The 55 th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum opened this week with a powerful message and all-encompassing themes. Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, global leaders, leaving no doubt about his message: the undeniable need for, in Schwab’s words, Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.

At the World Economic Forum, President Trump's return to the White House overshadowed traditional talk on climate change, trade and development.

Leading business and political figures attending the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, have discussed and debated topics such as technology, tariffs, climate change, Ukraine, Gaza and the global economy this week.

A speech by the U.N. chief, economic growth potential in places like China and Russia, the challenges of artificial intelligence and leaders from Spain to Malaysia are set to headline the agenda at the World Economic Forum’s annual event in Davos.

Officials reduced the deposit rate by a quarter-point to 2.75% — as predicted by all analysts in a Bloomberg poll.

After lowering key rates in December, the ECB is widely expected to announce another 25 basis points (bps) cut, taking the benchmark rate on deposit facility from 3% to 2.75%. It would be the fourth straight interest rates cut after trimming them in September, October and December 2024.

To slow China’s economic and tech development, the new American administration may employ a combination tariffs, export controls and restrictions on Chinese access to international markets. It is also likely to continue its crackdown on Chinese tech companies.

The economy returned to stagnation as 2024 drew to a close, a blow to its hopes for a recovery as it braces for the possibility that Trump will deliver a long-threatened increase in tariffs.

Bernard Arnault, the billionaire chairman of luxury goods giant LVMH, has voiced his dissatisfaction with France’s economic direction. The 75-year-old,

For the year as a whole, France's economy kept the same pace as in 2023, growing at 1.1%. Alongside a second-straight year of contraction in beleaguered Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, France's weak rate of growth is weighing on the currency area, which is likely to face continued challenges at the start of 2025.

France’s beleaguered economy was given a boost by the Olympics Games in Paris last summer but political upheaval has ensued since then.

GDP was 0.1% less in the fourth quarter of 2024 than the third, as political deadlock took its toll on business and consumer confidence and the glow from the summer Olympics faded.