Chinese factory slump eases, but weak services signal uneven recovery

Amazon (AMZN -0.94%) and Microsoft (MSFT -0.30%) are two of the biggest names in artificial intelligence (AI). Both of these companies have taken a similar path, choosing to integrate AI into their own products but utilize other providers’ models instead of creating their own. They each also have a thriving cloud computing business, benefiting from…

7 August 2026 Chart 1 Total assets of credit institutions headquartered in the EU (EUR billions) Source: ECBNote: Data for all reference periods relate to the EU27. Due to the unavailability of Q1 2026 data for Denmark at the time of publication, Denmark’s Q4 2025 figures have been used as a proxy in the calculation…

Gig platforms offer seamless checkout for buyers, but emerging market payouts remain broken for workers. In June 2026, member states from more than 180 countries convened for the International Labour Conference to determine international labor standards for digital platform workers. However, even with those standards set, payments remain a big issue.  Imagine a freelance developer in Lagos,…