Economy

The development of AI
Google CEO sees EU: "AI must be well regulated"

Tech giant Alphabet has taken big steps in the AI ​​race in the past year and launched Gemini 3 at the beginning of the winter, which, according to many, is even sharper than Chat GPT. Now, top manager Debbie Weinstein, who heads the EMEA region, is criticizing the EU's AI regulation. In an interview with DI Digital, she says that the law is unclear.

- We have said for a long time that AI is too powerful not to be regulated. But it must be well regulated, says Weinstein.

Middle East crisis Crypto market
Bitcoin rises above $68,000 after Khamenei's death

Risk capital slowly returned to the markets on Sunday morning, after Iran's pro-regime media confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the attacks yesterday.

The price of Bitcoin bounced back over 6 percent on Sunday morning, writes crypto news site Coindesk.

According to the site, trading was thin and driven by “a single headline,” but still managed to add $80 billion to market value in just a few hours.

Meanwhile, IG Markets’ own weekend oil futures instrument is trading up 8 percent, which could give an indication of how the real oil futures will develop when they open in Asia tonight.

Middle East crisis Today’s stock market
Middle East stock markets fall – but Saudi oil giant rises

Stock markets have now opened for trading in several places in the Middle East and this weekend’s dramatic escalation in the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran is leaving its clear mark.

The main indexes in both Cairo and Saudi Arabia fell around 5 percent in early trading, before recovering slightly.

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul reached its lowest level in almost three years this morning, according to Tradingview. A couple of hours later, the broad index Tasi was down just over 2 percent.

All sectors weigh on the index – the exception is the energy sector, where Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco is up just over 2.5 percent.

Western stock markets are also expected to open in the red tomorrow.

“We are following developments, but an initial and potentially short-term reaction should be negative with a flight to safer assets,” writes Jon Arnell, investment manager at von Euler & Partners, in an email to TT.

On Wall Street, Natixis strategist John Briggs expects a sharp shift towards safe havens. The strategy “hide first, ask later” will likely apply, he says.

– The scale of the attacks and the Iranian retaliation is greater than the market expected, he tells Bloomberg.

Middle East Crisis  Electricity Prices
Energy Economist: Expect 10-20 öre higher electricity prices

Evaluators fear that this weekend's attacks on Iran could lead to major disruptions in both the extraction and delivery of fossil gas, which is expected to lead to price increases.

Swedish households may also be affected by the higher prices, at least indirectly. Germany uses gas to produce electricity, states Nibes energy economist Claes Hemberg for Expressen.

- Somewhere around 10-20 öre higher electricity prices can be expected.

At the same time, he emphasizes that the weather is starting to get warmer, which will mean that the price increase will not be a shock. 

Middle East crisis Iran attack
Accounts made millions on dubious betting on Iran

Betting on when the US would strike Iran increased in activity on the betting site Polymarket ahead of the attack. Six specific accounts made around $1 million – equivalent to just over 9 million kronor – from the betting. Bloomberg writes, citing an analysis from Bubblemaps.

Several “bets” were placed just hours before the first explosions were heard in Tehran.

All six accounts were started in February and have only been betting on when US military strikes will take place, according to the news agency.

According to what blockchain experts are looking at, the procedure follows the pattern of insider trading. Similar patterns were seen before the US arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.