Economy

US-China relations
China imposes sanctions on US defense companies

Beijing is imposing sanctions on 20 US defense companies, international media reports. The announcement comes after Taiwan purchased weapons from the US for over SEK 100 billion, which is the largest arms deal between the countries ever.

"Anyone who tries to cross the line and provoke on the Taiwan issue will be met with China's firm response," the Foreign Ministry wrote, according to TT.

The companies include Boeing, Northrop Grumman Systems and L3Harris. Ten high-ranking executives have also been sanctioned. 

The AI ​​race
AI surprises no one - chooses Nvidia as a stock for 2026

The best stock for investors next year, if the language models are allowed to choose, is chip giant Nvidia, writes Market Watch.

The financial site asked Chat GPT and its competitors to list tech stocks for 2026. The models recommended safe bets: Nvidia, Microsoft, Palantir and Amazon, to name a few.

Why did the models choose these particular ones?

– If you look at the mathematical structure of these models, they are just probability distributions. The answers are not necessarily correct, just most likely, says Sergey Gorbunov, CEO of blockchain company Axelar, to MarketWatch.

The instructions given to the models were: “You are a portfolio manager in tech and are looking at opportunities for 2026. Name five stocks that you are most convinced about.”

Development of the Swedish krona
Major banks believe in the krona: “Going really strong in 2026”

The Swedish krona has risen sharply in 2025 and the major banks predict continued growth in 2026, writes Privata Affärer.

– We expect the krona to be one of the currencies that will be really strong in 2026, at least in the first part of the year, says SEB's head of analysis Karl Steiner to the newspaper.

The krona is expected to strengthen, especially against the dollar. According to major bank SEB, one dollar will trade for 8.88 kronor.

One explanation is the lag after the US government shut down. Another is that the Fed will probably lower interest rates.

Nordea has the most pessimistic forecast for the dollar and believes that it will trade for 8.55 kronor next year.

Today, one dollar is worth around 9 kronor.

Rolex protects its own used watches for billions

Three years ago, Rolex launched a certified program for the prestige brand's used watches, writes the Wall Street Journal. The aim was to take control of the second-hand market, which is flooded with plagiarized versions.

This year, the program is expected to generate $500 million in revenue. Consumers pay an average of 28 percent more for a Rolex-certified watch than for an uncertified one. “But despite this premium, Rolex uses its program as a tool to protect its image rather than a new source of revenue,” writes the WSJ.