Economy
Workers in Spain begin first general strike in 14 years
Spanish workers launched a general strike on Wednesday, setting up picket lines across the country in a mass protest largely against the country’s housing affordability crisis. The strike comes a few weeks before a snap general election.
It is the first general strike in 14 years to be jointly backed by Spain’s two largest unions, UGT and CCOO, as well as other labor organizations and tenants’ associations angry about rising rents and evictions.
“We won’t stop until we transform this country’s housing model from top to bottom so that houses are for living instead of being at the service of the rentier minority,” said Alicia del Rio, spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, as the strike began at midnight.
Spain has a deficit of about 750,000 homes, which is set to grow to more than a million by 2028, according to the central bank.
With fewer people able to afford a home, renting has increased sharply, putting pressure on that market. The average rental price of 1,176 euros ($1,315) is equivalent to about 98.7% of a young person’s average monthly salary in Spain, according to the Youth Council of Spain.
Early turnout strongest as ports, auto plants
Plans for massive protest marches in the afternoon were threatened by two storms, dubbed Charles and Bruna, that led weather agency AEMET to issue alerts for 14 regions over strong winds, rough seas and heavy rains.
According to UGT and CCOO, early participation in the strike reached 90% at ports and in the automotive sector, with “total stoppages” reported at factories including Volkswagen’s in Navarre and SEAT’s in Barcelona.
The unions also put early turnout at 85% in the meat industry, 82% in waste collection and 75% in the energy sector. They said participation was lower in healthcare and social services, at 38%, and at 35% in the postal service.
Tensions flared at the start of the strike at Madrid’s Mercamadrid wholesale market, where about 1,000 protesters gathered. CCOO’s Madrid branch said on X that police fired pepper spray at pickets and arrested one of them, with 13 people requiring medical attention.
A police spokesperson confirmed the arrest but not the use of pepper spray, although he said it was used to disperse a separate picket line in the Carabanchel district.
Election gamble
The strike follows weeks of demonstrations and encampments provoked by the eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.
Those protests, along with parliament’s rejection last month of government decrees aimed at curbing evictions and limiting rent pressures, prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an election for Nov. 29.
The government has largely blamed the right-wing opposition running many regions and municipalities for rising rents and insufficient housing supply.
Sanchez, whose Socialist Party lags in opinion polls, hopes to harness voter resentment over housing and shift the political narrative away from a series of corruption cases involving his inner circle and a deadly train crash last month.
But union leaders and many of the protesters have said they also hold the central government responsible for the housing crisis, as well as for Spain’s second fatal train crash this year.
On Tuesday, train drivers walked out to demand more investment in maintenance and safety, causing widespread travel disruption.
Türkiye will keep investing in renewable energy to decarbonize its energy system and expand electrification, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said Wednesday.
Şimşek said the greater challenge is finding the money for such ambitious goals, and that public funds alone will not be enough.
He was speaking at a session on the sidelines of COP31, the U.N. climate conference being held in Antalya, a Mediterranean resort province in southern Türkiye.
Şimşek said calculations show that about $300 billion would be needed to reach the goal of decarbonizing Turkish industry. “We believe this can be achieved, but the key questions to answer are how much it will cost and how it will be financed,” he said, according to a Turkish transcript of his speech reported by Anadolu Agency (AA).
He said Türkiye’s fiscal position is strong. Even though more than $100 billion was spent on rebuilding infrastructure after the devastating early 2023 earthquakes, Şimşek said Türkiye’s budget deficit is about 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Public debt is about 22% of GDP, which he called modest, so the government has significant fiscal room.
To close the gap, he said, Türkiye needs the support of multilateral development banks such as the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as well as the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The aim is not only to borrow from them but to mobilize private capital and reduce investment risks, Şimşek said. By providing guarantees and taking on risk, the banks can open the way for private investment, he added.
Net zero by 2053
Şimşek called 2026 an extremely difficult year, saying the world had faced the biggest energy supply shock in recent history, with significant macroeconomic effects. He said the 2053 net-zero target is very important to Türkiye.
“We are an emerging market and a growing economy, so we have to keep growing. But can you decarbonize while you grow? Can you build your green industry? Those are the questions ahead of us,” he said.
On energy, Şimşek said Türkiye aims to have 175 gigawatts of solar and wind power by 2040. He said a low-carbon path is not an option but a necessity for Türkiye, since more than half its exports go to Europe. The main challenge, he said, is producing energy that is both cheap and clean.
Şimşek said Türkiye imports more than 70% of its primary energy, which accounts for a large share of the current account deficit. Over the past 10 years, he said, the country has paid about $600 billion for imported oil and natural gas, more than its gross external debt.
Expanding renewable capacity is therefore clear-cut, he said, and will strengthen economic resilience. By decarbonizing the energy system while spreading electrification, Türkiye aims to cut its dependence on energy imports and its macrofinancial risks, he said. It also lets the country offer industry cheaper and more competitive energy, he noted, though many steps remain.
Ankara and Riyadh signed a pact Tuesday for the second phase of a deal struck in February to build large-scale power plants in Türkiye, the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said.
Wind power plants are planned with a total capacity of 3,000 megawatts (MW), or the equivalent of a fifth of Türkiye’s existing installed wind power capacity, the ministry said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan oversaw the signing of the deal by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud at the COP31 summit in Antalya.
“We are deepening our strategic energy cooperation with Saudi Arabia,” Bayraktar said, adding that the investments aimed to strengthen grid infrastructure and boost system flexibility.
“With the agreement signed today in Antalya, we are taking our efforts to implement the additional 3,000 megawatts of capacity planned for the second phase a step further,” he noted.
“In this context, we envisage developing wind power plants supported by high-voltage direct-current transmission infrastructure and battery energy storage systems,” he added.
The first phase of the February pact envisages ACWA Power building solar power plants with a combined installed capacity of 2,000 MW in Sivas and Karaman’s Taşeli region.
Bayraktar said he was pleased with progress on the first phase.
The agreements will bring to 5,000 MW the total capacity of power plants to be built jointly with Saudi Arabia.
Meeting Türkiye’s long-term energy targets will need an average annual installation of 10,000 MW of new wind and solar power capacity, government plans show.
Bayraktar said the investments would help expand Türkiye’s renewable energy capacity, strengthen its electricity grid and improve system flexibility while deepening energy ties with Saudi Arabia.
“We will continue turning confidence in Türkiye’s energy transition and investment environment into concrete projects,” he said.
U.S. consumer prices rose faster than expected in October as higher food and housing costs fueled inflationary pressures, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its December policy meeting.
The Consumer Price Index report from the Labor Department on Tuesday also showed a strong buildup of underlying inflation pressures for a third straight month. It followed data last week showing the labor market regained momentum in October.
Inflation is being driven by the US-Israeli war with Iran, which has boosted oil prices, the Trump administration’s import tariffs, resilient consumer spending and aggressive business investment in artificial intelligence technology.
The rising cost of living contributed to the heavy losses suffered by President Donald Trump’s Republican Party in the midterm elections last week.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Tuesday the US central bank should raise rates next month, adding that “a stronger policy move may be needed.” Waller also raised the prospect of an aggressive 50-basis-point hike.
“The Fed seems to be falling behind the curve on inflation, and the October hold is looking like a policy mistake,” said Stephen Juneau, an economist at Bank of America Securities. “We see a rising risk that the Fed will have to hike again in January, rather than March.”
The CPI increased 0.4% last month after advancing 0.6% in September, the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. It was the third consecutive month of gains of 0.4% or more. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI would climb 0.3% over the month. The BLS did not publish year-over-year inflation readings because last year’s federal government shutdown prevented the collection of consumer price data in October 2025, leaving no comparison base.
Some economists used the average index for September and November 2025 to estimate the year-over-year rate of change for the October CPI. Others used interpolated levels from independent sources. Their estimates for the October year-over-year CPI ranged from a gain of 3.9% to 4.0%. Annual consumer inflation was 3.7% in September.
Shelter, which includes rents and hotel and motel rooms, accounted for more than 30% of the monthly increase in the CPI. Shelter costs rose 0.3% after climbing 0.4% in September.
Food prices surged 0.5% after barely rising in the prior three months. Grocery store prices climbed 0.4%, boosted by a 0.9% jump in the cost of beef. Egg prices rose 0.6%, while fruits and vegetables were 0.6% more expensive. Prices for dairy products increased 0.6%. The cost of snacks surged 1.0%.
Rising prices at the supermarket could be an early sign that high diesel prices are filtering through to consumers. The cost of eating out also increased last month, with prices of food away from home rising 0.5% after a 0.2% gain in September. The cost of full-service meals jumped 0.7%.
“This may finally be the beginning of a pass-through of higher transportation costs to grocery prices,” said Stephen Stanley, chief US economist at Santander US Capital Markets. “If this is indeed happening, it could be a feature across a broad array of goods categories.”
Gasoline prices climbed 1.0% after soaring 9.1% in September. Consumers also paid more for electricity. Although diesel prices have eased off all-time highs, they remain on an upward trend, rising 2.7% in October after increasing 11.9% in September.
Consumers could get some relief at the pump, with oil prices down at least 10% so far this month, but the pressure is unlikely to ease elsewhere, economists warned.
Inflation-adjusted average weekly earnings fell again in October.
The so-called core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy items, increased 0.3% in October for the third straight month. The so-called core CPI was forecast to have climbed 0.2% in October. Economists estimated that year-over-year core CPI inflation gained 2.8% in October. Annual core CPI inflation rose 2.6% in September.
Financial markets are pricing in a roughly 89% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike next month, and expect another increase in March, CME Group’s FedWatch tool showed. The Fed left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 3.75%-4.00% range last month. Economists said only a substantial selloff in equity markets or widening credit spreads would prevent the Fed from tightening monetary policy in December.
Stocks on Wall Street were trading lower. They slumped last week after the Democrats’ sweeping victory fanned fears that new regulations could dent the durability of the AI trade, but rallied on Monday as oil prices fell. The dollar gained against a basket of currencies. US Treasury yields were mostly higher.
Underlying inflation last month was driven by a 0.3% rise in owners’ equivalent rent, a measure of the amount homeowners would pay to rent or earn from renting their property. Prices for hotel and motel rooms rose 0.6%. Airline fares increased 0.4%. The cost of recreation services climbed 0.9%, while that of motor vehicle insurance advanced 0.7%.
Doctor visits and hospital services also cost more. But the price of health insurance dropped 1.8%. The BLS updated the data used to calculate this component. Overall services prices excluding energy increased 0.3% after rising 0.4% in September.
Tariff effects were also evident in October. Prices of household furnishings and supplies rebounded 0.7% and the cost of toys increased 1.8%. There were more price gains for computers and peripherals, reflecting the AI spending boom. Prices for smartphones rose a record 1.4%.
There were also increases in the prices of new vehicles and medication. But used car and truck prices dropped 1.2%. Core goods prices increased 0.2% after climbing 0.3% in September.
The missing data from last year have no impact on the calculation of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index readings that the Fed tracks to gauge progress toward its inflation target.
Based on last month’s data, economists estimated that core PCE inflation rose 0.4% after advancing 0.3% in September. In the 12 months through October, core PCE inflation is projected to have increased 3.3% after gaining 3.1% in the 12 months through September. These estimates could be impacted by producer price data for October that is due to be released on Friday.
“Inflation isn’t dead; it is very much alive and the cost-of-living crisis rages on,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS.
SoftBank Group sank into losses for the latest quarter, the Japanese technology company reported Tuesday, as worries about investments in artificial intelligence hurt its bottom line.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. racked up a 1.1 trillion yen ($7 billion) loss for the three months through September, a reversal from the 2.5 trillion yen in profit the same period a year earlier. Quarterly sales rose 16% to 2.2 trillion yen from 1.9 trillion yen.
Analysts say the financial results for a company like SoftBank Group are difficult to predict as it invests in a variety of other companies, including OpenAI and Arm Holdings , whose fortunes tend to be volatile.
Founded by Masayoshi Son, SoftBank was an early investor in internet technology, and has focused on companies related to AI, telecommunications, robotics and e-commerce. It runs a series of investment funds called Vision Fund that center around a portfolio of various technology companies, including startups.
Son, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, boasts a wide circle of friends among American entrepreneurs including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. That is relatively unusual for a businessperson in Japan.
Son also has a highly public friendship with Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang. Son had sold his shares in Nvidia before the revelations of Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese government agent, which Nvidia officials and other authorities said was being investigated.
“I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape,” U.S. President Donald Trump said at a White House briefing on Monday.
The disclosure has renewed concerns about whether China has been able to access Nvidia AI chips.
SoftBank Group stocks, which have lost about a third of their value over the last year, closed nearly 14% higher in Tokyo trading Tuesday, before the earnings results were released.
China’s trade surplus exceeded $1 trillion for a second straight year, according to official data released Tuesday, as pressure mounts for greater balance in trade with Beijing.
Exports in October surged 35.2% from a year earlier, the customs agency said. Exports have grown rapidly this year, supported by high-tech goods like semiconductors and autos.
Imports rose 41.6% year-on-year.
Between January and October, China logged a $1.04 trillion trade surplus, even as the trade surplus narrowed last month to $105.3 billion from $133.5 billion in September as imports picked up pace.
That puts China on track for surpassing last year’s record $1.2 trillion trade surplus in 2026.
“We expect Chinese exports to stay strong for the rest of this year, led by electronics and autos,” said Dave Chia, an economist at Moody’s Analytics.
China’s imports soared in October partly because of a recovery in shipments of crude oil from the Persian Gulf.
Overcapacity in many industries, excess domestic savings and weakened domestic demand are still leading China to ship its goods abroad as some countries move to protect their own industries, said Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis.
The situation is not sustainable, she said.
Businesses are feeling the pressure of ferocious competition as China’s economy has slowed, said Cinders Zhou, who sells eyewear for a manufacturer in Linhai city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.
“It comes down to product quality, or rather the increasing lack of it across the industry, since there’s significant homogenization,” said Zhou, whose company makes frames and lenses sold both in and outside China. “That has forced everyone to compete on price,” she said.
Trade curbs by the European Union pose an important risk at a time of heightened U.S. trade barriers and tariffs, Chia said.
Still, the EU’s trade measures apply to only a small part of China’s exports, said Nguyen Hoang Nam with Capital Economics.
China has insisted it is not seeking to expand its surplus but wants more balanced global trade.
However, strong exports have helped offset sluggish domestic demand. The economy is forecast to meet Beijing’s official target of a 4.5% to 5% annual growth this year, slightly slower than last year’s 5% expansion.
China’s exports to the U.S. grew 32.9% in October year-on-year, building on a low base after China-U.S. trade was hit last year by Trump’s elevated tariffs. China’s exports to the EU in October rose 24.3% year-on-year. They rose 17.2% in January-October.
For the first ten months, the trade surplus with the U.S. was around $266.5 billion, while for the EU, the 10-month difference was more than $310 billion. In 2025, the EU recorded a roughly $410 billion trade deficit with China, or more than $1.1 billion each day.
Figures reported by China often differ from those reported by its trading partner.
Also in October, China’s semiconductor exports soared 137.1% in terms of value from the year before. Exports of autos rose 37.6%.
China’s exports could be vulnerable to setbacks for the artificial intelligence industry, a concern that deepened with the Democratic victories in the U.S. midterm elections given the public backlash against expansion of data centers.
“If the AI boom slows or turns into a correction, lower chip and electronics prices and smaller shipping volumes would hit China’s exports hard,” Chia said.
Trade is likely to be among top issues on the agenda in planned meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit in China’s technology hub Shenzhen.
A two-month extension of a trade truce until January has provided some relief to exporters, though it’s unclear how long that may last.
U.S. and European trade policies have added “a lot of difficulties” for Chinese businesses to expand in the markets, said Wang Xin, head of the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association, an industry group.
Türkiye updated its Green Deal Action Plan for 2026-2030 to strengthen its integration into global green supply chains and align it with its customs union agreement with the European Union, according to the Official Gazette on Tuesday.
The five-year strategic framework, signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, aims to establish global collaborations for the efficient reuse of natural resources.
The update comes as green transition efforts accelerate worldwide, with the U.N. and the EU establishing policies governing the circular economy and industrial decarbonization.
The circular noted that Türkiye has made significant progress in climate legislation and carbon pricing, while “boosting renewable energy capacity, transitioning to a circular economy, and promoting sustainable production practices.”
The new five-year framework is built on a twin transition approach addressing green and digital transformations simultaneously.
The newly established Green Deal Working Group will be chaired by the Trade Ministry or a designated deputy to monitor and evaluate implementation alongside high-level representatives from relevant ministries.
All relevant public institutions will be required to submit annual progress reports for the specific actions under their responsibility.
-
Politics3 days agoTurkish candidate for top UN post reflects Ankara’s reform ambition
-
Sports3 days agoUFC’s Dana White to meet Trump over White House press sec offer
-
Sports3 days agoGalatasaray enter int’l break on high after winning Amed thriller
-
Sports3 days agoTurkish star Arda Güler steals spotlight in Real win over Valencia
-
Economy2 days agoTürkiye, China gather at green development forum, assess co-op
-
Sports3 days agoTürkiye star Arda Güler steals show in Real victory over Valencia
-
Politics2 days agoSea of Friendship: Türkiye, Egypt bond over Med drills
-
Economy2 days ago‘Terror-free Türkiye’ to drive major economic leap: Erdoğan