Inflation remained elevated in August even as the pace of consumer price growth from a year ago remains elevated, as the Federal Reserve considers a potential interest rate hike next month.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Wednesday that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – increased 0.4% on a monthly basis and is up 3.4% from a year ago.

Expectations vs. reality

Those figures were in line with the estimates of economists polled by LSEG. The monthly data follows a reading of 0.1% in July, while the annual figure is unchanged from last month’s reading.

So-called core prices, which exclude volatile measurements of gasoline and groceries to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.3% from a month ago and are 2.4% higher year over year. The monthly figure was slightly hotter than the LSEG estimate, while the annual figure was in line with expectations.

The monthly core figure represents a slight uptick after price growth was up 0.2% in July, while the annual figure is slightly cooler than last month’s 2.5% reading.

INFLATION COOLED IN JULY BUT REMAINED ELEVATED AS FED WEIGHS RATE HIKES

The cost of living breakdown

High inflation has created severe financial pressures in recent years for most U.S. households, which are forced to pay more for everyday necessities like food and rent. Price hikes are particularly difficult for lower-income Americans, because they tend to spend more of their already-stretched paychecks on necessities and have less flexibility to save.

Energy prices rose 2.1% on a monthly basis in August and increased 16.3% higher than a year ago. The increase comes after the monthly figure fell 5.7% in June and 1.5% in July.

Gasoline prices increased 3.9% in the month of August and rose 27.4% on an annual basis. Electricity costs decreased 0.2% on a monthly basis and are up 3.8% compared with last year. BLS noted the gasoline index accounted for more than one-third of the headline CPI increase.

Consumer inflation remained elevated in August, with readings mostly in line with economists’ expectations. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Food prices ticked higher by 0.1% on a monthly basis and increased 2.7% compared with last year. The food at home index was unchanged from the prior month and is up 2.2% on an annual basis. The food away from home index rose 0.3% in August and is up 3.4% from a year ago.

The meats, poultry and fish index declined 0.1% from the prior month and is 3.5% higher than a year ago. Beef and veal prices declined 1% in August but are 5.9% higher than a year ago. Egg prices rose 2.9% on a monthly basis and are down 23% from a year ago as supply normalizes after an avian flu outbreak.

The fruits and vegetables index decreased 0.4% on a monthly basis in August and is up 3.2% compared with a year ago. Lettuce prices fell 6.2% on a monthly basis amid a cyclospora outbreak and the index is down 2.2% on an annual basis.

WARSH SAYS FED’S MAIN FOCUS SHOULD BE ON PRICES WITH CENTRAL BANK’S RATE POLICY IN FOCUS

Housing prices rose 0.3% in August while the shelter index is 3% higher than a year ago. Tenants’ and household insurance costs were unchanged on a monthly basis but are up 4.1% compared with last year.

Transportation services prices increased 0.5% on a monthly basis and are up 2.4% from last year. Airline fares rose 2.7% in August and are up 23.4% compared with a year ago amid higher jet fuel costs.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh and central bank policymakers are set to hold their next interest rate meeting next week. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

What experts are saying

“Today’s CPI came in broadly as expected, which on the surface is the outcome investors were hoping for, but it does make next week’s rate decision a jump ball,” said Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo, global head and co-chief investment officer of multi-asset solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. 

“The challenge is that the data does not fully capture some of the inflation pressures that have emerged more recently, and there is little evidence to suggest inflation is returning to target in the near-term. The survey period predates the latest move higher in energy prices, with Brent crude climbing above $100 as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz persist,” Wilson-Elizondo added.

WHAT WARSH’S JACKSON HOLE SPEECH SIGNALS ABOUT WHERE INTEREST RATES ARE HEADED

Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said that “America has an inflation problem and it’s more than just high gas and diesel prices. The August inflation data came in hotter than expected, especially the ‘core inflation’ that strips out food and energy costs.”

“Fed Chair Kevin Warsh says he’s watching how broad-based the inflation problem is. And right now, it’s a wide problem. Restaurants, new and used vehicles, shelter and transportation all had sizable gains in August. The Federal Reserve needs to hike in September to prevent this from worsening,” Long said.

What does it mean for the Fed and interest rates?

The August inflation data boosted the odds of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates next week from the current target range of 3.5% to 3.75%. 

The CME FedWatch tool shows the market now reflects an 85.6% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike, up from 72.4% a day ago and 59.4% last week.

What does it mean for the stock market?

The benchmark S&P 500 Index was 0.91% higher in the morning trading session. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 0.96%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.98%.

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Institutional portfolios typically grow by avoiding problems. Indotek’s has grown by collecting them, deliberately, across three decades and a dozen countries.

“We don’t buy assets that look shiny on the surface and are running perfectly. We prefer to buy property and companies that need attention. We turn them around and thereby generate additional value,” says Dániel Jellinek.

The Shape of a Distressed Sale

Some distressed real estate sale has the same shape. An owner, sometimes a large institutional manager with a mandate built around stabilized income, concludes that a property no longer fits its portfolio. The tenant mix has drifted. The building needs capital the fund cycle does not allow. The local market requires hands-on management that a passive ownership structure was never built to provide. Rather than fix the problem, the owner sells it, at a price that reflects the challenges rather than what the asset could be worth once the issues are resolved.

Buyers who could technically afford that price often still walk away, because owning the discount is not the same as being able to close it. A repositioning plan on paper is not the same as a leasing team that can execute one, development managers that can rebuild a tenant roll, or a relationship with financing partners strong enough to navigate a project through changing circumstances mid-cycle. Indotek’s entire commercial model rests on having built that capability before the opportunity requiring it appeared.

The Infrastructure Behind the Fix

Dániel Jellinek was explicit with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about what separates Indotek’s approach from a purely financial bet on distress: “We are good at the numbers, we are unpretentious, and we look at assets where we can add value.” The numbers identify the discount. The infrastructure is what converts it into a return.

That infrastructure has four components, built over three decades rather than assembled for a single deal. Leasing capability determines whether a half-empty retail asset can be repositioned around tenants suited to its local market rather than the tenants it happened to inherit. Development capability determines whether physical renovation can proceed on a timeline and budget that actually improves the asset’s economics rather than eroding them. Relationships with financing partners determine how smoothly a project can move through the practical realities of a repositioning, a factor that often shapes whether a turnaround is even possible before a single euro of capital is deployed. And use-repositioning capability determines whether an asset built for one purpose can be reconceived for another where the original function no longer reflects the market around it, converting a building’s constraint into the basis for its next use rather than repeating a function the market has moved past.

The criteria that guide what Indotek is willing to buy follow the same logic. “We are looking for solid buildings with potential for improvement and value appreciation in good locations, which we can acquire at a reasonable price,” Dániel Jellinek told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “We implement measures to increase value and then sell the properties on or retain them as income-generating assets.” Solid structure, a viable location, and a price that reflects the operational problem rather than the real estate itself: those three conditions define the narrow band of the market where Indotek’s infrastructure has something to work with.

Problems Money Alone Cannot Fix

Indotek’s core discipline is diagnosing the underlying problem in an asset or business and creating value through restructuring, repositioning, and operational expertise. That capability also extends to situations that fall outside a normal transaction timeline. “If a property developer is in trouble, we turn the situation around not only with money, but also with our expertise and our people,” Dániel Jellinek said. “Even in unforeseen circumstances, such as the death of the owner, we can manage the situation.”

A fund with a fixed investment committee process and a mandate built around clean, bankable transactions has no natural way to step into a situation like that. Indotek’s willingness to do so, alongside its leasing, development, and financing-partner relationships, is part of what makes its turnaround model work.

Romania, 2019: A Major Milestone Beyond Hungary

The acquisition of Promenada Mall in Târgu Mureș in 2019 was not Indotek’s first transaction outside Hungary, as the Group had already completed investments in Spain and Portugal. It was, however, one of Indotek’s first major international acquisitions and an important milestone in the Group’s expansion into Central and Eastern Europe. The transaction demonstrated that the investment and active asset management capabilities developed in Hungary could also be applied successfully in a new regional market.

It could. The Romania deal became the template Indotek would repeat with growing ambition across the region: Greece, Italy, Poland, and Croatia followed, before the Vienna office opened in November 2025. Each new market required rebuilding the same relationships from scratch, with local banks, local tenants, local contractors, rather than relying on Hungarian-specific advantages. The underlying discipline, identifying the asset the previous owner’s mandate could not accommodate and applying the infrastructure needed to close the gap between its current condition and its achievable one, is what traveled. A Hungarian formula would not have.

That distinction is easy to state and hard to execute. A firm that has only ever operated in one market can describe its methodology in the abstract, but abstraction does not build a relationship with a bank it has never dealt with, or convince a local leasing broker to trust a buyer with no track record in that city. Indotek’s expansion required proving, market by market, that the capability behind the Hungarian portfolio was a transferable discipline rather than a set of relationships that happened to work in one country.

A recurring pattern runs through many of the sellers Indotek buys from: sophisticated institutional owners exiting positions that no longer fit their return targets or their current operational capacity, not distressed operators being rescued from failure. What changes hands is an asset whose value has become temporarily inaccessible to the current owner.

The same logic holds outside retail. Indotek’s non-performing loan acquisitions in Spain follow an identical decision tree from the seller’s side: a bank facing regulatory pressure to clear a position it cannot profitably manage internally sells to a buyer equipped to work through the underlying collateral, rather than simply holding the assets itself. Different asset class, different counterparty, same reason the seller walked away and the same reason Indotek did not.

Turning a Situation Around, Not Waiting One Out

Dániel Jellinek draws a sharp line between what Indotek does and passive value investing, buying an undervalued asset, holding it, and waiting for the market to do the work. “We don’t buy cheaply here, wait it out and then sell for more,” he said of Indotek’s approach to a new market. “We come to a market because we know how to turn a situation around.”

The distinction matters because it defines what Indotek actually underwrites at acquisition. The purchase price marks the entry point. The thesis underneath it is the specific, diagnosable problem the price reflects, and whether Indotek’s infrastructure can resolve it faster and more reliably than the market expects. A tenant mix can be rebuilt. A financing relationship can be managed through a difficult stretch. A stalled renovation can be finished. What cannot be manufactured on short notice is the leasing network, the workout experience, and the financing-partner relationships that make each of those interventions credible rather than aspirational.

Where the €2.5 Billion Actually Comes From

The €2.5 billion asset figure is the byproduct of a narrower story: an organization that has spent three decades taking on the specific category of asset that sophisticated institutional owners, for entirely rational reasons tied to their own mandates, choose to sell rather than repair. The Promenada Mall transaction became an important proof point that Indotek could apply its established investment and active asset management capabilities successfully at scale in a new Central and Eastern European market. It has since recurred across Indotek’s portfolio in every market the firm has entered: Spain, Italy, Romania, and now Austria and Germany.

None of those transactions required an exception to a normal investment process. Each required the same underlying capability applied to a different set of local circumstances: read the specific problem correctly, price it accordingly, and deploy the leasing, development, and workout infrastructure needed to close the gap. The capability that makes the pattern repeatable, rather than any single transaction, is what Indotek has actually built. It is also the reason the firm can walk into markets other institutional buyers are still hesitant to enter and treat the hesitation as the opportunity rather than the risk.

Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie drew renewed attention to her family’s ongoing ordeal Thursday when she referred to her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie, using the past tense during a segment about an upcoming trip to Ireland, seven months after the 84-year-old vanished from her Tucson, Arizona, home.

The moment came as Savannah and her fellow hosts discussed plans for the entire Today team to broadcast live from Ireland on Oct. 16. As the conversation turned to her family’s heritage, Savannah began describing her mother’s background before catching herself mid-sentence.

“My mother’s family w-, my mother was Irish, her grandmother,” Savannah said. “They were from Galway.”

The brief remark, delivered in her usual upbeat on-air demeanor, quickly drew attention given the ongoing and unresolved nature of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. A source close to the family has since denied that Savannah’s use of the past tense was intended to confirm her mother’s death, and authorities continue to investigate the case as an active, open matter.

A case that has gripped the country for seven months

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home in the Catalina Foothills area outside Tucson on the evening of Jan. 31, 2026, after being dropped off by her son-in-law at approximately 9:50 p.m. She was reported missing the following day, Feb. 1, after failing to arrive at a friend’s home to watch a church service. Guthrie, who lived alone and was known to be sharp and independent despite requiring daily medication and having limited mobility, had been a regular presence in her community and church before she disappeared.

The FBI has released surveillance images showing an armed individual appearing to tamper with a security camera at Guthrie’s front door around the time of her disappearance, though the exact date and circumstances captured in that footage remain under investigation. No suspects have been publicly named, and no proof of life has been provided by anyone claiming responsibility for her disappearance.

The case took a disturbing turn when a ransom note, reportedly sent to the family on Feb. 6, 2026, claimed that Nancy had died shortly after being taken. Law enforcement asked that the note be kept confidential to protect the integrity of the investigation, and it was not made public until the Pima County Sheriff’s Office released it on July 31. The note read, in part, “We have your mother Nancy. She is safe but scared,” before demanding a payment in Bitcoin and warning that she would be killed if the ransom was not paid. A separate note claiming her death stated that whoever sent it had not “fully grasp[ed] the seriousness of her physical condition.”

Investigators later determined that at least one ransom-related communication was fraudulent. Derrick Callella, 42, of Hawthorne, California, pleaded guilty on July 2 to two felony counts of harassment by telecommunications device after admitting he had posed as a kidnapper and contacted Guthrie’s family seeking information about the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10 under a plea agreement calling for five years of probation.

Investigation remains active, authorities say

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has continued to work alongside the FBI on the case, with officials stressing as recently as early September that the investigation remains ongoing despite the absence of a named suspect.

“The Pima County Sheriff’s Department remains fully committed to the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance,” the department said. “This is an active and ongoing investigation, and we continue to work closely with our partners at the FBI. DNA and video analyses remain ongoing, supported by laboratories nationwide. Advances in technology are aiding investigative efforts, and tips continue to be received and reviewed.”

The department urged anyone with information, however small, to come forward, directing tips to 88-CRIME or the FBI’s tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

A family living with uncertainty

Savannah has periodically stepped back from her broadcasting duties throughout the ordeal, including pausing her coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo to take part in the search for her mother. She has also spoken publicly and emotionally about the toll the case has taken on her and her siblings.

In August, marking six months since her mother’s disappearance, Savannah shared a message on social media describing her family’s efforts to stay strong while continuing to press for information. She has previously acknowledged the possibility that her mother may no longer be alive, while maintaining that the family’s grief has not weakened its resolve to learn what happened.

The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy’s safe return, while the FBI has separately offered up to $50,000 for information leading to her recovery or to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for her disappearance.

Ireland trip carries added significance

The Today show’s planned broadcast from Ireland next month traces back to a 2025 conversation between Savannah and Irish actor Pierce Brosnan, during which she expressed a long-standing desire to visit the country. For Savannah, the trip now carries an added layer of meaning tied to her mother’s ancestry, with Galway representing a direct link to her maternal family history during what remains one of the most painful chapters of her life.

Thursday’s on-air moment, brief as it was, underscored how deeply the search for Nancy Guthrie continues to weigh on her daughter, even during segments unrelated to the case. As the investigation stretches past the seven-month mark with no resolution, Savannah and her siblings continue to balance public visibility with private uncertainty, hoping that renewed attention might yet produce the answers they have been seeking since January.

As Frances Tiafoe continues to rack up milestones on the tennis court, one steady presence has remained by his side through it all: his longtime girlfriend, Ayan Broomfield.

Tiafoe, who reached the US Open semifinals for the third time in his career this September, has been with Broomfield for more than a decade. The couple’s relationship, which began in 2015, has evolved alongside both of their careers — his rise through the ranks of professional men’s tennis, and hers from college tennis standout to entrepreneur and advocate for diversity in the sport.

A Canadian upbringing and a path through college tennis

Broomfield was born Aug. 13, 1997, in Ontario, Canada, and spent her childhood there before moving to the United States to pursue tennis at the collegiate level. She began her college career at Clemson University, where she was named ACC Freshman of the Year and honored as the ITA Carolina Region Rookie of the Year.

After two seasons at Clemson, Broomfield transferred to UCLA, a move she has described as driven by the program’s tradition and the opportunity to help shape its future. The decision paid off. During her senior year, Broomfield and doubles partner Gabby Andrews won the 2019 NCAA doubles championship, marking UCLA’s seventh NCAA doubles title in program history.

“My number one goal for college tennis was to get a national championship ring. look what just arrived,” Broomfield wrote on Instagram at the time, “could not be happier to get it while competing at ucla.”

A brief run on the professional tour

Before enrolling at Clemson, Broomfield made her WTA debut in 2014 at the Coupe Banque Nationale, competing in doubles alongside partner Maria Patrascu. The pairing reached a career-high ranking of No. 467 in the world. She later shifted her focus toward singles competition and, since stepping away from professional play, has built partnerships with brands including Wilson and Athleta.

Her tennis background also opened an unexpected door into film. Broomfield served as a body double for actress Saniyya Sidney, who portrayed Venus Williams in the 2021 film “King Richard.” While on set, she crossed paths with Will Smith and Serena Williams. Tiafoe accompanied Broomfield to the film’s premiere that November, later writing on Instagram, “I couldn’t be happier we was able to experience such a iconic night together.”

How the relationship began

Tiafoe and Broomfield were introduced through a mutual friend and fellow tennis player, Victoria Duval, a story Tiafoe recounted during an August 2018 press conference.

“You know, Instagram these days and, you know, I slid in her DMs,” Tiafoe said. “And then it was quite weird. I don’t usually do it, and we started talking a little bit, and then I asked for her number.”

Their connection moved quickly. Broomfield and her family attended the 2015 US Open to watch Tiafoe compete, a moment he later reflected on with some amusement. “I was like, jeez, we’re not even dating yet, and I’m already meeting your family,” Tiafoe said. “We’re moving quite quick here, but that was another story.”

The couple officially began dating on Sept. 8, 2015, and made their relationship Instagram official three months later, in December of that year.

A partnership built on mutual understanding

Speaking to the ATP in August 2023, Broomfield described how she and Tiafoe complement each other despite differing temperaments, characterizing him as naturally “happy-go-lucky” while she tends toward a more serious disposition. “I think we balance each other out a lot,” she said.

Broomfield’s own tennis background has also made her a trusted sounding board for Tiafoe as his career has progressed. “We can talk about tennis. I mean, I played tennis myself,” she said. “So even just when we’re seeing the draw, and we kind of look at certain players, sometimes I can act as a sounding board for matches.” She added that even when Tiafoe doesn’t follow her advice, the shared frame of reference matters: “I just feel like we just understand it and what it takes for someone to go and be able to compete at the highest level.”

Tiafoe has been similarly vocal about Broomfield’s importance in his life, particularly around career milestones. When he first cracked the top 10 in the world rankings in June 2023, Broomfield marked the occasion with a series of screenshots documenting his progress over the years, writing on Instagram, “I started taking screenshots of different moments and accomplishments a few years ago in anticipation of this day … I am so proud of you.” Tiafoe responded in the comments, writing in part, “Man to think how far we’ve come. 2015 meeting you for the first and also just starting my career. Youve rocked with me thru it all.”

That same year, Broomfield surprised Tiafoe by attending his match at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship without his knowledge. He didn’t realize she was in the stands until the end of the first set. “I also want to thank … my girlfriend Ayan, who I see in the crowd at 1-0. I didn’t even know you were in Houston. I thought you were in L.A.! She surprised me, that’s unbelievable you’re here,” Tiafoe said during his post-match victory speech.

Championing representation in tennis

Beyond her support for Tiafoe’s career, Broomfield has built her own platform within the sport. In early 2025, she launched Ayan’s Aces, an initiative focused on increasing diversity within tennis. The program’s inaugural event brought together more than 100 women of color at the Miami Open.

Since then, Broomfield has continued expanding the initiative’s reach, working to elevate representation for women of color both in stadium suites and at cultural events surrounding professional tennis tournaments. As Tiafoe’s on-court success continues to draw attention, Broomfield’s off-court advocacy work has increasingly become part of the story surrounding one of American tennis’ most recognizable couples.

Janus Henderson Investors exists to help clients achieve their long-term financial goals. Formed in 2017 from the merger between Janus Capital Group and Henderson Global Investors, we are committed to adding value through active management. For us, active is more than our investment approach – it is the way we translate ideas into action, how we communicate our views and the partnerships we build in order to create the best outcomes for clients. While our investment managers have the flexibility to follow approaches best suited to their areas of expertise, overall our people come together as a team. This is reflected in our Knowledge. Shared ethos, which informs the dialogue across the business and drives our commitment to empowering clients to make better investment and business decisions.www.janushenderson.com

Kuwait International Airport remains open and operating flights today, continuing months of restricted but functional service that has followed a series of Iranian attacks on the facility earlier this year during the broader regional conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.

The airport, commonly known by its code KWI, is running operations through two active passenger terminals — Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 — while Terminal 1 remains closed for repairs following direct damage sustained during Iranian drone and missile strikes. Kuwait Airways operates out of Terminal 4, while Jazeera Airways uses Terminal 5, alongside a growing number of returning international carriers, according to travel-advisory trackers monitoring the airport’s operations throughout the year.

A year of disruption traced to February

The disruptions affecting Kuwait’s main airport trace back to Feb. 28, when Iran launched “Operation True Promise IV” in response to Israeli and American strikes under operations known as Roaring Lion and Epic Fury. The Iranian campaign targeted regional states hosting U.S. military assets, including Bahrain’s Navy 5th Fleet, the United Arab Emirates’ Dhafra Airbase and Qatar’s Al-Udeid Airbase. Kuwait International Airport was targeted as a logistics hub tied to coalition transport, and Kuwaiti airspace shut down entirely on the first day of the conflict alongside other airspaces in the region.

In the weeks that followed, the airport sustained repeated damage. A drone strike hit Terminal 1, causing minor injuries to several employees and structural damage to the building, according to Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation. On March 8, a wave of drones and missiles targeted the airport again, igniting a large fire in one of its fuel storage tanks. Four days later, on March 12, another strike caused material damage near the site, severing several power lines when struck by drone debris. By the night of March 14, the DGCA reported that drones had struck the airport’s primary surveillance radar system.

The intensity of the campaign forced a total suspension of commercial aviation in Kuwaiti airspace for a period, with local carriers such as Jazeera Airways diverting operations to Qaisumah International Airport in Saudi Arabia, roughly a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Kuwait. At the height of the conflict, Kuwait’s national carriers were at times forced to reroute flights entirely through Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia, requiring passengers to complete lengthy bus transfers to reach their actual flights. Most operations have since returned directly to Kuwait.

A brief closure in June, then reopening

The airport also faced a precautionary shutdown in June, when Iran launched renewed drone and missile attacks on Kuwait as part of the wider conflict. One person was killed and a dozen others were injured in the resulting violence, and flights headed toward Kuwait were rerouted to destinations including Doha, Dubai and Riyadh. Kuwait’s DGCA reopened the airport the following day, announcing on social media the “return of air traffic in Kuwaiti airspace to normal” while noting that authorities were “closely monitoring the situation around the clock in continuous coordination with relevant authorities inside and outside the State of Kuwait, to ensure the highest levels of safety and security in the airspace.”

Current conditions: open, but not normal

Despite the repeated disruptions, Kuwait International Airport has generally returned to functional operations between incidents throughout the year, according to multiple travel-advisory trackers, with its two active terminals handling both domestic carriers and a growing list of returning international airlines, including Emirates, flydubai, Air Arabia and Oman Air.

Kuwaiti airspace is currently open for arrivals and departures, but it remains closed to overflights, and each arrival and departure requires prior approval from authorities. That arrangement continues to produce day-to-day delays, and travel trackers advise passengers to treat departure times as provisional until confirmed directly by the airline. Kuwait Airways is currently flying out of Terminal 4 to destinations across Europe, Turkey, India and the Gulf, with routes in early September including Paris, Munich, Istanbul, Mykonos and Lahore outbound, and Delhi and Kochi inbound.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has issued a conflict-zone advisory recommending that operators avoid the Kuwaiti flight information region entirely at any altitude, citing renewed military activity following the breakdown of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire in July and continued attacks around the Strait of Hormuz. According to OPSGROUP, an organization that tracks international airspace risk, Kuwait remains closed to overflights until at least Oct. 2, with only flights arriving at or departing from Kuwait allowed, subject to prior approval.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait has maintained a Level 3 travel advisory urging Americans to “reconsider travel” to the country, with no recent change to that risk level. In a security alert issued this month, the embassy advised Americans traveling to or from the region to “monitor information about airport and airline operations,” warning that Iran and allied groups “may target other U.S. interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world.”

Rebuilding and expansion continue

Separate from the immediate repair effort at Terminal 1, Kuwait has continued advancing a long-planned expansion of its aviation infrastructure. A new Terminal 2, designed by the architecture firm Foster + Partners, is expected to become operational in the final quarter of the year, according to DGCA officials. The expansion is intended to significantly boost the airport’s passenger handling capacity, from roughly 16 million passengers annually to an estimated 25 million, with a maximum design capacity of 27 million. Officials have also highlighted an adjoining Air Cargo City facility, described as one of the largest cargo hubs in the Middle East and capable of accommodating more than 77 large cargo aircraft.

The DGCA has undertaken 13 major infrastructure projects tied to the airport’s modernization, including reconstruction of its central and eastern runways, which officials say will become operational following full activation of a third runway in the coming period.

For now, travelers flying in or out of Kuwait are advised to reconfirm their routes directly with airlines, particularly if tickets were booked months in advance, as the network has been rebuilt in phases since the conflict began. Delays remain frequent even as outright cancellations have become less common, reflecting an airport that is functioning but still operating under the shadow of an active regional conflict.

For Gerald Gan, chief investment officer at the Singapore-based firm, it was an easy call. “There isn’t much going on for a good India story,” Gan said. “It is more the growth story that is withering away for India.”

Gan’s views echo the growing skepticism toward Indian equities among a section of global money managers, who cite the absence of an artificial-intelligence investment theme and lukewarm corporate earnings as reasons to either cut their allocations or completely exit the $5.1 trillion market. As a result, foreign portfolio ownership of companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. has tumbled to a 17-year low.

Bloomberg

The retreat marks a stark reversal for a market that was one of the world’s hottest investment destinations not long ago. India now ranks the least-favored market in Asia, according to a recent Bank of America investor survey. Money managers at Janus Henderson Investors and Vantage Point Asset Management said the funds have pared India exposure to zero in the past year or so.
Whereas India’s economic growth rate — one of the highest globally — and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s infrastructure build-out were the key attractions just a few years ago, that promise pales beside the returns generated from AI plays in South Korea and Taiwan.

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Indian equities trade at about 17.6 times forward earnings — slightly below their historic average — but still remain significantly more expensive than their emerging market peers. The NSE Nifty 50 Index still commands a 77% valuation premium to MSCI Inc.’s emerging-market benchmark, prompting foreign funds to pull about net $25 billion this year and deploy it elsewhere.
That’s left the Nifty 50 Index languishing near its mid-2024 level. It is on track to snap a decade-long streak of annual gains — a run bettered among major global equity markets only by Japan’s Nikkei 225 in the 1980s.

Bloomberg

“Many wealth managers have taken India back to underweight or completely out as they are more concerned about covering the increased weighting of tech plays in Taiwan and South Korea,” said Dubai-based Global CIO Office Chief Executive Gary Dugan. “They don’t see the same kind of risk of missing out in India given the headwind of a high oil price and weak currency.”

About 30% of Global CIO Office’s clients, which include family offices and wealth managers, have exited India entirely, Dugan said.

Still, local institutions have provided a floor for the market, with net stock purchases of about $60 billion this year, according to BSE Ltd. data. The buying has helped small-cap stocks in the country emerge as a bright spot, buoyed by companies benefiting from India’s data center build-out.

Morgan Stanley says India is in the midst of a multi-quarter growth upcycle, and given the supportive equity valuations, market performance should improve in the months ahead. The brokerage sees the BSE Sensex Index rising 19% to 89,000 by June next year in its base-case scenario, and reaching 100,000 in a bull case.

Yet investors are becoming more discerning. NSE — the poster child of India’s financialization boom — was forced to downsize its long-awaited initial public offering this week after investors pushed back against valuations.

‘Real Issue’

After more than 12 years in power, Modi has struggled to translate India’s status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy into an attractive market for foreigners. The old structural bull case of a large consumer and services market is now being challenged by a lack of meaningful AI play and the high dependence on oil imports.

More than ever, India is in need of foreign capital, especially more durable foreign direct investments that can fuel Modi’s manufacturing ambitions and provide a buffer against fickle portfolio flows. Fund managers now say the leader needs to do more to lure back foreign investors.

“Modi came in. He did some positive things that were done very well and within a reasonable timeframe, such as GST harmonization, the real estate reform, the bankruptcy court, but that hasn’t solved the real issue,” said Sat Duhra, a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors. “The issue is jobs, it’s trying to build manufacturing, trying to gain the FDI.”

Bloomberg

Indian assets’ vulnerability to swings in oil prices came to the fore with the outbreak of the US-Iran war. Alongside the stock-market decline, the rupee slumped to a record low and continues to rank among Asia’s worst performers this year despite India raising $127 billion from its diaspora to bolster its currency defenses.

“The result has been pressure on the current account balance and a weaker rupee. Currency depreciation can compound foreign investors’ concerns as it erodes dollar returns, tightens local financial conditions at the margin, and raises questions about the durability of corporate margins,” said Carlos Casanova, senior economist for Asia at Union Bancaire Privee.

Complicating matters is India’s shrinking clout in emerging-market indexes, driven by its poor performance versus AI-focused North Asian markets. The South Asian nation now accounts for about 11% of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, down from 16% a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“India’s relative underperformance reduces its index weight, which then gives benchmark-conscious managers less reason to own it, adding to the selling pressure,” Dugan said. “But it is also an indicator of the times. The dominant theme in emerging markets at the moment is tech, and that is where the money is going.”

Asked about President Donald Trump’s proposal to dole out $5,000 to every adult American if Republicans win both chambers of Congress during the midterm elections, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that borrowing to spend would cause more inflation.

“What I would say is, if you are getting surplus revenue, you should cut people’s tax and return it to the people,” DeSantis said on Thursday. “What I don’t think you wanna do is borrow another … trillion and a half dollars and then just try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation. That will lead to more debt,” he said, “and more inflation.”

With the election on the horizon, President Donald Trump declared during remarks at the Republicans’ midterm convention on Wednesday that “because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000” if the GOP wins the House and Senate.

TRUMP’S $5,000 DIVIDEND PROPOSAL COULD ADD $1.2T TO FEDERAL DEFICIT, ANALYSTS SAY

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers his State of the State address during the first day of the legislative session at the Florida State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we’re making must be spent in the United States of America,” Trump said. “So if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend,” he declared.

The U.S. national debt recently surpassed the $40 trillion mark.

AMERICA’S $40T NATIONAL DEBT IS ‘STEALING FROM OUR NEXT GENERATION,’ ECONOMIST WARNS

DeSantis noted that it is becoming increasingly costly to service the U.S. national debt, predicting that the issue will “lead … to some upheavals, unfortunately,” adding, “I hope I’m wrong.”

The governor advocated for a Constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget.

‘NONE OF THE GOVERNMENT’S DAMN BUSINESS’: DESANTIS PUSHES BACK ON HIGHWAY SURVEILLANCE

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“But the way it works now in Congress, their incentives are to add debt for short-term political benefit,” DeSantis said. “They never have to make tough decisions.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Friday.