April 20, 2026

06 Market

Blurb:

Restaurants in Mumbai are switching to electric induction stoves for staff meals and looking to tweak menus to conserve gas amid a shortage commercial LPG cylinders that threatens to disrupt their business.

While the government on Tuesday issued an order to regulate supply of natural gas to essential sectors, restaurants say there is no clarity on availability of the commercial cylinders.

As a consequence, as many as 50 per cent of eateries in Mumbai may have to temporarily shut shop, say executives of industry associations.

“We have started using electric induction stove to prepare staff meals, tea and rice based dishes. Some restaurants are looking to restrict their menus,” said Pranav Rungta, vice president of National Restaurant Association of India and owner of Nksha restaurant in Mumbai.

Blurb:

WOLFSBURG, Germany: Volkswagen said Tuesday (Mar 10) that it would cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 as its profit slid to its lowest level since 2016.

“In total, around 50,000 jobs are due to be cut by 2030 across the Volkswagen Group in Germany,” Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said in a letter to shareholders in the firm’s annual report.

The 10-brand group had already struck a deal with unions at the end of 2024 to cut 35,000 jobs by 2030, mostly at its namesake brand, as part of plans to save 15 billion euros a year.

The additional cuts would come from premium brands Audi and Porsche as well as Volkswagen’s software subsidiary Cariad, Blume added.

Blurb:

The open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw has recently gone viral worldwide, drawing significant attention from the tech industry. By enabling AI to move beyond generating content to actually executing tasks, the framework is widely seen as a key step toward the AI agent era. A growing number of Chinese technology companies are actively exploring similar approaches and rolling out related products.

Moonshot AI was among the first to launch Kimi Claw, a native integration with OpenClaw. The product emphasizes zero-code deployment and one-click setup, while also offering free computing power subsidies for OpenClaw calls, lowering the barrier for users. The move has attracted a large influx of users and helped accelerate the company’s overseas expansion, with the number of paying international users surging and overseas revenue surpassing domestic revenue for the first time.

Blurb:

Oil prices surged past $110 a barrel on Sunday evening, topping $100 for the first time in nearly four years, as the war in the Middle East entered its ninth day with no end in sight and the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively closed to tanker traffic.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, briefly topped $110 soon after markets opened Sunday evening, while West Texas Intermediate rose to $109.05. Both benchmarks were trading around $60 a barrel in early January.

President Trump on Sunday night sought to reassure Americans that oil prices would come down in short order.

“Short term oil prices, which will drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat is over, is a very small price to pay for U.S.A., and World, Safety and Peace. ONLY FOOLS WOULD THINK DIFFERENTLY!” Trump said on Truth Social.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela and Iran are the first time that any president has made any progress against China’s decades old effort to peacefully subvert the U.S.

It is no secret that China has two goals: to seize control of Taiwan and to become the lone global superpower by 2049, the centennial of the communist control over the country. China is our primary geopolitical rival, if not our mortal enemy.

Over the past few decades, China has successfully subverted the U.S. through globalization. The U.S. now depends on China for antibiotics, energy, technology hardware and vital rare earth minerals and their processing. China could shut off exports of these and other goods, and our economy, society and security would be crippled.

Yes, China would hurt itself by doing these things, but China is an iron-fisted totalitarian state where any social unrest would be much more easily (read brutally) addressed than in the U.S.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump said oil production is “beginning to flow” from Venezuela as Washington and Caracas work together to restore energy output following the capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, describing cooperation between the two countries as productive.

“Delcy Rodríguez, who is the President of Venezuela, is doing a great job, and working with U.S. Representatives very well,” Trump wrote.

Should the Trump administration lose in the courts and be forced to refund “American” businesses, they are committed to pay interest on the refunds, they informed the courts. Judges have already signaled a willingness to fast-track the process, as we predicted would happen in our report on the Tariff ruling on page 2. In addition to the refunds for U.S. companies, foreign companies are also lining up for their cut of the SCOTUS plunder. Estimates top out at $170 as far as revenues collected through the tariffs so far.

Blurb:

Trump Administration Says It Will Pay Interest on Tariff Refunds – dailysignal.com

The Trump administration will pay interest on refunds for global tariffs if ordered to do so, according to a court filing on Wednesday.

U.S. officials have not committed to full refunds on the money collected from tariffs, as President Donald Trump has said he would find other laws to continue his tariffs. However, litigation and negotiations are continuing on multiple fronts.

This comes less than two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a national emergency law, to impose tariffs.

Brandon Lord, executive director of the trade programs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, wrote in the filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade, “In accordance with applicable law, any validated refund of IEEPA duties would include interest.”

Since Trump imposed the tariffs in a “liberation day” announcement, the U.S. government has collected about $170 billion in tariffs, according to Bloomberg News.

Blurb:

REUTERS—A U.S. appeals court on Monday returned the lawsuits that led to most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs being struck down to the U.S. Court of International Trade, which could determine the process for refunding more than $130 billion to importers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a one-page order granting the motion by importers to send the case back to the trade court, where it originated in early 2025.

The motion was opposed by the Trump administration, which said it wanted the case delayed for up to four months to give it time to consider its options.

Blurb:

Recent developments in the Middle East, including U.S. military actions against Iranian targets and reported damage to key export infrastructure like Kharg Island, have once again drawn attention to the vulnerability of global energy supplies.

Iran’s threats to fire on tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz have created an insurance crisis for shippers, forcing oil prices to rise. At the same time, Iranian attacks on Qatar’s LNG infrastructure led the world’s second largest exporter to suspend production.

A new analysis from Enverus Intelligence Research finds that these events introduce a significant risk premium to oil prices, with Brent crude potentially facing an additional $10 to $15 per barrel if disruptions escalate. The firm’s baseline forecast had Brent at around $63, but prolonged instability in the region could push prices higher as markets price in supply concerns. Given that the Brent price had already risen by more than $9/bbl as of Tuesday, this seems a conservative projection unless the situation is quickly resolved.

Blurb:

The U.S.-Israel war with Iran could disrupt supplies of key semiconductor manufacturing materials, a South Korean ruling party lawmaker said on Thursday, as the conflict in the Middle East entered its sixth day.

South Korea’s chip industry, which supplies around two-thirds of global memory chips, is also concerned that a prolonged conflict in Iran will lead to higher energy costs and prices, Kim Young-bae said after meeting with executives from companies such as Samsung Electronics 005930.KS and trade groups.

Blurb:

It’s not exactly a secret that war can have a debilitating, caustic effect on the economy.

So when Operation Epic Fury commenced over the weekend — which saw joint U.S. and Israeli forces successfully kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as much of Tehran’s leadership infrastructure — it was only logical for people to assume that the markets would have a volatile and negative weekend.

According to The Wall Street Journal, those wringing their hands were only half right.

Blurb:

Because Iran has previously demonstrated its willingness to close the key trade route through the Strait of Hormuz, some media outlets are speculating that oil prices could soar to $100 a barrel or higher. They argue that this could cause a recession in the United States, which would spread across the global economy.

These fears are misplaced. Yes, the price of Brent Crude, the global benchmark, has climbed sharply to around $75 to $78 a barrel. But from the standpoint of economic activity, that is not a particularly troubling price. Several times in the past five years, Brent has traded above $90 a barrel without causing a recession in the U.S. or globally. World markets can weather oil prices in the $70s.

Blurb:

REUTERS—The United States will take action to mitigate rising energy prices due to a spike in the price of oil caused by the Iran conflict, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Rubio said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright would announce the plans on Tuesday.

“Starting tomorrow, you will see us rolling out those phases to try to mitigate against that … We anticipated this could be an issue,” Rubio said.

Blurb:

Like a good neighbor, The New York Times is there… to aid the Democrats in spreading anxiety about our war effort. The lefty newspaper is trying to whip out — get this — economics to lambast President Donald Trump and Israel’s historic military toppling of arguably the most murderous regime in the Middle East.

Instead of celebrating the long overdue elimination of the sadistic Ayatollah Khamenei and liberation of the Iranian people, Times energy reporter Rebecca Elliott whipped out this overly pedantic headline March 1: “Oil Prices Jump After Iran Attack, Pointing to Economic Risks.”

Blurb:

 

A Cheongung missile launcher is displayed during the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX 2025) at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, on October 17, 2025.

South Korean defense stocks saw massive gains on Tuesday after the country’s markets returned from a public holiday, as the Iran war fuels interest in defense names globally.

Heavyweight Hanwha Aerospace, which is South Korea’s largest defense manufacturer, saw shares surge nearly 25%, before paring gains to about 13%, while Korea Aerospace Industries gained more than 12%, but cut those to 2.4%.

Shares in air defense systems maker LIG Nex1 soared 25%, while electronic warfare systems manufacturer Victek and anti-aircraft missile components’ maker Firstec saw shares rise more than 20% and 15%, respectively.

Blurb:

Oil prices rose and stock markets came under pressure on Monday after intense US-Israeli strikes on Iran prompted fears of significant global economic disruption.

Brent crude jumped by as much as 13% during early trading – to hit $82 per barrel, a 14-month high – as the effective closure of the strait of Hormuz, one of the most important arteries for global trade, intensified concerns over oil supplies.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 fell by nearly 2.4% as traders in Asia responded to the weekend’s developments. It later pulled back, to trade down 1.5%. Pre-market trading also put Wall Street on course to open lower on Monday.

Blurb:

 

When your average daily token usage is 8 billion a day, you have a massive scale problem.

This was the case at AT&T, and chief data officer Andy Markus and his team recognized that it simply wasn’t feasible (or economical) to push everything through large reasoning models.

So, when building out an internal Ask AT&T personal assistant, they reconstructed the orchestration layer. The result: A multi-agent stack built on LangChain where large language model “super agents” direct smaller, underlying “worker” agents performing more concise, purpose-driven work.