BrusselsAlthough ’ is pushing for the rapid integration of a single market to advance its competitiveness agenda, EU countries are divided over rules for harmonising control of capital markets.
The divisions are largely due to the reluctance of some member states to transfer their national supervisory powers to the EU level; This is a recurring problem in the legislative process of the bloc.
The EU is accelerating its efforts to increase global competitiveness and reduce dependence on the US and China’e. To achieve this, member states are promoting a competitive agenda in which the integration of capital markets plays a central role.
The bloc aims to create a single market for capital by allowing money, including investments and savings, to flow freely across borders without regulatory barriers. Currently, capital markets are largely subject to national legislation, which creates a fragmented environment for businesses and investors.
Although some rules have been harmonized across the EU, their implementation, supervision and enforcement differ, contributing even more to fragmentation.
To solve this problem, the European Commission proposed to grant additional supervisory powers to the European Securities and Markets Authority ’ne (ESMA), which coordinates the harmonization of the rules and oversight of the EU financial markets.
But talks between EU finance ministers at the Brussels ’ on Tuesday showed no agreement and little progress at the technical level. This is despite expectations that member states will see results by June, an EU diplomat told Euronews’e.
Capital markets are environments where individuals, companies, and governments can raise and invest funds. They enable the trading of financial assets such as company shares and debt instruments.
Proponents of deeper integration argue that this will reduce costs and improve access to finance for companies, savers and investors.
According to the International Monetary Fund's 2025 data, internal barriers within a single market for services. %It is equivalent to a tariff of up to 110’.
The European Commission estimates that the market capitalization of EU stock exchanges in 2024 will be is ’ü level, while ABD’nin is %He said it was 270.
South Caucasus and Central AsiaOil producers in ’ are moving in a more fluid global market as their long-standing export models are being replaced by faster, demand-driven trade dynamics.
At the second Caspian and Central Asian Oil Trade and Logistics Forum in Baku’, industry experts talked about a clear orientation towards flexibility, moving away from predictable, long-term contracts.
Colin Nesbeth, founder and CEO of Central Asia Marketing’, said that ’ Markets are now very volatile and fluctuation is always creating special opportunities.
“From a commercial point of view, opportunities arise that weren't there before.”
But this volatility cuts both ways. Nesbeth added that companies that go off a single route are being pushed towards alternatives that are too costly to deal with normally.
“In this kind of situation, they become economical. This is an opportunity for traders but a great challenge for manufacturers.”
Asia drives pricing debate
The main theme that stood out in the discussions was the increasing dominance of the refinery centers in Asya’, especially China and India’, in determining their raw demand and pricing structures.
Suppliers are increasingly moving away from fixed pricing formulas, rather than reacting to short-term signals and arbitrage windows.
Nesbeth said “, "Nobody really knows how it's going to go." But adapting to unstable markets is becoming more important than ever.“
Despite this, he displayed a cautious tone of optimism. "My belief is that it will stabilize." - “
Infrastructure is stable but under pressure to adapt
While export routes remain largely unchanged, their strategic use is also improving.
While Kazakhstan continues to export most of its crude oil to the Black Sea ’e via the CPC pipeline, Azerbaijan relies on the BTC corridor. Turkmenistan’'s energy flow continues to be gas-focused and east-oriented.
But beyond pipelines, attention is focused on broader connections, especially those developed under the China’in Belt and Road Initiative.
Shehryar Omar, CEO of Pakistan Petroleum Institute, said that a huge investment has been made in the improvement of the ’Road corridors.
“China, Pakistan’a has invested nearly $70 billion not only in roads, but also in energy production and related infrastructure.”
“This network has evolved immeasurably over the past four or five years, ” added.
Omar pointed to a recent turning point. “More this week came the first dry cargo shipment from ’ to Pakistan’ from Kyrgyzstan. So that route is already active and a difficult route.”
Pipelines still dominate the flow of oil
Despite these developments, Omar emphasized that oil logistics continues to be limited due to geography and risk.
The situation for “Petroleum products can be even more difficult, ” said. “At this point pipelines through Iran or China are probably more viable.”
However, there are uncertainties as Afghanistan continues to limit ’'s role as a transition corridor.
“, we're not sure about the situation there, ” said. “So as a corridor, we don't know if this will make sense right now.”
Nevertheless, he underlined the long-term opportunity. “, there are so many opportunities. Pakistan ’'s population of 240 million is growing rapidly. Central Asian states cannot ignore this. - ”
Omar added that “ will pay for itself in the next 15-30 years if it requires an investment of $10-20 billion.
Quality becomes a competitive advantage
As market conditions tighten, not only volume but also raw quality become determining factors in competitiveness.
Anar Habib, senior mid-level distillation products trader at “, said Caspian crude oil is very competitive in the global market, adding that the region's production is well suited to what global refineries actually need.
Kazakhstan and the wider Caspian region are supplying increasingly in-demand qualities, and Azerbaijan said ’'s flagship mix stands out in particular.
Habib explained that Azeri Light’ is a high-quality crude oil that European rafineri rely on to produce cleaner end products (especially diesel and jet fuel, which are critical for global economies).
“Cleaner fuels are in demand everywhere, ” added. “And these qualities are necessary to produce them.”
External shocks are spreading to the area
The Caspian region feels the impact of global maritime tensions, even if it is not directly exposed to the interrupted sea routes.
As tanker availability contracted, freight and insurance costs also increased, and margins were squeezed across the trading system.
Nesbeth, “In general, this is a great challenge” said. “The whole market is trying to adapt at the same time.”
A market that learns to adapt
The general table that appears in Baku’ relates to transition and recalibration. Producers are rethinking their export strategies, and traders are exploring arbitrage opportunities.
Infrastructure is being re-evaluated not only in terms of capacity, but also in terms of flexibility. And in general, the ability to respond becomes the defining ability.
Nesbeth said volatility creates opportunities, but it also forces everyone to rethink the way they operate.
For the Caspian and Central Asian oil sector, this rethinking process has already begun, with Asya’, infrastructure investments and crude oil quality at the heart of the rapidly evolving global equation.
With Wall Street institutions increasingly adopting perpetual futures contracts and tokenized real-world assets to navigate the global economy 24/7, the financial world is undergoing a fundamental transformation.
According to industry experts, the elimination of contract expiration dates and the emergence of instant “atomic” settlement are redefining the market's interest, especially as crypto-native platforms continue to lead price discovery during the weekend's increasingly geopolitical crises.
The convergence of these technologies shows that the boundary between traditional finance and blockchain-based infrastructure is narrowing.
Wall Street desks, multi-strategy allocators, and macro funds are now actively exploring these digital-local structures because they solve deep-rooted operational problems inherent in standard overdue contracts.
This transition is not only a technological upgrade, but also a response to how global markets are now functioning in real time.
Theo’'s Chief Investment Officer, Iggy Ioppe, announced that the move to Euronews’e 24/7 operations is no longer optional.
To meet this new demand, Theo is developing financial products and partnering with major financial institutions such as the British multinational bank Standard Chartered.
Ioppe, “It's not a matter of preference, it's becoming a structural imperative. We saw this clearly during the closing of the Strait of Hormuz’. Traditional markets were dark during the weekend, and tokenized gold and oil were the only transparent, continuous trading venues that reflected the demand for real-time safe havens, ” said.
Speaking to Euronews’e, Andrei Grachev, Managing Partner of leading cryptocurrency market producer DWF Labs’, also emphasized the importance of these events for the wider market.
Grachev, “The clearest example was this year's February 28, ’. The United States and Israel announced Saturday morning that ’ would attack Iran, ’'s nuclear facilities, and all major exchanges (CME, NYMEX, ICE) were closed. Traders immediately moved to decentralized perpetual futures platforms for oil, gold and silver.”
When traditional venues eventually reopened, they had to capture price levels already set on the chain, highlighting a change where primary price formation took place.
An IMF report on tokenized finance released this month also highlighted that the transition to digital native assets represents a “ structural restructuring of the global financial infrastructure.
The study, written by Tobias Adrian, warns that atomic placement and programmability significantly improve capital efficiency, while also eliminating the temporal buffers that banks and regulators rely on during times when the market is stressed.
The report argues that in order for these markets to scale securely and prevent dangerous fragmentation, they must rely on ’, a public anchor of trust, especially through the implementation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC“s).
Without such sovereign payment assets, the IMF warns that the excessive speed of tokenized systems could cause liquidity crises to happen instantly, potentially leading to gradual liquidations that exceed the ability of human authorities to intervene.
Grachev, Euronews’e said: The market infrastructure that supports always-on tokenized trading still meets the demands it creates, and the difference between product capacity and operational readiness is currently one of the least appreciated risks in the field.“
What are tokenized real-world assets?
In the financial world, real-world assets, often abbreviated as RWA’s, are essentially any physical or traditional asset that exists outside the digital blockchain space.
This includes gold and other metals, real estate, oil and other commodities, as well as financial products such as government bonds and company shares.
In the context of modern markets, these assets are being “tokenized”; This means that their values and property rights are converted into a virtual token on a blockchain. It may be helpful to think of it as a digital receipt that lives in a secure and global ledger, representing a specific part or all of the asset.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has been one of the loudest advocates of this technological change, and in his 2026-year letter to investors, ’ stated that “tokenization can help accelerate the future by updating the installation of the financial system and making investments easier to make, trade, and access.
To support this vision, BlackRock aggressively turned to the field with the launch of the BUIDL fund, which tokenizes U.S. Treasury bonds on a public blockchain and has already reached nearly $3 billion (€2.44 billion) in assets under management.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, January 2026’da Davos, SwitzerlandU.S. President Donald Trump introduces ’ at the World Economic Forum in ’
What are continuous futures contracts?
A perpetual futures contract is a way to bet on the future price of an asset without actually owning it and, more importantly, without the need to compromise until a certain deadline.
In a standard futures contract, just like a lease expires, you're actually making an agreement that needs to be closed or renewed at a date set on the calendar. A “ perpetual contract completely eliminates this expiration date and allows you to keep your location forever.
When signing the contract, a “funding rate” is applied, which usually has to be paid on an hourly basis. This funding rate is positive or negative, depending on whether there are more open or short positions. If positive, long positions pay short positions, if negative, short positions pay long positions, making the ratio a balancing mechanism.
Basically, having a continuous futures contract is a way to synthetically hold the underlying asset.
The scale of this market is already quite large; The global conceptual volume for permanent futures exceeds $60 billion (€50.9 billion) per day. Especially as regulatory frameworks catch up in ABD’, the flow of corporate capital is expected to accelerate.
Fabian Dori, Chief Investment Officer of Sygnum’, a global digital asset banking group based in Switzerland, told Euronews’ that institutional adoption of “permanent assets will ultimately depend on the regulatory and custody infrastructure surrounding them, as well as liquidity and pricing conditions.
This new tool ensures that markets are always open as it allows for continuous trading even when spot markets are closed, but it also demands “atomic settlement, which means the need for transactions to be financed and concluded in real time.
In traditional finance, the T+1 or T+2 swap cycle provides a temporary buffer by dictating that the transfer of securities and related payment must be completed within the next 1-2 business days, giving market makers time to effectively source inventory and manage counterparty risk.
Atomic compromise reduces this window to zero and requires assets to be in position before or at the exact moment a trade takes place. This creates huge and sudden peak liquidity demands that must be managed through automation and advanced treasury models, while reducing the risk of counterparty stagnation.
Expert Patrick King and trader Robert Oswald, working at the New York Stock Exchange’, April 2026
Currently, the settlement of perpetual futures contracts on blockchains is done entirely with privately issued stablecoin ’s, and the IMF considers this a risk in ’'s latest report.
To solve this problem, the IMF suggested that a ’ public anchor, such as the CBDC“s, is needed to provide a secure and programmable payment asset issued by the central bank.
Beyond the agreement, the infrastructure of price data remains a critical concern. Providing liquidity 24 hours a day requires high-quality oracle’s and data streams that don't lag or stale when traditional markets close.
Ioppe, Euronews’e stated: “Price data infrastructure is probably the most critical challenge unresolved in 24/7 tokenized markets. When you consistently provide liquidity in decentralized and regulated spaces, the quality, latency, and reliability of your price flows directly determine your profit/loss and risk exposure.”
Regulated competition “ is always openAs ” enters the space, crypto-native platforms are forced to raise their standards. The implementation of the GENIUS Act ’ in the USA’ is already accelerating the trend of corporate capital moving towards areas that offer both innovation and governance.
Andrei Grachev believes that in the long run, the winners will be those who adopt these standards.
Grachev concluded his words as follows: The remaining platforms will be those that use this speed to really improve their standards, rather than going beyond regulations. As corporate allocations increase, compliance infrastructure will increasingly determine which venues attract meaningful capital and which don't.”
Many major financial firms announced their earnings results on Friday, and many gave investors good news after a week of market turmoil.
JPMorgan Chase, ’'s largest lender, reported annual net income in the first three months of the year. %It said it rose 9 percent to $14.6 billion (€12.8 billion).
CEO Jamie Dimon said that despite President Donald Trump's warning of uncertainty ahead due to the ongoing trade war and other geopolitical tensions, this was above market expectations.
Dimon said the strong performance of the bank's market division helped the bank move to another strong quarter despite the challenges ahead.
JPMorgan’'s earnings per share rose from $4.44 (3.90 euros) to $5.07 (4.46 euros) a year ago. According to data firm FactSet’, the result surpassed Wall Street’'s profit estimates of $4.63 per share. Total managed revenue, 41.9 billion in the previous year $Increased from ’ (€36.8 billion) to 46 billion $’a (€40.4 billion) reached. Wall Street was expecting $44 billion in revenue.
Trump’'s tariff rates, which are now 10 percent for most U.S. trading partners and 145 percent for China, have plunged financial markets into dizzying fluctuations for weeks, creating a tremendous amount of economic uncertainty. This is bad for banks that rely on stability, which allows healthy consumers and businesses to borrow.
JPMorgan’'s trading desk grew in the first three months of 2025’, with the help of market volatility, even before Trump’ introduced massive “ Liberation Day ” tariffs on April 2nd.
The bank's revenue at this time. %While 21 increases, stock revenues also increase annually. is up.
Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and BlackRock
Morgan Stanley also surpassed Wall Street’'s first quarter forecasts, which the New York-based investment bank attributed to the strong performance of its stock trading division.
Net revenue reached $4.3 billion (€3.8 billion), while the firm generated record revenues of $17.7 billion (€15.6 billion).
Wells Fargo also reported on Friday that the San Francisco bank's first-quarter net income was $4.89 billion (€4.3 billion) or $1.39 (€1.22) per share. This exceeded analysts' forecast of earnings of $1.23 per share.
Investment firm BlackRock, meanwhile, announced on Friday that its first-quarter net income was $1.51 billion (€1.3 billion).
The New York-based company reported net income of $9.64 (€8.47) per share.
Earnings adjusted to mergers and acquisitions costs and depreciation costs, 11.30 per share $ (€9.93) exceeded Wall Street expectations.
The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was $10.25 per share.
The investment firm posted revenues of $5.28 billion (4.6 billion euros), which missed Wall Street’'s estimates during this period. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks’ expected $5.33 billion.
the People's Bank of China (PBOC) ter announcing additional easing measures aimed at achieving the annual growth target of 5 ⁇ , Europe's leading indicators opened up on Tuesday morning.
Euro Stoxx 50 futures %1.14, FTSE 100 futures %0.52 and DAX futures %It's up 0.73.
China unveils biggest package to boost economy
Following the Federal Reserve's massive rate cut last week, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) has set the Reserve Requirement Rate (RRR), which represents the percentage of deposits that banks must hold reserves at the central bank. %He announced a 0.5% discount.
At a seven-day repo interest rate on this rare move, companied by a decrease of 0.2 ⁇ . In addition, the PBOC announced a historic $5.3 trillion (€4.8 trillion) package aimed at lowering mortgage rates and down payment terms for second-home buyers.
In addition, Governor Pan Gongsheng announced that a liquidity injection of 500 billion yuan (€64 billion) will be carried out to support the stock markets; Thus, securities and insurance companies were allowed to invest in stocks through central bank debts.
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In response, stock markets rose across Asia; the Hang Seng Index %over 3 ⁇ , while the mainland markets of China are %It has increased by more than 2.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.7%. However, the Australian ASX 200 Index recorded a slight decline after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept its cash interest rate stable and maintained a hawkish outlook.
European mining stocks expected to recover
PBOC ⁇ 's comprehensive incentive measures to support the real estate market have also increased growth-sensitive commodity prices.
Copper futures rose 2.1 percent to $4.44 per pound, the highest since July. Precious metals also saw a sharp rise; Spot gold prices rose above $2,635 per ounce, while gold futures rose above $10 to $2,663 per ounce.
Silver futures at 07:00 CEST %It increased by 1.22 to $31.47 per ounce.
Energy commodities such as crude oil and natural gas followed suit, taking advantage of the broad-based commodity rise. Iron ore futures (SGX TSI Iron ore ) %It rose 1.1 percent to $92.40 per metric ton.
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The increase in metal prices is expected to support the industrial and material sectors by supporting European mining and energy stocks.
China's efforts to stabilize the besieged real estate market are expected to increase demand for industrial metals and critical minerals, which are the main outputs of major mining companies such as Rio Tinto, Glencore, Anglo American and BHP.
The mining sector has been underperforming globally for the past four months due to a decline in raw material prices.
Euro Stoxx 600 Index of Basic Ingredients %The Pan-European Stoxx 600 Index has been down 4.67 since the beginning of the year. %It's up 7.9.
Interest rate cut is expected to trigger market recovery in the near term
As global central banks are likely to accelerate their relaxation cycles, stock markets may continue to benefit from pro-growth monetary policies in the short term.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to deepen interest rate cuts for the rest of the year following unexpected sharp drops in business activity on Tuesday.
The data revealed that manufacturing and service PMIs contracted further in major European economies, including France and Germany.
But investors can be increasingly cautious as business conditions worsen and the risk of a global economic downturn arises.
Fears of stagnation continue, fueled by worsening economic data and rising geopolitical tensions, as well as ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Brent oil, which was last recorded as $80.4 on Thursday last week, has not reached the same level for the last six sessions in line with weak economic data from the world's largest oil importer China and the largest oil consumer USA.
According to data released last week in China, new home prices continued their 14-month decline series, while in July the year-on-year decline was 4.9 percent.
In addition, the country's industrial production increased by 5.1 percent year-on-year, falling below projected levels, while the unemployment rate remained above expectations at 5.2 percent.
In addition, weak labor data from the U.S. reinforced forecasts of low demand from China, supporting concerns about economic growth.
The U.S. Department of Labor revised non-agricultural employment data for the 12-month period up to March 2024. According to the revision, employment in the U.S. increased by 818,000 less than previously announced during the period in question.
The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits for the first time in the country increased to 232 thousand in the week ending August 17, while the number of ongoing unemployment benefits applications increased by 4 thousand people in the week ending August 10 to 1 million 863 thousand.
DATA FEEDS REQUEST WORRIED
The data supported concerns about countries' economic growth and suppressed prices, fueling market players' demand concerns.
On the other hand, the possibility of a ceasefire in the Middle East, where most of the global oil reserves are located, eased the supply concerns in the markets.
In line with all these developments, Brent oil, which rose to $81.92 last week, could not hold at these levels and closed the week at $79.1.
The price of Brent oil, which fell to $75.7 on Wednesday, lost 1.3 percent on the same day.
After Fed Chairman Powell said in his speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium that it was time to adjust monetary policy, prices rose 2.1 percent to $78.3 a week, although they tended to recover below $80.
China's lower-than-expected oil demand is an important focus for the market Julien Mathonniere, Petroleum Markets Economist at U.S.-based energy information company Energy Intelligence Group, told the AA correspondent that there was more than one reason for the fall in oil prices.
Mathonniere stated that the weak demand forecast from Çin ⁇ is the most important factor among these reasons, adding that ⁇ China ⁇ 's below-expected oil demand is an important focus for the market, especially considering that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has revised down the 2024 global demand growth forecast in line with the weak demand forecasts in the country. ⁇ said.
On the other hand, Mathonniere pointed out that the reduction of gasoline and diesel production by refineries operating in China in July compared to the same period last year also had an impact on prices.
⁇ The fact that this decrease in production took place in China, the world's largest oil importer, in July, which is expected to increase the demand for these products worldwide, caused the prices to fluctuate by reinforcing the expectations that the demand for transportation fuels in the country will increase from now on. ⁇
NO INCREASE OF REQUEST EXPECTED IN CHINA
Contrary to forecasts, there was no significant increase in demand in China this year, Mathonniere said, adding that the country's oil demand fell by 284,000 barrels per day year-on-year in the second quarter, reflecting weak industrial activity in China and the unstable private sector. While Brent oil is currently trading in October barrels, the likelihood that the country will meet expectations is becoming increasingly questionable.
Mathonniere pointed out that another reason for the decline was concerns about the difference between the calculated amount and the actual amount in oil storage facilities, transportation or sales transactions, ⁇ Missing barrels returned this year. Market players suggest that supply is under-measured or demand is overcounted. This disturbs the market players and the market reacts to this disturbance at low prices.
Mathonniere stressed that the impact of the resurgent ceasefire negotiations in the Middle East on oil prices was limited, adding that prospects for reconciliation in the region were insufficient to reduce the risk premium on prices.
Emphasizing that the risk premium on prices has long since melted, Mathonniere said that while the Middle East will continue to affect prices in the background, it is no longer the main focus for market players.
PRICES MUST RISE WITHOUT INCREASE OF REQUEST IN CHINA
Mathonniere pointed out that unless there is an increase in China's oil demand in the future, it is unlikely that prices will rise.
It is difficult to predict how much further prices will fall, but there is an interesting theory that the market may try to force OPEC to take action by bringing prices down. This could cause the group to stop reversing cuts in the fourth quarter. While it's a bit far-fetched to assume that the market can make such a concerted effort to bring prices down, the fall in prices will certainly cause the group to reconsider reversing cuts as the year draws to a close.
The market focused on the decision to come out of the US Central Bank to find direction Independent oil market analyst Gaurav Sharma also stated that oil prices could rise if the US Central Bank cut interest rates in September, and I think the market is focused on the decisions of the US Central Bank to find direction. If a rate cut is announced in September, it may be possible for prices to show a positive reaction in crude oil futures, but the weakness in the market is likely to continue until this date.
Stating that uncertainties regarding oil demand in China put pressure on crude oil prices, Sharma said, "In recent days, we have observed that industrial production in China has slowed, unemployment has increased and housing prices have fallen. In particular, many market forecasters, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OPEC, predict that Chinese demand will be lower in 2024 and 2025.
Sharma pointed out that the impact of geopolitical developments in the Middle East on the oil market is limited, while geopolitical developments in the Middle East are important, but the impact of geopolitical factors on crude oil prices is limited when oil demand remains weak. This is currently the case, especially due to the increased supply of non-OPEC crude oil.
