Gold and silver prices have reached unprecedented highs after US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on eight European countries due to a dispute over Greenland.

• Gold touched $4,689.39 an ounce, while silver rose to $94.08 an ounce on Monday.
• The US announced a 10% tariff on goods from countries including Germany and France, effective February 1, potentially rising to 25%.
• Stock markets in Asia saw modest falls, but European markets experienced bigger drops in companies vulnerable to the new tariffs, with the German Dax index falling 1%.

China reported its economy grew by 5% in 2025, meeting its growth target largely due to record exports, despite domestic challenges and US tariffs. However, some analysts doubt the accuracy of these official figures, suggesting actual growth may be lower.

• China's economy grew by 5% in 2025, with growth slowing to 4.5% in the final three months of the year.
• Zichun Huang, China Economist at Capital Economics, believes China's official growth figures "overstate the pace of economic expansion" by at least 1.5 percentage points.
• The country recorded its lowest number of births since 1949, with 7.9 million births in 2025, and its population declined for the fourth consecutive year to 1.4 billion.
• China's trade surplus reached a record $1.19 trillion (£890 billion) in 2025.
• Ongoing issues include a prolonged property crisis, with house prices dropping 2.7% in December and property investment falling by 17.2% last year.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that trade tensions and a potential reversal in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom pose significant risks to global economic growth, despite the global economy being described as "steady" and "resilient" for the current year.

• The IMF projects global growth to reach 3.3% this year, increasing from its previous forecast of 3.1%.
• IMF chief economist Pierre Olivier Gourinchas highlighted the global economy's resilience despite past trade disruptions.
• The IMF emphasized the "paramount" importance of central bank independence for global economic stability, especially following renewed debate sparked by a criminal investigation into US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.