Top economies must rebuild public finances

Top economies must rebuild public finances

The IMF has forecast that borrowing among advanced economies will reach 5.2% of GDP this year, its highest level since 2021. Global public debt is on course to approach 100% of GDP later this decade, raising sovereign risk concerns. Meanwhile, higher energy prices and resilient growth have pushed government borrowing costs to multi-decade highs, the Financial Times reported. “The global economy has been resilient but that resilience is reaching its limits,” IMF chief economist Silvana Tenreyro said at a press conference.

Why Cathie Wood is lukewarm on China tech

ARK Invest co-founder Cathie Wood is avoiding traditional memory-chip makers, warning that China’s expanding production capacity could intensify price volatility in the cyclical industry. While demand for high-bandwidth memory remains strong, new Chinese competitors could disrupt established suppliers. Wood also expressed limited enthusiasm for China’s broader technology sector, citing persistent deflationary pressures and the prolonged property slump, according to Seeking Alpha.

EPIC news from AMAT

Applied Materials [AMAT] has unveiled its $5bn EPIC Center in Sunnyvale, California, a 600,000-square-foot semiconductor R&D facility designed to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) chip innovation. The site will bring chipmakers, equipment suppliers and university researchers together to develop next-generation technologies. Founding partners include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company [TSM], Intel [INTC], Samsung Electronics [SSNLF], Micron Technology [MU] and SK Hynix [SKHY].

Compute-hungry China turns to Nvidia gaming chips

Chinese technology companies have bought more than 1m Nvidia [NVDA] gaming and workstation chips this year, using them to help meet surging AI computing demand amid a shortage of domestic alternatives. The purchases highlight Nvidia’s continued role in China despite US export restrictions and Beijing’s efforts to reduce reliance on the US chipmaker. China has more than doubled domestic AI chip production this year, but demand continues to outpace supply, the Financial Times outlined.

Can cell therapy deliver commercial growth for Iovance?

Iovance Biotherapeutics [IOVA] raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $410-420m on 29 September as demand for its Amtagvi cell therapy and Proleukin drove record quarterly product revenue. The stock is now up more than 430% year to date. With the shares on a P/S ratio of nearly 13 and the company still loss-making, Aureon weighs that commercial momentum against execution risks and competition from Immunocore [IMCR] and Bristol-Myers Squibb [BMY].

Weaponising space

Czech defence billionaire Michal Strnad’s CSG [CSG:AS] has acquired a 9.5% stake in MDA Space [MDA], making it the Canadian satellite and space robotics company’s largest shareholder. The holding was valued at $434m based on Monday’s closing price. The move marks CSG’s biggest push into space, which Strnad describes as a fast-growing defence sector. CSG has also established a dedicated team, citing forecasts that the global space economy could reach $1.8tn by 2035.

Crypto’s post-CLARITY future

The CLARITY Act did not get the votes it needed, but the SEC is moving ahead without Congress, issuing an Innovation Exemption for tokenised stocks and proposing new crypto custody rules for investment advisers and funds. Crypto stocks all tumbled on 16 September, the trading day following the vote; Circle [CRCL], Coinbase [COIN] and Robinhood [HOOD] were notable fallers. Nevertheless, the industry remains bullish, as Aureon explains.