Economy
Ryanair profits plunge by over 30% on fuel cost spike, lower fares
Ryanair’s profit slumped by more than a third on higher fuel costs and weaker fares in the April-June quarter, the Irish no-frills airline said on Monday, while summer fares look set to fall amid consumer nervousness around the Iran war and broader economy.
The weak results for Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, are the latest sign of how the five-month-old Iran war is turning up the pressure on companies as peace talks drag and oil prices remain elevated.
On Monday, U.S. forces hit Iran for a ninth consecutive day as part of an escalating cycle of attacks between the pair after an interim cease-fire agreement signed a month ago unraveled, pushing oil prices back up.
Ryanair shares were down 6% at 24.36 euros at 8 a.m. Rivals Wizz, Lufthansa, British Airways’ owner IAG and Air France- KLM were also all lower.
“The price of our 20% unhedged fuel doubled in the quarter and fares fell 6%, primarily we think due to the impact of the Middle East conflict” and the timing of Easter, Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said in a video presentation.
Fares “required stimulation as the Middle East conflict led to consumer hesitancy, concerns about EU jet-fuel shortages, economic uncertainty and later bookings,” O’Leary said.
Fares ‘trending modestly down’
The Irish airline reported after-tax profit of 538 million euros ($616 million) for its fiscal first quarter through June 30, down 34% from the previous year and short of a forecast of 579 million euros in a company poll of analysts.
The airline said it was too early to forecast profit for the full year, which would depend heavily on last-minute bookings over the remainder of the summer.
O’Leary added that Ryanair’s net profit for the remainder of its financial year “remains highly sensitive to… conflict escalation in the Middle East and Ukraine, the price of unhedged jet-fuel, macro-economic shocks” and European air traffic control strikes.
The company said it was better positioned than most rivals because 80% of its fuel requirements to the end of March are hedged at $67 per barrel, compared to recent peaks around $150.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Neil Sorahan said the airline stepped in to hedge 15% of its fuel needs for the year to end-March 2028 at $85 per barrel following an interim cease-fire between Iran and the United States that has since unraveled.
Capacity falls, fare increases seen in coming year
Weakness in fares is likely to be short-lived, however, as European aviation is facing a wave of consolidation and airlines going bust that will take out capacity, Sorahan said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number of casualties this winter … there are a few people very much on the edge,” Sorahan said in an interview.
He said he expected “significant capacity” to be cut in Europe this winter, “which could be positive for pricing,” and a lot more may be taken out in summer 2027.
The possible sale of British rival easyJet, which is the subject of a bidding war, could also lead to a reduction in capacity and could trigger a “domino effect” of consolidation in Europe, Sorahan said.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said Tuesday that 85 suspects had been arrested so far in the investigation into Türkiye’s fund turmoil, and that five people had already handed back money they made through what he called “unjust gains.”
Gürlek said authorities would recover such profits from others who made them through market manipulation.
Regulators last month ordered the liquidation of over 130 investment funds managed by seven asset managers following warnings by some that they could not meet redemption payments.
Authorities have widened their investigation into suspected market manipulation in stocks and fund markets.
Legal action has been taken against 207 people in total, with measures imposed on the assets of many of them, Gürlek told Anadolu Agency (AA).
The funds ordered to be wound down had reached more than $20 billion in assets over just three years. About half a million investors have been affected.
Türkiye’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) has opened accounts for investors seeking to return what authorities describe as “excessive gains” from fund sales.
Gürlek said five people had returned their unjust gains so far. Reports said among them was Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, who resigned as a deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) after she and her husband were alleged to have made substantial profits trading shares ahead of the turmoil.
Profits made by people who earned excessive gains over a short period would be transferred to a fund set up within the TMSF, the minister said.
“We will pursue our rights to the end within the framework of the law,” Gürlek said.
Gürlek drew a line between two kinds of earnings. Legitimate profit, he said, comes from citizens putting their savings into stocks and the stock market. The other kind came from so-called “bubble” stocks, where traders made abnormal profits by moving in and out quickly.
He said investigators had found that some people in closed and open funds had acted on tips and inside information, and used manipulative trades to make “extraordinary” profits over a short time.
He said the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office, working with data from the Capital Markets Board (SPK), Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange and the Central Registry Agency, had frozen the assets of people who made abnormal gains.
Some of them had been arrested, he said, and others had fled. He said the process was continuing.
Gürlek said his ministry first noticed unusual movement in some funds and shares in February 2025 and wrote to the SPK about it. Citizens’ complaints then increased sharply in August 2026. Permission to investigate was granted later that month, he said.
Gürlek said the State Supervisory Council (DDK) had been tasked with examining whether any public institutions were negligent.
He said the Turkish market and economy were very strong and that a problem in a small part of the market should not be generalized.
The U.S. trade deficit surged more than analysts expected in August, government data showed Tuesday, hovering at its widest level since March 2025, driven by imports of oil and advanced tech products like chips.
The trade gap in the world’s biggest economy jumped 13.7% to $105.6 billion, according to Commerce Department data.
This was larger than the $102 billion projected in a consensus forecast released by MarketWatch.
U.S. trade flows have swung significantly since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, as businesses rushed to get ahead of his sweeping, and fast-changing tariffs on trading partners.
The latest figures, which are adjusted for seasonality but not inflation, also reflect a surge in global energy prices from the war in the Middle East.
U.S.-Israel strikes targeting Iran in late February had triggered Tehran’s response in blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for energy transport, which sent oil prices soaring.
Both sides remain locked in conflict.
In August, U.S. imports rose by 4.3% to $420.8 billion, driven by crude oil, gold, semiconductors and industrial machinery.
U.S. exports climbed by 1.4% to $315.2 billion, partially driven by energy exports too.
German factory orders dropped sharply in August, more than forecasted, as large-scale orders for aircraft, ships, trains and military vehicles declined, official data showed Tuesday, underscoring the fragility of a recovery in Europe’s biggest economy.
New orders, a key indicator of future business activity, were down 10.6% from a month earlier due to a drop in large-scale domestic orders, according to provisional data from Destatis.
It was the first decline in four months and more than the 1% decrease forecast by analysts surveyed by the financial data firm FactSet and Reuters.
The long-stagnant German economy has been slowly recovering on the back of massive public spending, with some recent data generally pointing to signs of growing strength.
The economy ministry said August’s order data thus represented a “marked setback.”
The decline was entirely attributable to a 61.5% slump in what the statistics office classifies as “other transport equipment,” a category that more than doubled in July due to an exceptionally high volume of large-scale orders of ships, railway rolling stock and aircraft.
When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders in August were 0.1% lower than in the previous month.
Weak figures likely to drag on Q3 growth
The weak figures suggest industry will weigh on third-quarter economic growth after helping to drive expansion in the first half of 2026, although analysts expect a rebound in the fourth quarter as government contracts pick up.
The German economy grew by 0.3% in the second quarter, prompting the government to raise its full-year forecast to 1.3%.
Much of the momentum seen in German industry so far this year has been driven by defense spending.
“Excluding these highly volatile large orders, bookings in the manufacturing sector have been treading water for months,” said Jupp Zenze, economic expert at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Broad-based economic momentum remains absent.”
Economist points to full order books
The three-month comparison, which strips out some of the month-on-month volatility, showed that new orders in the period from June to August were 1.3% higher than in the previous three months.
Based on the figures available so far, the industrial sector likely slowed growth of the German economy in the third quarter, in contrast to the first half of the year, said Commerzbank senior economist Ralph Solveen.
However, Solveen expects this trend to reverse in the fourth quarter, as the government is likely to issue more contracts, which should have a positive long-term impact on sales and production.
“This outlook is also supported by the significant improvement in business sentiment over the past few months,” he said.
After revision of provisional data, new orders in July increased by 3.2% compared with the previous month, up from the previously estimated 2.5%.
According to the latest data from July, the order backlog provided coverage for a record nine months, said Marc Schattenberg, economist at Deutsche Bank.
“The disappointingly weak August figures should be viewed in the context of already very full order books,” Schattenberg said.
Foreign orders were down 5.4% in August on the month, with orders from the euro zone registering a decline of 5.4% and orders from outside the eurozone decreasing by 5.5%. Domestic orders declined by 17.3% on the month.
Spain’s government on Tuesday approved emergency measures to address the housing crisis, after an outbreak of violence in the coastal city of Barcelona the previous night that drew tens of thousands of people into the streets.
The Barcelona turmoil late on Monday followed protests across the country over the weekend that demanded measures to resolve a crisis sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid, the country’s capital.
In Barcelona, Spain’s second-largest city, a severe weather alert over the weekend had forced organizers to reschedule the protest for Monday. What began as a massive peaceful march turned violent when groups of hundreds of hardcore activists clashed with police, throwing stones and setting fire to trash containers.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government approved measures similar to those rejected by Parliament last Friday, which prompted his call for early elections on Nov. 29. The measures will be sent for ratification by an interim legislature, which remains active until the elections.
The smaller, interim legislature – known as “permanent commission” – is composed of 69 members, compared to the 350 that sit in the regular Parliament.
Alejandro Quiroga, professor of political science at Madrid’s Complutense University, said the maneuver of having decrees approved by the interim legislature was constitutional but also a necessary political move by Sanchez.
“I don’t think Sanchez had an alternative,” Quiroga told the Associated Press (AP). “If you are calling early elections so you can keep the public’s focus on housing, you can’t just sit back and do nothing about it. That wouldn’t have been smart.”
The new measures are to extend protection against evictions for vulnerable Spaniards until 2030, regulate room rentals, impose a new tax on seasonal rentals, ban speculative real estate purchases and give tax breaks to landlords, Housing Minister Isabel Rodriguez told reporters last week.
Rising costs and a housing shortage are pricing many Spaniards out of the housing market, despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy.
The protesters have been demanding stronger protections for tenants, measures to combat fraud and a ban on evictions when alternative housing is unavailable.
Dario Amodei took home $18 million last year as chief executive of Claude AI developer Anthropic, according to the company’s IPO filing, putting his compensation roughly in the middle tier among leading technology executives.
Anthropic is preparing for an initial public offering as early as this fall that could value it at more than $2 trillion, according to its IPO prospectus reported by Reuters. Amodei’s pay last year puts him above CEOs at Alphabet and Amazon, but behind those at Oracle and Nvidia.
Amodei’s pay leans heavily toward stock and other sorts of compensation, suggesting that, like many other tech founders, his yearly salary will account for just a fraction of his wealth.
Amodei and his sister, Anthropic President Daniela Amodei, each had their annual salaries doubled in July to $1.4 million. Stock and options awards made up the bulk of their packages in 2025, with Daniela Amodei receiving a total of $16.4 million last year.
Anthropic’s board this year granted the pair the promise of further equity in the form of restricted stock units, which promise a future payout if certain conditions are met. Some of that is tied to their remaining at the company, and some of it is tied to the IPO.
Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao earned $720,250 last year. He was granted options to buy 1.4 million shares when he was hired in 2024, and exercised options worth $385,285 in 2025.
Middle of the pack
The rise in U.S. CEO pay in recent years has far outpaced the gains for the average worker, a dynamic critics worry could be exacerbated by AI’s widespread adoption.
S&P 500 CEO average annual compensation rose 21% to $22.8 million last year, and that does not include the extraordinary case of Tesla’s Elon Musk and his $158 billion restricted stock plan, according to the AFL-CIO.
Courtney Yu, director of research for executive compensation data firm Equilar, said Amodei’s $18 million haul “seems on the lower end for a company valued at $2 trillion, but it will be interesting to see how that changes once the company goes public” and his full ownership stake is shown.
With six other co-founders, Amodei may wind up getting a lesser share of the wealth created by the IPO compared with other major tech CEOs, Yu added.
Top executives at AI-focused tech firms earned amounts that varied widely in 2025, based on SEC filings.
At the high end, Oracle co-CEO Clayton Magouyrk earned $627.5 million, while the lowest was the $54,080 paid to Musk as CEO of SpaceX, before it went public. SpaceX has also promised super-voting restricted shares to Musk, already the world’s richest person, if the company’s market value grows to $7.5 trillion and the firm puts 1 million people on Mars.
Other giant companies pay less on a year-by-year basis, with executives benefiting from enormous stock ownership while having only salary and security costs reflected in annual filings.
For instance, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai made $10.9 million in 2025, including $8.8 million for personal security “due to Sundar’s significant public profile.” By “compensation actually paid,” Pichai earned $213.9 million last year, which, among other things, reflects the change in value of his unvested shares.
Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy made $2.1 million in 2025, a disclosure said, mainly reflecting travel and security. On an “actually paid” basis, Jassy received $13.2 million.
Living off the stock
Equilar’s Yu said the disclosures show how these executives don’t need to worry about year-by-year pay.
“Founder CEOs typically own enough equity that when the company does well and the stock price increases, they can just live off the wealth of the equity they already own, and typically don’t take in a lot in annual compensation,” Yu said.
Anthropic said in the filing it offered a mix of salary, equity awards, and other benefits. The S-1 statement reported by Reuters does not describe the founders’ share of ownership in the company, which could be worth billions of dollars, depending on the final terms and valuation of the IPO.
The Amodei siblings and their fellow co-founders pledged in the IPO filing to dedicate 80% of their personal Anthropic equity to charitable causes.
Asked about the 80% figure Monday, an Anthropic spokesperson noted an essay Dario Amodei posted earlier this year, where he wrote that wealthy individuals have an obligation to help address problems stemming from AI adoption, and decried that many wealthy people, particularly in the tech industry, “have recently adopted a cynical and nihilistic attitude that philanthropy is inevitably fraudulent or useless.”
German factory orders dropped sharply in August, more than forecasted, official data showed Tuesday, underscoring the fragility of a recovery in Europe’s biggest economy.
New orders, a key indicator of future business activity, were down 10.6% from a month earlier due to a drop in large-scale domestic orders, according to provisional data from Destatis.
It was the first decline in four months and more than the 1% decrease forecast by analysts surveyed by the financial data firm FactSet.
The long-stagnant German economy has been slowly recovering on the back of massive public spending, with some recent data generally pointing to signs of growing strength.
The economy ministry said August’s order data thus represented a “marked setback.”
But it also noted that without the fall in big orders, the situation was virtually unchanged from July.
August’s drop was driven by lower domestic orders. There was a more than 60% decrease in the category that includes military vehicles, aircraft, ships and trains.
Orders in this area have boomed in recent years as Germany spends huge sums on its military to face a hostile Russia and amid worries over U.S. security guarantees to Europe.
The ministry emphasized that the growing importance of public procurement meant that orders were “highly volatile.”
On a less volatile three-month basis, new orders from June to August were 1.3% higher than in the previous three months.
The energy shock from the U.S. war against Iran has added to headwinds for Germany’s recovery, but so far the economy has withstood the fallout better than initially feared.
Leading economic institutes recently doubled their growth forecast for this year to 1.3%.
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