GoKawiil
Tech News
China's economy grew 4.5% in the third quarter, up from a three-year low but down from 5% in the first quarter, according to official data. Exports of high-tech goods rose 14.3% and production of batteries and industrial robots grew over 29%, while property investment fell more than 20% in the first nine months of the year.
Since October 2025, gold has become the highest-value U.S. export category, surpassing oil, pharmaceuticals, and aircraft parts, with February 2026 shipments possibly setting a volume record. Most of the gold flows to Switzerland for refining, Hong Kong (a conduit to China), and the UK's London Bullion Market. U.S. official gold reserves remain unchanged, indicating the exports are sourced from mine output and recycling rather than government stockpiles.
China's auto industry association reported that passenger car exports jumped 64% year-on-year in September, as domestic sales growth remains weak. Automakers are increasingly turning to overseas markets to sustain growth, even as the EU caps imports of Chinese hybrid vehicles at 350,000 units annually.
China dominates global processing of rare earth elements, materials essential to consumer electronics and US military hardware including F-35 jets and Virginia-class submarines. In 2025 China issued export controls on these materials, then agreed to suspend enforcement until at least November 10, 2026, according to the report.
Germany's automotive sector is confronting a sharp downturn, with European car sales dropping from nearly 18 million units in 2019 to about 13 million in 2025. Rising competition from Chinese manufacturers, new 25 percent US tariffs on imports, and an aging workforce have combined to push Volkswagen Group toward considering shutting four of its domestic factories, a move once thought unimaginable.
A new BloombergNEF report forecasts that US data centers will consume roughly 18 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2035, nearly double its estimate from nine months earlier. That figure would exceed the combined natural gas consumption of Germany and Japan, with grid-connected facilities accounting for the bulk of the growth rather than onsite gas plants built by companies like Meta, Microsoft, Google and Amazon.
New analysis of trade data breaks down the 2025 tariff exchange between Washington and Ottawa into three measurable pieces: duties U.S. importers have actually paid on Canadian goods, Canada's retaliatory tariffs on American exports, and a modeled estimate of how much of that cost gets passed on to American households through higher prices. The household figure is explicitly flagged as an estimate rather than a hard count, since no government dataset tracks how much of a tariff businesses pass on versus absorb.