The United Arab Emirates has announced it is to withdraw from Opec and the wider Opec+ alliance after nearly six decades of membership, in a move that analysts warn could herald the unravelling of the world’s most powerful oil cartel and usher in a fresh wave of price volatility for British businesses already grappling with stubborn energy costs.
The Gulf state, which joined the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1967, said the decision reflected its “long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile”. Abu Dhabi’s energy minister suggested that operating outside the cartel’s quota system would afford the country greater flexibility to pursue its own production ambitions, free of the collective discipline that has long shaped global crude markets.
For the UK’s small and medium-sized enterprises, the immediate consequences are far from academic. Energy-intensive sectors, from manufacturing and logistics to hospitality, have spent the past three years contending with input costs that swung wildly on the back of geopolitical shocks and Opec+ output decisions. A weakened cartel could mean cheaper oil in the short term as producers compete for market share, but it also raises the spectre of greater price swings as the disciplinary mechanism that has historically tempered volatility begins to fray.
Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Financial, did not mince his words, describing the move as “the beginning of the end of Opec”. With the UAE’s departure, the cartel loses roughly 15 per cent of its production capacity and what Mr Kavonic called “one of its most compliant members”. The UAE currently pumps approximately 2.9 million barrels per day, against Saudi Arabia’s nine million.
“Saudi Arabia will struggle to keep the rest of Opec together, and will effectively have to do most of the heavy lifting regarding internal compliance and market management on its own,” he warned, adding that other members may yet follow Abu Dhabi’s lead. He went further, characterising the development as a “fundamental geopolitical reshaping of the Middle East and oil markets”.
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The departure leaves Opec with eleven members. Founded in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, the cartel was created to coordinate production and stabilise revenues for member states. The current line-up also includes Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria and the Republic of the Congo.
For SME owners watching from Britain, the message is clear: hedging strategies, fixed-price energy contracts and supply chain stress-testing are no longer the preserve of FTSE 100 boardrooms. The post-Opec era, if it does indeed dawn, promises a more fragmented and unpredictable global energy market, and the businesses that prepare now will be best placed to weather what comes next.
Amy Ingham
Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S. A. (BLX) Q1 2026 Earnings Call April 28, 2026 11:00 AM EDT
Company Participants
Jorge Salas – Chief Executive Officer Annette van de Solis – Executive VP & CFO Samuel Canineu – Executive Vice President of Business & Chief Commercial Officer
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Conference Call Participants
Iñigo Vega Zabala – Jefferies LLC, Research Division Ricardo Buchpiguel – Banco BTG Pactual S.A., Research Division Natalia Corfield Andres Soto – Santander Investment Securities Inc., Research Division Daniel Mora – CrediCorp Capital, Research Division
Presentation
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Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Bladex’s First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. A slide presentation is accompanying today’s webcast and is also available on the Investors section of the company’s website, www.bladex.com. [Operator Instructions]. Please note today’s conference call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions].
I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jorge Salas, Chief Executive Officer. Sir, please go ahead.
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Jorge Salas Chief Executive Officer
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Bladex’ results for the first quarter of 2026. I will begin with A brief overview of our quarter, then Annette, our CFO, will walk you through the financials in greater detail.
After that, I will come back with an update on strategy execution, some thoughts on the macro environment, and our outlook for the rest of the year. Finally, we will open for the line for questions. We began with a very strong quarter in terms of balance sheet growth, while maintaining solid profitability in a highly competitive environment with very tight spreads and wide open capital markets for LatAm issuers. The highlight of the quarter was the continued expansion of our commercial portfolio.
We reached a record of $12 billion up 8% quarter-over-quarter and 13% year-over-year. This was fully in line with the growth path we
Henry Hub is currently trading in a weak and relatively narrow range, with the front-month (May 2026, NGK26) holding around $2.50-2.57/MMBtu, with about $2.55 as the nearest short-term reference level. Over the past month the contract has lost roughly 15-20% from
Elon Musk was seen arriving at a federal court in Oakland, California, on Tuesday for opening statements in his trial against OpenAI.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk‘s legal battle against OpenAI kicked off with a bang on Tuesday, with his attorney alleging CEO Sam Altman “stole a charity” to build a massive, profit-driven empire.
In a federal courtroom in Oakland, California, Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo, told jurors that OpenAI completely abandoned its founding mission to safely develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.
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Instead, Molo argued, OpenAI transformed the organization into a “profit-seeking juggernaut” because leaders were “interested in collecting riches for themselves.”
Elon Musk arrives at Dellums Federal Building in Oakland, California, Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Musk, who co-founded the company in 2015, is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and its major investor, Microsoft, with the proceeds slated to go to OpenAI’s charitable arm.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder is also demanding that OpenAI revert to a nonprofit that will “benefit humanity,” and that Altman and the president, Greg Brockman, be removed from leadership.
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Molo emphasized Musk’s foundational role, noting he provided roughly $38 million in initial funding and recruited top talent, saying, “Without Elon Musk, there would be no OpenAI.”
Attorney Steven Molo, representing Elon Musk, arrives at federal court in Oakland, California, on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (David Paul Morris/Getty Images)
Lawyers representing the ChatGPT inventor are defending the company, claiming Musk’s lawsuit is fueled by jealousy over the company’s soaring $850 billion valuation.
OpenAI is arguing Musk was aware of and supported the transition to a for-profit model in 2019, and only filed suit after he failed to take over as CEO and launched his own rival AI firm, xAI.
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U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers directly addressed Musk’s recent fiery posts on X, where he dubbed his former partner “Scam Altman.”
Demonstrators protest outside the courthouse as jury selection begins in the lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI on April 27, 2026, in Oakland, California. (Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)
The judge urged Musk to “try to control your propensity to use social media to make things work outside the courtroom,” prompting an agreement from the pair to minimize their online activity during the legal proceedings.
The trial, which is expected to feature explosive testimony from Musk, Altman and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, could heavily impact OpenAI’s plans for a potential $1 trillion initial public offering (IPO).
A Cadillac all-electric 2025 Escalade IQ luxury SUV is displayed during press day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, September 14, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters
DETROIT — General Motors on Tuesday said the Iran war is causing cost increases to its business, but inflated consumer expenses such as higher gas prices haven’t deterred buyers from spending on pricey vehicles.
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GM CEO Mary Barra said the Detroit automaker continues to monitor any change in customer spending but, so far, the company’s vehicle mix has remained healthy.
GM said it had an $52,000 average transaction price for vehicles during the first quarter, which was in line with last year. The average new vehicle transaction price across the industry for March, the most recent data available, was $49,275, according to Cox Automotive.
“I think the biggest variable that we’re looking at is how long does the conflict last and what does it cause from a cost perspective across logistics, supply chain, and if it ends up having any impact on a shift in mix, but, to date, we really haven’t seen that,” Barra said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday with investors.
Barra’s comments follow consumer confidence plunging to a record low in April as fears mounted over rising energy prices and the broader impact of the Iran war, according to a University of Michigan survey earlier this month.
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They also come after the company reported a 9.7% decline in first-quarter sales compared with an unseasonably high March 2025. GM also said it’s dealing with tighter inventories, specifically on its full-size pickup trucks, as the company retooled for updates to the vehicles for later this year.
Barra said if there are major shifts, including a more apparent move into less expensive or all-electric vehicles, that the company feels it’s well positioned to meet those needs as well.
GM CFO Paul Jacobson and Barra said the Detroit automaker is continuing to offset higher costs as best as it can through warranty improvements, cost efficiencies and potentially by deferring some hiring.
“While our operating performance remains strong, as reflected in our excellent first-quarter results, the war in Iran has raised our costs and its duration remains uncertain,” Barra said. “We are working to offset these cost pressures by reducing spending in other areas and by continuing to find efficiencies across the business.”
The GM executives specifically singled out rising energy and logistics costs due to the Iran war and its impact on oil as driving up costs, but they declined to disclose an exact amount of the impact.
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On a broader basis, GM on Tuesday said its first-quarter performance is expected to offset incremental increases in commodity and freight costs — including from logistics and higher DRAM chips — of $1.5 billion to $2 billion for the year.
Dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips are semiconductors that are essential for powering infotainment, digital clusters, advanced driver assistance systems and EV systems in vehicles.
But the DRAM costs aren’t related to the Iran war. Those price hikes are coming from increasing demand for the chips, including outside the automotive industry, according to industry experts at S&P Global Mobility.
“Automotive is not the only industry vying for DRAM. The current supply crunch is driven by the AI explosion, especially in data centers, where high-bandwidth memory (HBM) DRAM is in high demand. As a result, major DRAM manufacturers are reallocating wafer capacity to serve this more lucrative market,” according to a Feb. 26 post from S&P Global Mobility.
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Jacobson on Tuesday said the company has “no real concerns” about supply chain shortages involving the Iran war, specifically concerning raw materials, at the moment.
“We’re not projecting or worried about any shortages right now, and I think the supply chain team has continued to prove their resolve through yet another challenge, as we’ve seen them do in years past,” he said.
GM on Tuesday said it has, and will continue to, divert shipments of vehicles, including its highly profitable full-size pickups and SUVs, to the U.S. instead of the Middle East amid the war.
“Usually that’s a very strong market. So after this conflict ends, I think there’s upside there,” Barra said.
LOS ANGELES — Unverified rumors of marital trouble between comedian Kevin Hart and his wife Eniko Hart have spread rapidly across social media in late April 2026, with claims that Eniko is considering divorce due to ongoing disagreements about child support payments Kevin makes to his two children from his first marriage.
Kevin Hart
The speculation, which gained traction on platforms including Instagram, TikTok and Facebook over the past week, alleges that Eniko has grown frustrated with Kevin’s continued financial support for his older children, Heaven and Hendrix Hart, from his marriage to ex-wife Torrei Hart. Some posts claim Eniko has asked Kevin to stop the payments now that the children are adults and financially independent.
However, as of April 28, 2026, no credible public records, court filings or official statements confirm that Eniko has filed for divorce or that the couple has separated. Multiple fact-checking sources and entertainment outlets have noted the absence of any verified documentation, describing the reports as unconfirmed gossip circulating primarily through unverified social media accounts.
Kevin, 46, and Eniko, 41, have been married since August 2016 and share two children together — son Kenzo, 8, and daughter Kaori, 5. The couple has weathered public challenges before, including Kevin’s 2017 infidelity scandal that Eniko publicly addressed during her pregnancy with Kenzo. They renewed their vows in 2020 and have frequently posted affectionate family moments on social media.
The current rumors appear to stem from Kevin’s long-standing financial obligations to his first family. Court documents from his 2016 divorce from Torrei Hart outlined child support arrangements, and Kevin has spoken publicly about his commitment to co-parenting and providing for all four of his children.
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Social media users have reacted strongly, with some criticizing Eniko for allegedly wanting to cut support for stepchildren, while others defend her right to set boundaries in her marriage. The discussion has reignited broader conversations about blended families, financial transparency in celebrity marriages and the pressures of public scrutiny.
Neither Kevin nor Eniko has directly addressed the latest rumors. Kevin’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment, while Eniko’s last public posts focused on family life and her wellness brand without any indication of marital strain.
Entertainment insiders caution that celebrity divorce rumors often surface without foundation, particularly around high-profile couples. Kevin Hart has built a reputation for resilience, bouncing back from previous scandals through humor, therapy discussions and public accountability. Eniko has been praised for her grace during past challenges.
The couple’s relationship has been documented extensively over the years. They met in 2009, began dating seriously after Kevin’s first marriage ended, and tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in Santa Barbara. Eniko has often spoken about the complexities of being a stepmother while building her own identity beyond being “Kevin Hart’s wife.”
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Financial experts note that child support obligations in California typically continue until children reach 18 or graduate high school, though agreements can vary. Kevin’s substantial net worth, estimated around $450 million, has allowed him to maintain generous support while building a blended family.
The timing of the rumors coincides with Kevin’s busy professional schedule. He continues touring, producing projects and appearing in films, while Eniko focuses on her modeling, business ventures and family. The couple celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary in August 2025 with warm public tributes.
Relationship counselors emphasize that financial disagreements, especially around ex-partners and children, rank among the top stressors in second marriages. Blended family dynamics require ongoing communication, clear boundaries and sometimes professional guidance — elements the Harts have publicly discussed in the past.
For now, the absence of any official confirmation suggests the rumors may be exaggerated or entirely unfounded. Celebrity news cycles frequently amplify unverified claims, particularly when they involve beloved public figures like Kevin Hart, whose personal life has long fascinated fans.
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Kevin’s first marriage to Torrei Hart ended in 2016 after 14 years together. The pair shares Heaven, now in her early 20s, and Hendrix, a teenager. Both children have maintained relatively low public profiles while occasionally appearing in family content.
As the story continues circulating, fans remain divided between supporting the couple’s privacy and speculating on every social media post. Kevin and Eniko have historically chosen to address major issues on their own terms, often through joint statements or interviews.
Whether these latest rumors prove true or simply another wave of online gossip, they highlight the intense scrutiny faced by celebrity couples. For Kevin Hart, known for turning personal setbacks into comedic material, any real challenges would likely become part of his evolving narrative — as he has done successfully throughout his career.
The public will continue watching for any official word from the couple. Until then, the rumors remain just that — unconfirmed reports that have captured attention but lack substantive evidence as of late April 2026.
Subway is rolling out a new value menu featuring 15 items priced under $5 at participating locations across the United States, according to the company.
The offering includes several 6-inch sandwiches and wraps priced at $3.99, as well as a rotating “Sub of the Day” available for $4.99. Customers can add chips and a drink for an additional $2, Subway said.
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Subway’s move comes as fast-food chains expand lower-priced offerings. McDonald’s recently introduced a nationwide value menu with items priced under $3 and a $4 meal option, according to previous FOX Business reporting.
The lower-priced options include four “Deli Faves” sandwiches – BLT, Cold Cut Combo, Spicy Pepperoni and Ham & Salami – along with “Protein Pockets,” tortilla wraps that the company said contain more than 20 grams of protein.
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The $4.99 daily sub promotion features a different 6-inch sandwich each day of the week, including items such as Meatball Marinara, Classic Tuna and Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki, according to Subway.
The Subway sandwiches that are part of the company’s value menu with 15 entrées under $5. (Subway)
The menu is being introduced at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide, though availability and pricing may vary by location. Subway said prices may be higher in California, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, and additional charges may apply for delivery or add-ons.
“Subway’s Fresh Value Menu proves you don’t have to choose between eating well and saving money,” said Dave Skena, the company’s North America chief marketing officer.
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The new value menu is being introduced at more than 18,000 restaurants nationwide. (Subway)
Subway said the menu can be found in stores, online and through its mobile app.
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