Category: 3. Business

BANGKOK — Asian shares were mostly lower on Tuesday as the recent rebound fueled by buying of technology shares lost steam.

Markets showed little reaction to the latest step toward ending the U.S. shutdown, after the Senate passed legislation to reopen the government.

U.S. futures were little changed and oil prices slipped.

Shares have been bouncing on criticism that tech share prices have shot too high due to the mania for artificial intelligence, which some have likened to the 2000 dot-com bubble that ultimately burst.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.5% to 50,675.92.

The U.S. dollar climbed to 154.15 against the Japanese yen, from 154.14 yen, near its highest since February. Expectations that the government will push back its schedule for trimming Japan’s huge national debt and boost spending have helped to weaken the yen.

The euro inched up to $1.1563 from $1.1557.

Chinese shares also declined. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index fell 0.2% to 26,595.97 and the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.4% to 4,002.06.

South Korea’s Kospi, recovering from last week’s fell below the 4,000 level, initially rose more than 1% but finished up 0.4% at 4,087.56.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.2% to 8,818.80.

Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.3%, while the Sensex in India shed 0.4%.

On Monday, Big Tech and other superstars of the U.S. stock market got back to rallying, and Wall Street recovered most of its loss from last week.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.5% to 6,832.43, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% to 47,368.63.

The Nasdaq composite rallied 2.3% to 23,527.17.

Nvidia was by far the strongest force lifting the market and leaped 5.8%. It was a powerful rebound after Nvidia and other winners of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology led last week’s drop. Critics say their stock prices shot too high and too fast in the AI mania, drawing comparisons to the 2000 dot-com bubble that ultimately burst.

Drops for several health insurers helped keep the market’s gains in check. They fell as uncertainty remains about whether Washington will extend expiring health care tax credits, a sticking point on Capitol Hill that’s created the longest-ever shutdown for the U.S. government.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Berkshire Hathaway slipped 0.4% as its CEO, famed investor Warren Buffett, warned shareholders that many other companies will fare better in the decades ahead because of Berkshire Hathaway’s massive size. Buffett, 95, is set to step down in January.

Tyson Foods climbed 2.3% after the seller of chicken, beef and pork reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Roughly four out of every five companies in the S&P 500 that have so far reported their results for the summer have also topped analysts’ profit expectations, according to FactSet. Companies usually beat analysts’ estimates each quarter, but the pressure was high this time around because they needed to justify the big moves upward for their stock prices since April.

Delivering bigger profits is one of the easier ways companies can quiet criticism that their stock prices have become too expensive.

In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 25 cents to $59.88 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 25 cents to $63.81 per barrel.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

Unemployment in the UK has risen by more than expected to the highest level in four years, official figures show, amid a worsening slowdown in the jobs market before Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget.

With under three weeks to go before the chancellor’s tax and spending statement, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the headline unemployment rate rose to 5.0% in the three months to the end of September, up from 4.8% in the previous quarter.

City economists had forecast an increase to 4.9%. The official headline unemployment rate was last higher in the first quarter of 2021, during the height of the Covid pandemic.

Liz McKeown, the ONS director of economic statistics, said: “These figures point to a weakening labour market.”

The ONS’s figures are based on its widely criticised labour force survey, which has suffered from collapsing response rates. Experts have argued this leaves policymakers “flying blind”, risking decisions being taken based on flawed data.

However, separate data suggests the jobs market has slowed sharply, as employers come under pressure from tax increase, stubborn inflation, elevated borrowing costs and a sluggish growth outlook.

Figures from HMRC published on Tuesday showed the number of workers on company payrolls fell by 32,000 in October, compared with September.

Reeves is expected to raise taxes in the budget to plug a shortfall in the government finances of up to £30bn. However, business leaders have warned doing so could hit jobs and growth.

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• GCP launches at COP30 as the world’s first global voluntary framework for measuring, managing, and communicating circularity impacts.  
• Developed by WBCSD and One Planet Network (hosted by UNEP) with 150+ experts and 80+ organizations. 
• Empowers companies to cut waste, reduce emissions, boost accountability and improve business performance. 
• Impact analysis: up to 120 billion tonnes of material savings and 76 gigatons CO₂ can be avoided by 2050. 
• Piloted by industry leaders, the GCP sets a new benchmark for credible, comparable circularity reporting. 

Belém, 11 November 2025: The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and One Planet Network (hosted by UNEP) have announced the official launch of the Global Circularity Protocol for business (GCP) at COP30, marking a major milestone in the global transition to a circular economy. 

Developed in partnership with over 150 experts from more than 80 organizations – including leading businesses, policymakers, and scientific advisors – the GCP is the world’s first voluntary science-based, globally harmonized framework designed to help companies of all sizes measure, manage, and communicate their circular performance and impacts across value chains. 

A new era for corporate performance and accountability 

The GCP empowers businesses to move beyond linear, wasteful models by providing practical, standardized steps and metrics for reducing waste, cutting emissions, and creating value for people and planet while delivering business value for all. By aligning with leading global standards, the Protocol enables credible, comparable reporting and supports companies in meeting rising regulatory and stakeholder expectations.

The Global Circularity Protocol for Business sets a new benchmark for corporate performance and accountability. Circularity is no longer optional – it is a strategic necessity for the resilience of business and the health of our planet. The GCP provides companies with standardized, science-based metrics and a clear roadmap for measurable action, enabling leaders to drive tangible progress, build resilience, and deliver long-term value to both business and planet. The scale of the opportunity is significant. Our analysis has revealed that by 2050, widespread adoption of the GCP could save up to 120 billion tonnes of materials – equivalent to one year’s current global consumption – and avoid up to 76 gigatons of CO₂ emissions – equivalent to one and a half times current global annual emissions. I encourage business leaders and policymakers alike to adopt the GCP as a practical foundation for accelerating the shift to a just, circular, and regenerative economy.

– Peter Bakker, President and CEO, WBCSD

Real-world impact and global collaboration 

Piloted by industry leaders and a cohort of GCP Front Runners, the GCP is already delivering results – helping companies identify circularity hotspots and opportunities to drive innovation, and build resilient, future-fit value chains. The Protocol’s collaborative development process ensures it is robust, practical, and adaptable for diverse sectors and geographies. 

The GCP is a powerful catalyst for value chain transformation. It enables companies to map material flows, identify circularity hotspots, and collaborate with partners at every stage – unlocking efficiencies, reducing risk, and scaling impact beyond individual operations. Launching the GCP at COP30 is no coincidence. We’re here on the international stage because the GCP is a truly global solution – it responds to some of the most pressing global risks, including resource scarcity, supply chain volatility, and climate change.

– Diane Holdorf, Executive Vice President, WBCSD

A game changer for credible circularity 

The sustainability professionals, policy makers, and academics that contributed to develop the GCP are calling it “a game-changer for credible circularity,” “the missing link between ambition and action,” and “a roadmap for business value and accountability.” Their feedback continues to shape the Protocol as it evolves to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. 

The GCP delivers what the circular economy has long lacked: a globally harmonized framework to help companies measure, manage, and disclose circularity impacts. This collaborative effort reflects the multilateral ambitions of the Stockholm+50 Action Agenda and of the Global Strategy for Sustainable Consumption and Production launched by the United Nations in 2022.

– Jorge Laguna-Celis, Head, One Planet Network (hosted by UNEP)

At Philips, circularity is a powerful lever to reduce material use and our overall impact on climate and nature, while driving customer value and business success. Healthcare is a material-intensive industry. Embedding circular practices and innovations can help hospitals with reducing their environmental footprint while improving healthcare resilience and patient outcomes. That’s why we collaborated and co-championed the Global Circularity Protocol. GCP1.0 offers a clear and unified approach to set ambitious and adequate goals for circularity – a much-needed step towards a sustainable and healthy future.

– Harald Tepper, Global Lead Circularity, Philips

The GCP is important to TOMRA because it provides a common framework for businesses to measure progress on circularity initiatives. This is vital for ensuring that change can occur at scale, supporting circularity targets and policymaking going forward.

– Tove Andersen, President and CEO, Tomra

The Global Circularity Protocol (GCP) is a strategic enabler for resource-intensive sectors like mining to contribute meaningfully to global sustainability and energy transition goals. At Vale, advancing circularity means transforming extraction and processing systems to maximize material recovery, reduce environmental impact, and accelerate the shift toward low-carbon, circular production models that will deliver the ‘mining of the future’ we are aiming at.

–  Bruno Pelli, Global Director in Mining Technical Services, Vale 

Time to turn circular ambition into measurable business impact 

The launch of the GCP at COP30 is a call to action for business leaders, sustainability professionals and policy makers to adopt the GCP and join the growing community of leading businesses that are accelerating the transition to a circular economy.

We invite all stakeholders – from pioneering organizations and policymakers, to researchers and financial experts – to contribute ideas, pilot methodologies and share lessons learned, as this first version of the GCP is just the starting point of a dynamic, multi-year journey working for a resilient, regenerative economy that benefits people and planet. 

Discover the GCP and help your organization turn circular ambition into measurable business impact. 

The launch was co-hosted by the Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan (MOEJ), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), and UNEP One Planet network at the COP30 Japan Pavilion. 

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Notes

The potential impact of the GCP 

Source: World Business Council for Sustainable Development, & One Planet Network. (2024). Global Circularity Protocol for Business: Impact Analysis on Climate, Nature, Equity and Business Performance. Link 

• The GCP could enable 100-120 billion tonnes of cumulative material savings by 2050 – equivalent to one year’s current global material consumption. 

• Adoption of the GCP could deliver 67-76 gigatons of CO₂ equivalent avoided by 2050, or about 1.3–1.5 times current annual global emissions. 

• The GCP can double the pace at which businesses reach advanced circularity maturity levels, accelerating the benefits of circular business models by more than a decade. 

• The protocol is expected to drive 11-12% annual reductions in PM2.5 air pollution between 2026 and 2050, contributing to significant public health gains. 

• By 2050, the GCP could reduce arable land occupation by up to 2.9% (0.7-1.1 million km²) – comparable to the size of Ethiopia. 

• Circularity, enabled by the GCP, could unlock $4.5 trillion in economic growth and create 6 million new jobs through activities such as recycling, repair, renting, and remanufacturing. 

• These figures underscore the GCP’s potential to deliver measurable, system-wide benefits for business, society, and the environment – making it a critical tool for the global transition to a circular economy. 

Organised crime gangs have begun manufacturing their own branded weight-loss drugs, designed to look like legitimate medicines, in what authorities warn is a significant threat.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the trend had only just emerged, leading them to conduct the largest single seizure of trafficked weight-loss drugs ever recorded by any global law enforcement agency.

Andy Morling, the head of the MHRA’s criminal enforcement unit, said that in the last few months it had seen a new model of production, “where criminals are putting investment into designing their own packaging and branding … and selling it purporting to be a genuine product”.

He added: “That is an unusual model. [What they seized] looked like genuine medicines, but are entirely unlicensed and illegal to sell in the UK. The most recent model, and the level of investment to do packaging and production facilities to sell on an industrial scale – that is undoubtedly organised crime. That is why we are working to eliminate that model before it takes a grip.”

Morling said a product “that sophisticated … is a significant concern” for his unit.

Last month the MHRA conducted its first raid on an illegal weight-loss drug factory in Northampton. It seized tens of thousands of empty weight-loss pens ready to be filled, raw chemical ingredients and more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens due to be sent to customers.

Morling said it had a “significant number” of criminal investigations on its “books” but “do not treat them all as prosecutions”. He said: “We take a proportionate approach to the threat posed … The priority in every case is public safety by removing products from the market.”

The MHRA said the new model of production “gives customers a false sense of security in thinking they are buying a genuine product”. The regulatory authority is analysing the products seized in Northampton but said it would be “wrong to speculate” about what is in them.

Morling said that there was a “blurring of line in what is considered medicine and another cosmetic treatment available these days”. He said that most customers thought what they were buying in the syringes was a cosmetic treatment.

Morling added: “Some of the beauty parlours are selling them in this setting not realising that they are selling medicine that could end up giving them a custodial sentence … In both customer and seller there is a lack of awareness.”

The MHRA said that people were seeing products marketed on social media and also finding out about them through word of mouth and visiting local beauty salons.

Morling said there had been various iterations of how the treatments were produced, beginning with counterfeit versions of Mounjaro and Wegovy brands during spring of 2023.

“They were in fact insulin pens that had the insulin labels removed … The second model we saw in early 2024 were the raw active ingredients either in powder form for mixing and syringe injecting at home or pre-filled generic syringes,” he said.

“The fact we now have a third model [of production] … almost trying to compete with genuine branded product – that is new … That is box-fresh and something we are having to look at – we have not seen that level of investment and sophistication before … That is global organised crime.”

He added: “They looked like genuine medicines but they are entirely unlicensed and illegal to sell in the UK.”

Adding the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab to a high-intensity, cholesterol-lowering regimen reduced the risk of a first major cardiovascular event among adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) or diabetes , according to a preliminary late-breaking science presentation today at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025. The meeting, Nov. 7-10, in New Orleans, is a premier global exchange of the latest scientific advancements, research and evidence-based clinical practice updates in cardiovascular science.

“The results from the VESALIUS-CV trial represent the first demonstration of improved cardiovascular outcomes with a PCSK9 inhibitor, or any non-statin for that matter, in patients without a previous heart attack or stroke who are already being treated with a high-intensity lipid-lowering regimen ,” said lead study author Erin A. Bohula, M.D., D.Phil., an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital and an investigator with the TIMI Study Group.

According to the American Heart Association, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, otherwise known as ASCVD, is caused by plaque buildup in arterial walls and refers to conditions that include:

• Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), such as myocardial infarction, angina and coronary artery stenosis.
• Cerebrovascular disease, such as a transient ischemic attack, ischemic stroke and carotid artery stenosis.
• Peripheral artery disease such as claudication.
• Aortic atherosclerotic disease, such as abdominal aortic aneurysm and descending thoracic aneurysm.

Currently, ASCVD-related conditions remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally.

The VESALIUS-CV trial examined if adding evolocumab, a non-statin PCSK9 inhibitor medication to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), to existing cholesterol treatment reduced the risk of a first major cardiovascular event in people with ASCVD or diabetes who had no history of a major CV event, such as heart attack or stroke.

After an average of 4.6 years of follow-up, the study found:

• Patients in the evolocumab group had a significantly reduced risk of the dual primary endpoints: by 25% for coronary heart disease deaths, heart attack or ischemic stroke and by 19% for coronary heart disease death, heart attack, ischemic stroke or ischemia-driven arterial revascularization, compared to patients in the placebo group.
• There was also a 27% reduction in cardiovascular death, heart attack or ischemic stroke and a 36% reduction in heart attack among participants in the evolocumab group, compared to placebo.
• Nominally lower rates of death from cardiovascular causes (2.8% versus 3.6%, respectively) and death from all causes (7.9% versus 9.7%, respectively) were noted in the evolocumab group compared to the placebo group.
• Findings for the dual primary endpoints were consistent across key subgroups, including in participants with high-risk diabetes without qualifying ASCVD, which represented one-third of the total study population.
• In a sub-study that evaluated participants’ lipids measures over time, the median LDL-C at enrollment was 115 mg/dL. At 48 weeks, LDL-C was lowered by nearly 55% in the evolocumab group, resulting in a median LDL-C level of 45 mg/dL.
• In contrast, LDL-C levels remained elevated among those in the placebo group, at a median of 109 mg/dL.

“Interestingly, the magnitude of cardiovascular benefit per unit of LDL-C reduction is similar to what has been observed in statin trials, as described by the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ Collaboration,” said Bohula.

We suspect this is related to the longer follow up in our study, as compared to prior, shorter PCSK9 inhibitor trials, that may have underestimated the long-term clinical benefit. It has been well-described that there is a delay in the onset for cardiovascular benefits from lowering LDL-C levels, and it takes time for these benefits to be measurable.”

Erin A. Bohula, Assistant Professor, Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital 

Study details, background and design:

• The study included 12,257 adults who were an average age of 66 years old.
• Of the participants, 43% were women, and the majority (93%) of participants self-identified as white, and about 17% self-reported their race as Hispanic or Latino.
• The study was conducted at 745 health care sites in 33 countries including the U.S. between June 2019 and November 2021.
• Participants were eligible for the study if they had an LDL-C of at least 90 mg/dL (or met non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or apolipoprotein B criteria), met study inclusion criteria for atherosclerosis (coronary artery, peripheral artery or cerebrovascular disease) or high-risk diabetes, and had at least one other cardiovascular risk factor. Patients with a prior heart attack or stroke were excluded.
• At the start of the study, about two-thirds of the participants met the study inclusion criteria for atherosclerosis (without a prior heart attack or stroke), and 50% met inclusion criteria for diabetes; the average level LDL-C level was 122 mg/dL; the average level of apolipoprotein-B (Apo-B) was 101 mg/dL; and 72% of participants were on a high-intensity lipid-lowering regimen.
• Participants were randomized to one of the two treatment groups: 140 mg of evolocumab injected under the skin every two weeks, or a placebo also injected every 2 weeks, for the duration of the trial, an average of 4.6 years.

The study had several limitations to note. There was a small group of patients (8%) who were not being treated with any cholesterol-lowering treatment at the beginning of the study. The authors noted that the majority of patients (72%) were on a high-intensity regimen when they enrolled in the trial. In addition, the researchers suggest future studies including adults from various racial and ethnic backgrounds are needed to confirm if these findings apply across diverse populations.

“Together with data from genetic studies of PCSK9 variants and other PCSK9 inhibitor outcomes studies, our findings suggest that long-term lowering with PCSK9 inhibitors can help to improve cardiovascular morbidity and potentially mortality over time. The findings also support the use of intensive LDL-C lowering to achieve targets of around 40 mg/dL to help prevent a first major cardiovascular event ,” said Bohula.

Evolocumab is a newer type of cholesterol-lowering medication called a PCSK9 inhibitor that binds to and inactivates a protein in the liver to lower LDL cholesterol. Evolocumab is FDA-approved to treat high LDL-C levels; however, PCSK9 inhibitors may not be covered by some health insurance plans, which may be a barrier for some people. Other research studies have confirmed that evolocumab reduces the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in people who have ASCVD, peripheral artery disease (PAD) with symptoms or have had a prior heart attack or stroke.