since 2017: Down 8.2 percent

The dollar is heading for its worst year since 2017, writes Bloomberg.

The news agency's spot index for the dollar, where the American currency is compared to a basket of other currencies, fell 0.3 percent on Tuesday. The dollar is thus down 8.2 percent so far this year and further declines are expected according to Swissquotes Ipek Ozkardeskaya.

“The outlook for the dollar continues to be steadily negative,” the analyst writes in a comment, adding that few are speculating in an upturn.

Options trading also points to an even weaker dollar and another modest decline could cause the currency’s worst year in two decades, according to Bloomberg. 

The future of Meta
Cracks in Meta after AI investment: “Playing poker”

Mark Zuckerberg has invested heavily in artificial intelligence and recruited top names for billions. But development is slow and internal conflicts have broken out, writes SvD Näringsliv.

– It is rarely good for the culture to recruit “stars” for fantasy amounts and at the same time keep existing experts happy, says Johan Nilke, manager of the Lannebo Teknik fund, to the newspaper.

A report in the FT titled “Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s turbulent AI venture” describes a “win or lose” strategy. Meta’s founder seems convinced that the risk is greater if the tech giant does not invest fully. The situation is making investors nervous

“Mark Zuckerberg likes to play high-stakes poker. Others like to do it in Las Vegas. He likes to do it with his company,” a former Meta executive who worked closely with him told the FT.