Ata mārie and welcome to your Tuesday recap of global business and political news.
First up, Iran confirmed it submitted a response to the latest US proposal, via mediator Pakistan, to end the war in the Middle East, Al Jazeera reported.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said it had entered dialogue with “dignity, authority and the preservation of the nation’s rights”.
“And, under no circumstances will it retreat from the legal rights of the people and the country,” he wrote on social media.
“We will serve the people with logic and with all our might, to the end, and safeguard the interests and honour of Iran.”
On the ground, US Central Command said that the US blockade against Iranian ports redirected 85 commercial vessels from the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also placed heavy restrictions on transit through the waterway.
In developing news, a US jury found OpenAI not liable to the world's richest person, Elon Musk, for allegedly shifting from its original goal to benefit humanity, Reuters reported.
In a unanimous verdict, the jury in California said Musk had brought the case too late, the ABC said.
Musk accused OpenAI, chief executive Sam Altman, and president Greg Brockman of manipulating him into giving US$38 million, then going behind his back by attaching a for-profit business to its original non-profit.
OpenAI was founded by Altman, Musk and several others in 2015. Musk left the board in 2018, and OpenAI set up a for-profit business the following year.
Elon Musk.
The European Union’s growth forecast will be cut because of the Iran war, European economy and productivity commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told CNBC.
The spring forecast will be released later this week and likely to note weaker growth figures and higher inflation. “We are facing a stagflationary shock,” he said.
“We think it’s important that the support measures we take are temporary and targeted, not ones which actually sustain high demand for fossil fuels.”
UK business leaders warned that crime was becoming an increasingly “serious barrier” to growing the economy because of a rise in shoplifting, fraud and cyberattacks, the Guardian reported.
British Chambers of Commerce policy manager Ellis Shelton said tackling crime would help remove structural barriers.
“Bosses are being forced to divert crucial time and money to tackling this anchor on growth. Crime is becoming more sophisticated and there needs to be a step change in the support businesses can count on.”
Russian drones have hit two ships in the Black Sea approaching ports in Ukraine, including a Chinese-owned vessel, just a day before Vladimir Putin heads to Beijing to meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, news agencies reported.
Russia had regularly attacked civilian vessels in the port area of Odesa, a vital maritime hub for Ukrainian agricultural exports, since it invaded Ukraine four years ago.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned a US military assault on Cuba could cause a “bloodbath with incalculable consequences”, amid renewed tension between the two countries, CNN reported.
“Cuba poses no threat, nor does it have aggressive plans or intentions against any country. It has none against the US, nor has it ever had any, something the government of that nation knows well,” he said.
Bilateral relations were at one of the lowest points in decades, with renewed pressure from US President Donald Trump and an energy crisis in Cuba.
To the markets, and Wall Street declined and oil prices rose because of doubts about an imminent US-Iran peace deal, Bloomberg reported. Earlier, the S&P 500 dropped 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.2%, CNBC noted.
West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 3% to above US$109 per barrel, while Brent crude traded up 3% to about US$112 per barrel.
Capital.com senior market analyst Daniela Hathorn said markets entered the week with a more cautious tone. “The key driver remains the interaction between energy prices, inflation and policy expectations,” she said.
“Brent crude has pushed back above US$110 as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz persist and negotiations between the US and Iran continue to stall.”
Elsewhere, clothing firm Lululemon publicly rejected founder Chip Wilson’s ideas to fix the company. Wilson is the second largest shareholder and had nominated three new directors for the board to “redefine” Lululemon, CNN reported.
But in a letter to shareholders, Lululemon rejected Wilson’s nominations, saying that voting for them would “endorse his misguided perspectives” and accused him of attempting to “regain increased influence” over the brand.
“Mr Wilson has shown that he does not have a full understanding of the business today or the brand’s future potential and remains intractably focused on the past,” the company said this week.
And car giant Ford hinted at the return of the Fiesta nameplate and four other new passenger vehicles for Europe as it seeks to reclaim a sales decline lost to Chinese rivals, the Financial Times reported.
Ford confirmed it would manufacture two small electric vehicles using a platform from Renault, with one of those a successor to the Fiesta, according to sources. More than 22 million Fiestas were sold after the model launched in 1976, and it remained the UK’s best-selling used car despite production ending in 2023.
